Killing (13)

12166300684?profile=originalThe glamorous lovers’ day celebration on Monday turned bloody at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) when gunmen killed two students. Daily Sun gathered that the clash was between two rival cult groups, namely, Black Axe and the Buccaneers,’ over a female student allegedly snatched by the Capone of the Black Axe for Valentine celebration.

 

The action of the Capone , the source said did not go down well with the other group leading to the clash.
A student who witnessed the shooting said besides the two cult members who were shot dead, about four others sustained injuries and were ferried out of the campus by their leaders to shield their identity.

The sources said the cult members who carried out the attack were not UNILAG students but members from another campus, adding that the attack was carried out in a commando style with sporadic shooting.
An undergraduate student of English Department told Daily Sun that the Buccaneers’ group attacked the Black Axe members while another student returning from the Mosque said those who carried out the killing were not from UNILAG because they did not cover their faces.

It was learnt that as soon the shooting started, students scampered for safety while others took cover behind the wall and under cars packed around, while others ran into the halls to avoid being hit by stray bullets. 
A senior lecturer who confirmed the killings said the university management had met to curtail any reprisal attack while security personnel had taken over the investigation of the deadly cult clash.
When Daily Sun visited the troubled institution yesterday, there was uneasy calm, as most staff and students rebuffed efforts made by the reporters to get their comments.

However, one of the students who resides at Sodeinde Hall, said there was sporadic gunshots outside the premises which caused panic everywhere. 
It was gathered that the crisis, which erupted when the students were at the peak of lovers’ day celebration, created stampede on the campus as people ran for safety.

One of the victims of the attack reportedly ran into Sodeinde Hall for help, from where he was taken to the hospital.
Although the Hall Master of Sodeinde Hall declined comments on the issue, one of the officials, who wouldn’t want his name published, said the attack could not be linked to any cult group. He said there was increasing speculation that the perpetrators of the attack could be fighting for love. Efforts made by Daily Sun our reporter to ascertain the identities of the victims were unsuccessful.
The news bulletin of the university, Information Flash (ISSN 08195540) also captured the incident, while assuring the staff and students of the university of adequate security.

“The attention of the universities authorities has been drawn to the incident which occurred in one of the Halls of Residence in the late hours of Monday, February 14, 2011 where two persons were reportedly injured in fracas. The university management has commenced investigation into the unusual incident, in particular at a time when preparation for the first semester examinations due to commence on February 21, 2011 are in top gear. Security has been intensified to ensure safety of life and property on campus. Law enforcement agents have been involved to assist the university in this respect,” it said. 
Daily Sun learnt that students are leaving the campus because of the fear of reprisal attack while some parents called their wards on phone to return home until the situation is brought under control. 

The Deputy Registrar Information of UNILAG, Mr. Dare Adebisi refused to pick his calls or replied to text message sent to his phone.
When the Lagos Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Samuel Jinadu (DSP) was called thrice, he promised to contact the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in the area and did not call back as at the press time....

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Well known for DEFAMING his former pal ALiko Dangote during the Dangote Otedola Wars He even sponsored a Website dedicated to this purpose former www.factsnigeria.com and provided funded adverts on websites round nigeria .Now he has through our law courts detainded two persons for defamation ! READ ON AND BLOGGERS BEWARE YOUI COULD BE NEXT !

An Abuja Chief Magistrate Court on Tuesday remanded two suspects to Kuje Maximum Prison for allegedly defaming the character of Femi Otedola, the executive chairman of African Petroleum (AP).

The suspects, Clement Aviomoh, suspended Executive Director of the company in charge of finance, information and technology, and Sunday Esan, were jointly accused of defamation of character after they published several reports in newspapers across the country in July and August accusing Mr. Otedola of milking AP for the past two years.

Police First Information Report (FIR) said Mr. Otedola had on October 19 2010, through a direct criminal complaint to the Chief Magistrate, Abuja, which was referred to the Inspector-General of Police for investigation, reported that the suspects had in July and August, cause to be published in many national newspapers, a defamatory publication which maligned his reputation and integrity.

"That in July and August 2010, you Aviomoh Clement (m) and Sunday Esan (m), while acting in concert and in furtherance of a common intention to defame, embarrass, and maliciously cause serious harm to the reputation of the Executive Chairman of African Petroleum, Mr. Femi Otedola, published in News Star of Monday 2 - Tuesday 3 August 2010 on page 10-13; Compass Newspaper of August 1 2010 on page 47; News of the People of August 16-23, 2010 edition on page 13-16; First Weekly Newspaper of August 15, 2010 on page 29-32; and on page 2-6 of a book with the caption: "How Otedola is killing AP".

"You published that Mr. Femi Otedola has been using his companies, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Company Limited, Platinum Fleet Limited, and Fineshade Energy Limited to sell products to African Petroleum at inflated prices," read a police report.

"[In] the said publication, which you know or had reasons to believe to be false, you portrayed Mr. Femi Otedola as a corrupt and fraudulent person. You thereby committed the above mentioned offences," the statement read...

Although the suspects, who were arraigned before Chief Magistrate, Hasfat Sadiq Toso, pleaded not guilty, they were, however, remanded in prison after their oral application for bail was refused.

Mkerewen Akpan, lawyer to the suspects, had moved an oral application asking the court to grant his clients bail. But in opposing the application for bail, the prosecution lawyer, Simon Lough, urged the court to refuse the application on the ground that no sufficient materials have been placed before the court by the suspects to enable the court exercise its discretion.

Delivering her ruling, Justice Toso agreed with Mr. Lough and adjourned the case until December 21 for hearing.

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He was said to have stabbed his friend after which he ran over him with the deceased’s Mercedes Benz car.

Abatcha, who claimed to be a sociology student of the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), was arraigned on a two-count charge of culpable homicide and robbery punishable by death under section 221 and 298 of the Penal Code. He was said to have committed the offence on September 10, 2007.

The deceased father, who reported the matter at the G.R.A Police Station in Maiduguri, said his son, Busami travelled with his friend, Abatcha on the fateful day he met his untimely death in a very suspicious manner, adding that the family was troubled following Busami’s disappearance for six days. Subsequently, Abatcha was picked up by the police for questioning; an effort which the police claimed led into further investigation on the fate of Busami.

“But the police maintained that Abatcha could not give satisfactory explanation on the whereabouts of his friend when he was questioned. They said it was later discovered that he hit his friend, Busami on the head with spanner and cutlass after he had sedated him.” Wife of the deceased, Hadiza Bashir, also told the court during the trial that her late husband and his friend ate together. She said the two friends went out thereafter, noting that it was the last time she saw her husband. She added that Abatcha later came to their house without any satisfactory explanation on the where abouts of her husband.

Police also told the court that the wrist watch and shoes of the deceased were found with Abatcha at the time of his arrest. Also testifying, a witness, from Yobe State where the crime was reportedly committed, said he reported to the police when he saw a corpse in a farmland. The witness, a vice principal of a junior secondary school at DogonKuka village in Damagun Local Government Area of Yobe State, disclosed that he saw the corpse of the deceased on his way to his farm.

In his statement to the police, Abatcha admitted to have killed his friend. “I was heading towards Kano via Yobe and on my way to Potiskum town at a place called Damagun, Bashir woke up from the side effect of influence of the drug and I gave him water to drink but he could not. I then became guilty and in the state of confusion, I stopped.

“When Bashir opened the door of the vehicle and fell on the ground, he got up and started running into the bush, I followed him and stabbed him with a sharp knife I was holding in my hand and he removed the knife and wanted to attack me. He fell down and I quickly snatched the knife from him because he was weak. I then brought the car and ran over him.” He also confessed to be a member of a cult based in Lagos.

Delivering his judgment, Justice Pindar Haruna Ngadda said the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that Abatcha actually killed his friend Busami. She, therefore, sentenced him to death by hanging on the first count charge and life imprisonment on the second count charge..


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Story From Next : Photo a sorry looking "confesssed" Own Family Murderere Baba

Bello Garba Bello, the first son of the late senior official of the state security service killed on Monday in Kano, has allegedly confessed that he was the one who actually stabbed his father, Garba Bello, his mother, Habiba and his three siblings to death in a murder case that has shocked residents of the city.

Twenty-two-year-old Mr Bello (Baba) made this confession yesterday at the headquarters of the Kano State Police Command, Bompai Kano..

The state Police Commissioner, Mohammed J. Gana, showed journalists a handwritten confessional statement allegedly written by the suspect, in which he confessed to killing his family and said that after he killed them, he tried to commit suicide but couldn’t after realising the enormity of what he did.

Mr Bello, who is a 200 level Physics student of the Kano State University of Technology, Wudil (KSUT), had also all egedly confessed, in a hand written statement submitted to the state command of the State Security Service (SSS), that he single-handedly carried out the killings. He also claimed that his anger was that his father was going to die because of his terminal illness and that he could not bear the responsibilities of catering for his mother and siblings that would follow subsequently.

He said in the statement that he stabbed his parents and three of his siblings to death at about 2am on Monday this week. “My father cannot provide for my basic needs, so I killed them all with knives,” the statement to the police reads. “It was painful to me and the entire family. It was an unbearable, irreparable loss. My father has been bedridden and I know he is not going to survive. I did the job alone.

“The intention was to wipe out the entire family and after that, I called my neighbours, Isiaku and Buhari immediately after the incident.”

Speculations not at rest

Security officials say his confession puts to rest speculations about the motive behind the killing of 54-year-old Bello and four members of his family.

The incident also saw 40-year-old Habiba strangulated and three of their children, 16-year-old Hafsat; 14-year-old Khalifa and five-year-old Murjatu murdered in cold blood.

One Umar Danjani, who claimed to be a relation of the deceased SSS official, has, however, disagreed with the police and the said confessional statement of Mr Bello.

Mr Danjani said that Farouk, the other surviving son of the late Bello, told the family that he saw another man who was wearing a white singlet, called Aminu, kill his family members. He also said some neighbours heard the sound of a whistle and sound of many persons.

“This means that the younger Bello did not carry out the killings alone,” he said.




Story from Daily Trust



The eldest son of the slain assistant director of the State Security Service (SSS) yesterday confessed to the murder of his father, mother three siblings without the help of any accomplice.

Daily Trust gathered that 23-year-old Bello Garba Bello, popularly known as Baba, was whisked away by the operatives of the SSS shortly after the incident on Monday morning. And since the incident, there have been speculations that he was involved in the murder given his surprise escape.

Appearing in chains and shackles, visibly ruffled Baba told newsmen at the police headquarters yesterday that he attempted to wipe all the family members and then commit suicide.

“I killed my parents and my siblings alone without the help of anybody. It was a sad event. It was a great loss to our relations,” he said as he shook his head, adding that he killed them while they were at the father’s sick bed. According to Baba, he used two knives in the kitchen and stabbed the family members and in the process his brother Farouk escaped and hid in the bathroom. Although he was unable to give a coherent detail as to the sequence of the murder, he revealed that his ailing father died and then he killed the remaining family members. “I stabbed him after he died because I realised that life would be unbearable for the family members after our father’s death,” he said.

He noted that he refused to commit suicide because his 11-year-old brother was also alive. A security source however said the motive behind the young man’s act was because he wanted to inherit the house and a few other assets of the father.

When his younger brother, Faruq, who also escaped, hid in the bathroom, he attempted in vain to force open the door and kill him too. On realising that he could not kill his brother, Baba warned him not to confess to anybody that he (Baba) killed his parents and siblings.

Another security official who spoke with our correspondent under condition of anonymity said Baba was under the effect of drugs when they arrested him on Monday morning. Many neighbours also corroborated the security official’s remark, saying Baba was a drug addict.

“Investigations showed that the suspect is a drug addict, and as soon as I saw him in the morning I knew that the boy was part of the crime,” a security official told our reporter. Addressing the press yesterday, the Kano Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Gana, said the late SSS officer was on his sickbed and the family members were gathered around him praying for his recovery when Baba came into the compound and said since his father’s ailment had appeared terminal, he should be killed immediately.

The commissioner noted that after saying that the father should be killed for the family to rest, he went and picked a knife and began stabbing them. But the family spokesman, Umar Danjani Hadejia, said they were unhappy with the conduct of the investigation, saying Baba did not commit the murder alone without the hand of other accomplices. He said the family was surprised with the police and the SSS’s conclusion that Baba alone committed the murders.

“We are not ruling out Baba’s involvement in the murders but we believe there are some accomplices because when his mother put a distress call to her sister she told her ‘they are going to kill us’ not ‘he is going to kill us’, and when she asked her to disclose their identity, she said ‘Baba and others’,” said Alhaji Danjani.

The family also said that 11-year-old Faruq had confessed to them that he recognised one Aminu, who was wearing short knickers, among the killers. While further expressing the family’s dismay with the outcome of the investigation, he called on the SSS and the police to thoroughly investigate the matter and bring the accomplices to book. Bello Garba Bello, popularly known as Baba, dropped out from the Physics Department at the Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil.
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jpeg&STREAMOID=kfK5XKmGk3ZjtCLTV8gWrS6SYeqqxXXqBcOgKOfTXxSihxxWis4gX__mt_3sgpPnwLkdkNm4NaK1iliY4aRX7GEabxkeoo57KN3LcI4Be79xyJSXHeyn6i9C8rc3E0xoX_kuXYWCUJRqviwH8FNPwULIcdFM9zupuYHBJc2ySZk-A 56-year-old man,/ John Oromoro, is in police custody for allegedly killing his pastor, Ben Ojinaka.

The incident happened on Sunday, September 19th at Jakande Estate, Ajangbadi. Mr Oromoro said the pastor of Jesus Power Ministry, Benjamin Ojinaka, 45, allegedly raped his 15-year-old daughter in July this year. He said he went to confront the pastor on the allegation that it was his daughter that lured him to have sex with him when a fight ensued between them that led to the pastor’s death. “I be tanker driver,” he said. “The thing wey happen na since more than one month ago. My daughter, wen be the last born of my fourteen children get marine spirit. Pastor Ben come say him fit deliver her. Na me and pastor na we form the church together, so na so pastor come dey carry her go for deliverance.”

Scandal and death

Mr Oromoro stated that his daughter was eventually delivered of the ‘spirits’ but he noticed she kept going back to church after the deliverance. “Later my daughter come refused to go church; after I ask her many times, she come confessed say pastor Ben rape her for inside my house one day during deliverance,” he said. “I come vex, go meet pastor. Him come tell me make I forgive am say na devil work, I vex but I come forgive pastor.” He said he then heard rumours of the pastor claiming that his daughter lured him to have sex with him. “When I hear say pastor dey tell people say na my daughter rape am, I come go him house on Sunday go ask am say why him dey spoil my daughter name,” he said. “Him tell me to get out from him house , I come vex, we come dey fight. Na so people for the compound come separate us. As pastor dey run go tell police, na so him fall down.”.

According to the wife of the deceased, Mr Ojinaka slumped after the fight and was rushed to a private hospital. “As him fall down, we pour water for him body but him no wake up,” said Mrs Ojinaka. “We carry am go private hospital and them refer us to General hospital for Badagry. When the doctor seem am for general hospital, them say pastor don die make we carry am go mortuary.” His corpse was subsequently taken to the mortuary at the General hospital, Isolo, Lagos.

Police officers from the Ilemba Hausa Police Station arrested Mr Oromoro and the case has been transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department at Panti, Yaba. Homicide detectives at Panti said investigation into the case has began. Frank Mba, the Lagos Police Command Spokesperson, advised resident to shun violence and embrace peace.

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The cause of the death of a BRT passenger, Ms. Ifeanyi Dennis, who was allegedly killed by a commercial bus driver being pursued by men of the Lagos State Transport Management Agency on Thursday, is still generating controversy...

While a witness, Mr. Adetiba Joseph, told PUNCH METRO that Ifeanyi was killed by a fleeing bus driver, who was being pursued by the LASTMA men, the agency denied any complicity in the death of the 42 year-old woman.

But Joseph, who insisted that the victim was knocked down by the fleeing driver, added that Ifeanyi died on the spot before medication could be administered to her.

According to him, the death sparked off a spontaneous reaction from members of the public including commercial motorcyclists, popularly called okada riders, who allegedly pursued LASTMA officials at the scene.

Joseph said the officials later reinforced, stormed the scene and confiscated 15 motorcycles, while the motorcyclists ran away.

Joseph said, “Around 1pm, LASTMA people were pursuing one danfo motor. The danfo driver wanted to escape from LASTMA at the service lane when the officials blocked the road with their rake-like equipment. The vehicle crossed to BRT side and knocked down one of the two women that were standing at the BRT tarmac.

“We carried her to the other side of the road. We took her to a nearby hospital but before we could reach there, she was already dead. When the emergency response operation came after being phoned, they discovered that she was already dead.

“Later, people pursued LASTMA officials standing there. Afterwards the officials came and impounded 15 motorcycles from the other side.”

The Pastor of Living Covenant Christian Assembly, Onigbongbo, Maryland, Pastor Timmy Amode, where the deceased worshipped, said although he was not there at the time of the accident, information available to him corroborated Joseph‘s account.

He, however, said he witnessed when LASTMA officials came and confiscated the motorcycles.

Amode said, “She was at the BRT stand to catch a vehicle. How the bus got there and knocked her down, we do not know. Every attempt to talk to LASTMA officials there soon after was unsuccessful as regards what happened.

“When we were still at the hospital, LASTMA people came in five vehicles and cordoned off the entire area and took away some motorcycles. I do not know if they made any arrest but I am a witness at this point.”

But the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, on Sunday said LASTMA was not in any way responsible for Ifeanyi’s death.

He said the woman had had the accident before the attention of his officials at Maryland was drawn to the scene.

According to him, the officials quickly informed the appropriate rescue and accident management unit, who raced to the scene, adding that the cordoning off of the road was to aid the evacuation and possible treatment of the woman. ,

Opeifa said, “Our record has it that there was an incident around Channels Television at Maryland. The attention of LASTMA was drawn to a woman that was killed by a hit-and-run-driver.

“We called Lagos Ambulance Emergency Response and the Ministry of Heath. “The health officials promptly came to the scene, but before they could reach there, she had already died. As soon as we got there, LASTMA stopped traffic.

“In the process of managing the traffic, the public including, okada riders, who had developed sympathy for the deceased, spoiled for a fight for not allowing traffic to continue.

“They started attacking LASTMA officials. Police came in and dispersed them and the okada riders.”

The younger brother to the deceased, Mr. Onyeka Dennis, advised the Lagos State Government to reform LASTMA to curb their alleged excesses.

He added that people should show more attention and concern for others especially accident victims and people in need.

The Lagos State Police Command spokesperson, Mr. Frank Mba, in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Sunday, said he was not aware of the incident.

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WRITTEN BY SHARAFA DAUDA AND YAHAYA IBRAHIM, MAIDUGURI
WEDNESDAY, 16 JUNE 2010 05:26
A twenty eight year old qur’anic school student resident in Bulabulin Ngarnam Ward, Maiduguri was yesterday sentenced to death by hanging for killing his 14-year old wife, Amsa Usman Abdu, over disagreement on sex.

The convict said for seven months,his wife only allowed him access to her three times.

A Maiduguri High Court ruled yesterday that Abubakar Goni should be hang by his neck until he is certified dead, declaring that he used a kitchen knife to stab his wife on several parts of her body until she died because she refused to have sexual intercourse with him around 3:00am on October 22, 2003. The presiding judge, Justice Abdullahi Sanya Yerima, said the man committed culpable homicide punishable with death as provided for in Section 221(b) of the Penal Code..

Goni had during his arraignment told the court that the marriage between him and late Amsa was contracted by his father against his wish, but he accepted his father’s decision in good faith and endured to live with the wife despite her “stubbornness”. He said, “My father married Amsa for me. I never knew her before then but I accepted her as my wife in good faith. During our married life, which lasted for seven months, she disregarded and disrespected me. Whenever I wanted to have sex with her, she refused. For the seven months we lived together, we only had sex three times. I reported her conduct to my father several times, but he begged me to approach her gently as she was still a small girl. My father even reported her to her father, who personally advised her on two occasions”, parts of his statement to the police read.

Goni said on that day, around 2:00am while they were asleep in the same room within his father’s compound where they lived, his late wife repeated her usual turn down.

“I demanded to have sex with her, but she refused. I begged her several times but she still refused. I then left her inside the room, went out and searched for a knife, which I got in the kitchen. I took possession of the knife and went back to the room with annoyance and stabbed her several times at different places,” he confessed.

In his testimony, Goni’s father, Alhaji Goni Umara, said an unusual sound woke him from sleep in the night and he rushed to the scene and found his son with a knife, who told him that he had stabbed his wife. Bintu Goni Umara, a step mother of the husband said, “The knife used by Goni in stabbing his wife belongs to me, and on that day, I left it in the kitchen.” The judge said he convicted Goni as charged even though his counsel pleaded for leniency on ground of age, being a first time offender, and the fact that Goni was legally married to the deceased but was denied sexual intercourse. The counsel said sex is an undisputable right in marriage and refusing Goni made him to act in anger and frustration.

But Justice Abdullahi Sanya Yerima insisted that the act was a grave and heinous crime and the section under which he was charged provides no option.

In another homicide case heard in the court, one Fadimatu Ibrahim who was accused of killing her husband, Ibrahim Usman, by stabbing him on the chest with a knife was freed.

Fadimatu, a native of Baram in Hawul Local Government Area of Borno State, was said to have stabbed her husband with a knife on May 17, 2004 and was charged with culpable homicide, which is not punishable with death as provided under section 224 of the Penal Code.

Justice Sanya discharged and acquitted Fadimatu for want of evidence. According to him, the prosecutor failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused was guilty of the offence as required in any homicide case, saying there was no proof that Usman died or that Fadimatu caused his death as earlier filed in the case of no submission by the defence counsel, Barrister A. Shettima.


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A balancing act says Judge .An Eye for An Eye.

The court heard that trouble started when Ajikere, his brother and two girls boarded an unpainted taxi cab operated by Fabiyi, who was in plainclothes. The group had to alight from the cab following disagreement on the fare charged by the driver.

Fabiyi was angered by the group’s decision to abandon his taxi in preference for another and made his resentment known to the group, following an exchange of uncomplimentary words between both parties.

Bent on getting his pound of flesh, Fabiyi trailed the group to a mobile police check-point close to a five-star hotel along GRA and hurriedly lied to the policemen that the occupants of the other cab were criminals and should be dealt with.

Testifying at the trial, the younger brother of murdered Ajikere said the group was ordered out of the cab and frog-jumped, beaten black and blue and ordered to lay face-down on the tarred road. This was even as the policemen refused to listen to their own side of the story.

Photo:instance of police brutality



Unable to bear the torture any longer, he said, Ajikere tried to stand up and was shot at point-blank range by Cpl. Aminu. His life could not be saved as he was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital that said Ajikere died of excessive bleeding.

Delivering judgment after sentencing the men to death by hanging, Monday, Justice Boma Diepreyi said the sentence would serve as a deterrent to other uniformed men “whose stock-in-trade is to kill innocent citizens under the guise of accidental discharge.”

Diepreyi said it would be unfair to take the plea of both Fabiyi and Aminu for mercy, adding: “In as much as I sympathize with them, there is the blood of the young Nnamdi Ajikere, the deceased 20 year-old final year student of University of Port Harcourt crying for vengeance.

“Justice is a balancing act and the only way to a balanced justice in this case is to make the accused persons face the consequences of their reckless act and hope that this will serve as a deterrent to those who may want to emulate their terrible example.”

Meantime, in preparation for the 2011 elections, the Nigeria Police Force has warned its officers to steer clear of inducements by politicians or their agents during the elections stressing that officers found culpable may be dismissed from service and jailed.

The Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Operations, Mr. John Hamza Ahmadu, who gave the warning, Tuesday, while addressing the officers at the state command headquarters in Ilorin, also announced that N2billion has been released for the housing projects for officers nationwide.

Ahmadu charged the officers not to compromise their professional ethics and destroy their career because of what he described as chicken fees from politicians assured them that all their allowances would be paid before the elections.

He also urged politicians to warn their supporters to restrict their campaigns to their manifestos and play the game according to the rules adding that those who foment trouble will be dealth with.

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MOSCOW –

Two female suicide bombers known as “black widows” blew themselves up in Moscow’s busy metro during morning rush hour killing at least 35 people, according to the Russian authorities.

wounding 38, the city's mayor and other officials said. Emergency Ministry spokeswoman Svetlana Chumikova said 23 people were killed in an explosion shortly before 8 a.m. at the Lubyanka station in central Moscow. The station is underneath the building that houses the main offices of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, the KGB's main successor agency. A second explosion hit the Park Kultury station about 45 minutes later. Chumikova said at least 12 were dead there. The ministry later said 38 people were injured. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said both explosions were believed to have been set off on the trains. "The first data that the FSB has given us is that there were two female suicide bombers," Luzhkov told reporters at the Park Kultury site..

The blasts practically paralyzed movement in the city center as emergency vehicles sped to the stations. In the Park Kultury blast, the bomber was wearing a belt packed with plastic explosive and set it off as the train's doors opened, said Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for Russia's top investigative body. The woman has not been identified, he told reporters. The last confirmed terrorist attack in Moscow was in August 2004, when a suicide bomber blew herself up outside a city subway station, killing 10 people. Responsibility for that blast was claimed by Chechen rebels and suspicion in Monday's explosions is likely to focus on them and other separatist groups in the restive North Caucasus region. In February, Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov warned in an interview on a rebel-affiliated Website that "the zone of military operations will be extended to the territory of Russia ... the war is coming to their cities." Umarov also claimed his fighters were responsible for the November bombing of the Nevsky Express passenger train that killed 26 people en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg. The Moscow subway system is one of the world's busiest, carrying around 7 million passengers on an average workday, and is a key element in running the sprawling and traffic-choked city. Helicopters hovered over the Park Kultury station area, which is near the renowned Gorky Park. Passengers, many of them in tears, streamed out of the station, one man exclaiming over and over "This is how we live!" ___ Associated Press Writers Jim Heintz and Mansur Mirovalev in Moscow contributed to this report.

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Man guilty of killing Nigerian in London

BBC
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A 22-year-old man, Chrisdian Johnson, has been found guilty of murdering a 16-year-old Nigerian, Oluwaseyi Ogunyemi, who was mauled by a dog before being stabbed in south London, the British Broadcasting Corporation reports.



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Johnson used his dog as a weapon on Ogunyemi before stabbing him in an attack in a park in Stockwell, the Old Bailey heard.

Oluwaseyi was brought down by one of the dogs as he tried to jump over a fence. He was then stabbed six times.

Johnson's brother Shane, 20, was cleared of murder.

The murder was described in court as unique because dangerous dogs were used as weapons to savage their victims before they were knifed.

Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, told jurors, "At the time of the attack, both dogs were unleashed, and chased and then brought down and savaged their victims, giving their human masters an advantage, enabling them then to access their victims in order to stab them with knives."

One witness said the behaviour of the youths in the attack was "vicious" and "mirrored the behaviour of a pack of wild animals," Mr. Altman told jurors.

Johnson was arrested as he fled from the scene of the murder in Larkhall Park bare-chested and covered in blood.

Johnson, of South Lambeth, south London, had been allowed to keep the animal only when a court imposed strict conditions on his ownership in late 2007.

He was also convicted of the attempted murder of the victim's 17-year-old friend, Hurui Hiyabu, said to have been lucky to survive after he was knifed nine times.

Detective Inspector Mick Norman said, "Seyi Ogunyemi was a young man of slight stature, suffering from Crohn's Disease.

"He was attacked by a dog released by Chrisdian Johnson and taken to the ground. While on the ground, he was stabbed where he lay. He didn't stand a chance."

Johnson was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on Friday (today).
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DETECTIVES at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command are current growing grey hairs over the gruesome murder of a lawyer, Mrs. Pamela Ebuzeme and two of her domestic aides in Karu, a satellite town in Abuja on Monday advertisement According to family sources, the late Mrs. Ebuzeme, who ran a travels agency in the city centre, left her home for the office on Monday, dropping her daughter in school along the way. At about 11.30 a.m. she was driven back home by three men who went straight into the duplex located at Karu Phase Two where they axed Mrs. Ebuzeme to death. The assailants also killed their first victim's cook in her kitchen. Thereafter, they lured the gateman into the sitting room, who, when he saw the gruesome scene, attempted to make good his escape by running upstairs but was also hacked down. Having ensured that the three were dead, the assailants reportedly sped away in the late lawyer's sports utility vehicle, locking the gate with a padlock on the outside. At the close of school, Mrs. Ebuzeme's daughter, who expected her mother to pick her up, waited for her to no end. After putting several calls to her mother's phone which went unanswered, the worried daughter later called her father, Mr. Ekene Ebuzeme, who later came at about 4.00p.m.to take her home. When they got the house, Mr. Ebuzeme, a Quantity Surveyor, blared his car horn for the security man to open gate to no avail and decided to open the gate by himself with his spare key. In the house, Mr. Ebuzeme fell on the gruesome scene of the triple homicide and raised the alarm, which attracted neighbours. Later some policemen from Karu Division arrived at the scene. When The Guardian visited the house yesterday, a team of policemen led by the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 7, Mrs. Ivy Okoronkwo was there but declined to speak on the issue. But the Police Public Relations Officer in the FCT Command, Jimoh Moshood, confirmed the incident. His words: "I can confirm to you that the incident took place and we have started investigation with a view to arresting the perpetrators. We will inform you about the outcome of the investigation. We are determined to explore all avenues and the state CIC has commenced full investigation." Associate Parish Priest, St. Donald's Parish, Karu, Rev. Cyprian Imandeh, who was among the first set of sympathisers to arrive at the scene after the alarm raised by Ebuzeme, said it was "a case of gruesome murder." According to him, Ebuzeme and his late wife came to the church last Sunday and played significant roles in the conduct of the day's mass. He added: "They are very strong members of our church. Just last Sunday, we all met in the church where I conducted the mass. What I saw when we went to the house shocked me and I could not sleep when I got back home. This is a gruesome act but God will surely punish those involved."
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THE continued fall of naira against international currencies, particularly the dollar and pound sterling is having a serious consequence on Nigerians living in Dubai, United Arab Emirate.A survey carried out by TTH in Dubai and other Emirates of the UAE, recently, showed that Nigerians are migrating out of Dubai to other Asian countries in their thousands "because the fall of naira has been making mince meat of our efforts here".Investigation revealed that Nigerians were having a rosy time in Dubai, until June 2008, when the value of a dollar was being exchanged for N118, “since then, we have never have peace for the naira continued to slide while the dollar continued to wax strong and stronger.”Speaking with TTH, Abiodun Taiwo, a Nigerian and an HND, Marketing graduate of The Polytechnic, Ibadan “I came to Dubai in 1999 and because the naira was strong then, I had good reason to thank God. And so with many of us. But since June last year our stories have changed from better to worse."Most of us have started migrating back home. Some of us have left for China, Bangkok, Malaysia, USA.“In fact, the fall of naira is not having its consequences on Nigerians in Dubai alone, but on Dubai government too because as a Cargo Manager, the volume of trade between Nigeria and Dubai has dropped drastically. Just because the profit margin of goods and services is no longer encouraging.”Another Nigerian, Christopher Okey, who operates an African Kitchen at the back of a mosque at Deira District in Dubai, was full of lamentation about the fortunes of the naira. "My brother, (covering his head with his palm) we are suffering here. Our suffering is not in the hand of the Dubai Authority or their policy or police, no. We are crying under the yoke of the free fall of naira at the foreign market."Most of us are closing our shops and heading somewhere else. I am looking for a buyer for this place. Immediately I get a buyer, I am off, either to Nigeria or Japan."Last year when you were here, you saw how busy I was. This place, (pointing to the upper floor of his restaurant) was always full. I always have hectic time attending to thousands of customers, but you can see for yourself now. How many customers have been here since?"Our fortune is dwindling because less people are coming from Nigeria to trade here".He appealed to the Federal Government to do “some arithmetics and tinker with the value of the naira and prevent its further slide at the international market.”
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A South African judge has sentenced three men to life in prison for killing reggae star Lucky Dube in 2007.The 43-year-old was shot as the three stole his car in a Johannesburg suburb in a case which shocked the nation.Family members broke down in tears, cheered and applauded in response, the South Africa Press Association reports."The sentence won't heal me, but we are happy they were arrested and that the law took its course," his wife Zanele Dube said afterwards.The BBC's Mpho Lakaje outside the South Gauteng High Court says musicians and fans gathered outside to show their support.I don't think we will ever recover from this. But we are happy that justice has been doneBacking singer Tonique ThalaSouth Africa's singing peacemakerThe court had heard that the three men thought their victim was Nigerian and did not realise his identity until they read about it in the newspapers the following day.Our reporter says one of the banners outside court read: "Lucky Dube did not look like a Nigerian; he's an African."According to Sapa, the court also sentenced Sifiso Mhlanga, Julius Gxowa, and Mbuti Mabe to 15 years each for the attempted robbery of Dube's car.Murder alarmOne of Dube's backing vocalists said there was a sense of relief that the trial was over."I don't think we will ever recover from this. But we are happy that justice has been done," Tonique Thala said.South Africa's best-selling reggae artist, Dube recorded 22 albums in Zulu, English and Afrikaans during his 25-year career.The killing had led to renewed domestic calls for the restoration of the death penalty in a bid to stem one of the world's highest murder rates.Our reporter says South Africa's international image has been tarnished by its alarming crime levels.Nearly 19,000 people were murdered last year, according to official statistics.Millions of visitors are expected for next year's football World Cup.

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