By Moshood Adebayo, Abeokuta
Barely one week in office, the Area Comptroller of Customs, Ogun
State Command, Prince Ademuyiwa Dosunmu, has made a rare seizure of
3,000 short gun cartridges as well as 40 bags of weeds suspected to be
cannabis sativa, popularly known as Indian hemp.
In his maiden address, Dosunmu said the seizures were made in the early hours of Thursday in a Honda CRV at Agosasa bush path.
The controller lamented what he described as the grave consequences
of the ammunition if it had been successfully smuggled into the country.
“The illegal consignment of arms could cause mayhem as well as other
security challenges that would have been unbearable to all and sundry if
the smugglers had succeeded in their nefarious act,” Dosunmu said.
He put the street value at N768,000, and also disclosed that the driver of the ash-colour SUV fled after sensing danger.
While noting that the seizure was made possible through the vigilance
of officers and men of the command, he said that ordinarily nobody
would have known the vehicle was carrying ammunition.
“It looked like just any vehicle passing-by but it was through close
scrutiny that my men discovered it was carrying contraband or dangerous
items, particularly as the driver on sighting our officers and men
jumped into the bush, leaving behind his vehicle,” an elated Dosunmu
said.
Men of the command also intercepted about 1,288 cartons of smuggled
frozen poultry products, which Dosunmu described as not only highly
injurious to Nigerians, but posed serious threat to the economy of the
country.
He said: “I want to appeal to Nigerians to desist from engaging in
this unholy trade as well as consumption of same, which is injurious to
their health and hinder patronage of local poultry farmers trying to
grapple with the economy.”
In line with the Federal Government’s directive and regulations on
frozen poultry, the poultry products were later destroyed in the
presence of other security agencies in the state.
Among other seizures made were 147 kegs of 25-litre vegetable oil,
both with duty paid valued of N4,659,600, as well as 23 vehicles, bales
of second-hand clothing, shoes, children’s clothes and motorcycles.
Dosunmu also disclosed that 140,000 litres of petrol and 256 bags of
imported rice were also seized at Idi-Iroko and Abeokuta axis of the
state.
He urged traditional rulers at the border areas to assist theNigeria
Customs Service in the Herculean task of combating and checking
smuggling within the jurisdiction of the command.
STUDENTS of Cross River University of Technology, CRUTECH, protested
over alleged sexual harassment of female students, molestation and
extortion by some staff of the institution.
The students, numbering about 2, 000, blocked traffic at
Eleven-Eleven Bus Stop on their way to the Government House, Calabar to
register their grievance.
Some of the placards carried by the students had inscriptions such
as, ‘Sexual harassment of female students’, Female molestation’,
‘Extortion of money from students’, ‘No better CRUTECH, No better Cross
River’, ‘CRUTECH, no better lecture hall’.
CRUTECH Students Union president, Mr Ekong Eka, accused the state
government of neglecting students of the university, adding that, two
months ago, some groups of people came to the school to tell them that
government wanted to pay them bursary.
The police in Bayelsa State have arrested a 27 years old woman who allegedly stabbed her husband to death in the Azikoro suburb of Yenagoa the state capital.
The woman identified as Osas Omorege according to eyewitnesses stabbed her spouse, Chukwuma Iwu over alleged marital squabbles.
It was gathered that trouble started when the wife of the deceased suspected he was having extra marital affairs due to his alleged late night outings.
The tragic incident which threw the rustic Azikoro settlement into mourning occurred last Friday when the deceased reportedly received a phone call which the wife suspected was from one of his lovers.
The wife’s suspicion and anger over the phone call the source said, might have been fuelled by his alleged absence from home for two days.
“After returning late to his matrimonial home he received a phone call which the wife suspected was coming from his girlfriend and attempted to stop him from answering it”, the source added.
Consequently, a scuffle ensued and the deceased ordered his wife to move out of the house with her belongings, the source further said.
Angered by the wife’s refusal to comply with his order the deceased was said to have reached for a kitchen knife ostensibly to frighten her but she was adamant.
Immediately he dropped the knife, the wife was said to have picked the said knife and stabbed the husband on the chest.
The loud cry of the husband for help attracted neighbours who rushed to the scene and took him to the health facility in the community where he was confirmed dead.
The woman it was learnt turned in herself to the police where she is currently in detention and assisting them in their investigation into the matter.
Contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Fidelis Odunna (DSP) confirmed the incident saying the woman voluntarily gave up herself to the police. He said she would be charged to court for murder.
Source: Vanguard News
The police in Niger state have arrested a syndicate of human
traffickers that deals with the babies in Abuja, Niger and its environs.
The group sells these babies for the sum of N100, 000 and above.
The syndicate is allegedly operated by a staff nurse with the General
Hospital, Kubwa in Abuja, Martina Ohakwe who operates with her partner,
Kinsley Linus from Imo state.
The duo lure young ladies, expectant mothers, young mothers and their
babies in some states in the east to Abuja with the promise of
providing them with gainful employment and also lure young defenceless
girls with unwanted pregnancy with the promise of getting someone to
take care of their babies.
The women are camped in a house believed to be rented by Martina where they are taken care of before their babies are sold.
Before their arrest, the group had sold a seven months old twin
daughter of Ngozi Nwani after luring her with the promise of marriage
from Abakaliki, Ebonyi state. Kinsley gave the twin baby girl to Martina
who sold the baby to one Joy Opara for N400, 000 and the eight month
old of 20 year old Oluchi Agachi for N100, 000.
Speaking with our Correspondent when he was paraded, Kinsley denied
being a member of the syndicate group as he was only offering help for
the girls who wanted money to take care of themselves.
Source: Vanguard News
FORMER Minister of Interior and owner of integrated Oil and Gas
Limited Captain Emmanuel Iheanacho was yesterday arrested over his
involvement in the hijack of a vessel\M.T. Grace’ laden with suspected
stolen petroleum products.
Disclosing this to newsmen in Lagos, Director General of the
Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Mr.
Patrick Akpobolokemi said that the search for the sponsors of these
pirates has led to the tracing of the stolen products to integrated oil
and gas tank farm.
FORMER Minister of Interior Captain Emmanuel Ihenacho
Akpobolokemi who represented by NIMASA’s Executive Director in
charge of maritime labour services and Cabotage Barr. Obi Nwabueze said
that the premises of integrated has been sealed off pending
investigation.
He said NIMASA has come to the realisation that behind the facade
there are the kingpins and the big men who facilitate piracy adding the
agency in collaboration with other security operatives will unravel the
people behind the sale, purchase and storage of the stolen products.
“You recalled we had cause to parade some pirates here and we did say
that we were going to continue to look for those who were behind these
pirates because we came to the realisation that behind the facade there
are the kingpins and the big men who facilitate piracy.
“So in line with our promise to the Nigerian public, we intensified
our search for the big men behind the scene and we are happy to tell
you today that we have been able to trace them to a company, a major
company integrated oil and gas.
“The products that were stolen from the activities of piracy were
conveyed and stored at integrated oil and gas. As we speak we have
sealed off the company and we have arrested the top management of the
company.”
Not
too long ago, it was rumoured that Ngozi Nwosu was suffering from an
undisclosed illness, owing to her incredible loss of weight.
The light skinned actress and “Fuji House of Commotion” star on
national TV, is usually a bubbly and merry-go-round person and so it was
surprising when people started to notice she had emaciated and her
collar bones were becoming glaring in place of a once full and robust
body.
At the height of unimaginable insinuations then, the actress had
maintained her cool and even dismissed such insinuations by insisting
nothing was the matter with her.
However, we can inform you today that sources close to the veteran
actress have revealed that she has been suffering from a kidney ailment
for some weeks now and is currently receiving treatment at a private
medical facility. According to news reports gathered, she is confined to
her hospital bed and having difficulty speaking.
She is the second high profile face in the industry who is presently
bed-ridden owing to kidney related ailment. Popular actor and veteran,
Enebeli Elebuwa is also bed-ridden and his current health status remain
unclear as he had cause to deny being ‘healed’ after a popular ‘man of
God’ claimed to have prayed for and healed him of his sickness.
Not so many people get lucky when they fall in the hands of ritualists,
so those that find a way out, usually feel obligated to to tell their
stories and probably save somebody from such hell. A first year
student of Health Technology at the University of Benin Teaching
Hospital (UBTH), Miss Grace Ayetan (20), narrated her ordeal with ritualists to The Nation in Benin, the Edo State capital.
Grace, who was accompanied by her father, Mr. James Ayetan said:
“I boarded a bus from Ring-Road to school and there were other
passengers in the vehicle. At Five Junction, the bus stopped and the
conductor went down to pour water into the radiator. That is the last
thing I remembered. We all fell asleep. “When another passenger, a
woman, woke us up later, the bus was in the bush. Click to continue
reading.
“We started shouting, but the driver and the conductor brought out a gun and told us to be quiet.
“They took us to an underground house in the forest and put us
into different rooms. They chained us and hung our bags around our
necks. We went without food and water for days.
“After beheading a woman and her baby, a fight ensued between the ritualists over what to do with the rest of us. In the process, a bunch of keys fell from one of them.
“The fight drew the attention of the guards at the main entrance who took the parties into a room to settle the dispute.
“That gave one of us the opportunity to pick the keys and unlock the chains. That was how we escaped.”
Grace said a good Samaritan took them out of the forest and brought them to Benin.
She advised the public to be careful when boarding commercial vehicles. Mr. Ayetan urged security agents to curb the activities of ritualists
A
female robber who is also the leader of a gang of robbers was nabbed
and stripped naked by a mob in Abuja while she and her gang were trying
to rob another woman. Luck ran out of her as onlookers swooped down on
them and vented jungle justice.
Among the team of five, she was the only one who was captured as
the others were able to escape.Inside the ash coloured Nissan Sunny were
loads of ATM cards, Passports of various persons, her bag contained
“many phone” an eyewitness said.
This incident happened at the AREA 11 TRAFFIC LIGHT where they were
held by traffic as they were been chased. It happend on Thursday, at about
2:00pm. [pix from George Onmonya Daniel]
Some parts of Jos were engulfed in confusion Friday afternoon after
some Muslim youths took to the streets to protest an American film said
to have portrayed Prophet Mohammed in bad light.
What started as a peaceful protest by the youths bearing placards,
turned to chaos and confusion when soldiers fired gun shots into the
air, ostensibly to disperse the youths.
A News Agency of Nigeria correspondent, who witnessed the protest,
reports that there was confusion in the city centre as traders,
students, and other people ran to areas considered safe.
The confusion resulted in vehicles and pedestrians running into each
other, while traders, offices and banks were hurriedly shut down.
The development also caused a major traffic snarl, with unconfirmed rumours that violence had erupted in some areas.
NAN, however, observed that more security men were deployed to sensitive areas, especially churches around the city centre.
Also heavily guarded were eating joints, PHCN offices and banks.
Media Officer of the Special Task Force, Capt. Salisu Mustapha, who
spoke on the development, wondered why the confusion erupted as the
protests were supposed to be peaceful.
“We met with Muslim leaders and urged them not to allow the protests to take place in view of the security situation.
‘This afternoon, they started what we felt was peaceful, but I am
hearing something different. In fact, I am rushing to the area to see
things for myself, but my colleagues are already there.
“But generally, I think there is no casualty. Troops have been
stationed there and are merely shooting in the air to scare away the
youths, but nothing ugly happened,” he said.
Mustapha said he was particularly surprised at the protests because
he worshipped at the Jos Central Mosque, where the preachers cautioned
against any protest.
“I think most of the protesters must be people that did not even go
to the Mosque; people whose main concern is to cause confusion and make
trouble,” he said.
In Katsina, hundreds of Muslims on Friday staged a peaceful
demonstration to express their anger over a film they considered
blasphemous of the Prophet Mohammed.
NAN reports that the demonstrators started their protest at Sabon
Layi Area of the metropolis at 9.30a.m and moved peacefully through
Gwangwan Area to Kangiwa Square.
The demonstrators were seen carrying placards with assorted
inscriptions such as ‘Death to Amerians,” “May Allah Almighty punish
whoever tarnished the image of our Prophet,” and “To hell with the
attackers of Islam’ among others.”
During the demonstration, which lasted for over two hours, many
Muslims in procession were seen chanting various slogans condemning the
U.S. for their act, while others were only reciting verses of the Holy
Quran.
In his address, Malam Usman Mohammed, who led the demonstrators said,
“Our action is to express our anger over the blasphemous movie produced
in American.
“The personality of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), which is above every
Muslim is attacked, and whoever attacks the Prophet will face the
consequences.”
Mohammed prayed Allah to punish those involved in the production of that movie.
When contacted, the Deputy Police Public Relation Officer, Mr. Shehu
Koko, who confirmed the demonstration, said it was peaceful.
The demonstrators were accompanied by the police to ensure that the protest was peaceful.
From GODDY OSUJI, Abakaliki
For long, Ebonyi has been infamous for several reasons. It has been
described as a factory where house helps, kids hawking on major streets
of urban cities, children that labour at rice mills and quarries and
others are produced in large quantity.
But right now, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking
in Persons and other related matters (NAPTIP) is getting worried about
the state. NAPTIP said Ebonyi State produces about 75 per cent of the
entire victims of child labour and kid hawkers from the South-East.
The agency, fully committed to the prevention of all forms of human
degradation and exploitation, in an effort to stamp out human
trafficking, liberate the vulnerable, especially women and children from
dehumanisation, exploitative employment and ensure their rehabilitation
and effective reintegration into society, recently embarked on a
sensitisation drive to the womenfolk to campaign against child abuse.
The Enugu Zonal Head of the agency, Mrs. Nkiru Emmanuel, went round
the communities in Ebonyi State, talking to the women and men alike
against the ills of child abuse and exploitation and engaging the
under-aged in labour at rice mills and quarries.
Emmanuel frowned at such abuse and warned that the agency would not
spare anyone found to have abused the under-aged, engaged them in
exploitative labour, slavery and sexual exploitation, forced labour and
other related matters.
She reminded them that such an offender risks being sanctioned according to the law as stipulated in the statute book.
According to the Zonal Head of the Agency, NAPTIP came into existence
as a response to the scourge of human trafficking, child abuse and
child labour in the country.
She told Daily Sun in an exclusive interview that the agency was in
Ebonyi State, which falls under the Enugu Zone made up of Anambra,
Ebonyi, Enugu, Abia and Imo States, because the state was plagued with
different types of trafficking and child labour.
Her words: “In Ebonyi particularly, child abuse is noticed. Most of
them are not sending their children to school. Instead, they send them
out to beg, hawk, work in the quarries and also in the rice mills. That
is why we are particular about Ebonyi. And also, this issue of house
help syndrome is endemic in this state, even child labour. When I talk
about child labour, it involves both sexes. And when I talk about house
help, it involves both sexes.
“We have house girls, house boys and the victims we are getting in
this South-Eastern zone, 75 per cent of them are from Ebonyi State. So,
that is why we are using this meeting of women to sensitise on this
issue. In Ebonyi, there are 13 local government areas and each of these
local governments has its different days of meeting and all the
communities in the local government are represented at the meeting.
“So, we wish to sensitise them so that they will be able to carry out
the message to the grassroots because our mandate this year,
particularly, is that everybody must hear about this evil called human
trafficking and child labour.”
Asked what the core message to the women was, she replied: “The
message is for every woman. We are the pillars, the foundation in every
society, every state.
“So, when you educate a woman, you have succeeded in educating a
nation and some of our mothers are the ones sending out their children.
So, we want them to know what is happening. Like, if you don’t have
access to the child you are sending out, you can’t call the child… And
some of these women are in the rural areas. They don’t even know where
Lagos is and you are sending your child there and you can’t even travel
to where your child is located.
“So, don’t send your child where you don’t know or have access to. Don’t you see it as a result of poverty?
“Yes, poverty is part of it, but there are other factors. Being
uninformed is one factor because they can’t come and deceive you or I.
It is only the uninformed, the uneducated ones that they can deceive.
And when a woman cannot take care of the number of children she has, she
decides to give out some.
“Another factor is greed because they have the food, the clothing and
shelter, so what are you looking for? Maybe you have a bungalow, and
you are looking for a storey building. You now decide to send out your
child to get the money for you. Another factor is laziness. Some parents
are lazy and even when you talk to them, they become aggressive and
angry about it and will ask you if they are not their children.
“On the issue of those that work in rice mills and quarries, we have
carried out sensitization where we invited them and sensitised them.
“Then, after that, if it continues we have to arrest them.”
Emmanuel mentioned offences that attract various sentences as
procurement of any person for illicit intercourse with another person;
causing or encouraging the seduction or prostitution of any person under
18 years and the procurement of any person less than 18 years to have
unlawful carnal knowledge, either in Nigeria or outside Nigeria.
She explained that there were two types of trafficking; internal and external.
“While internal trafficking is all about street begging, house-help
syndrome, forced marriage kidnapping, ritual and unpaid labour, external
trafficking is all about exploitative labour, pornography, prostitution
and homosexualism, drug peddling and recruitment for war,” she said.
Emmanuel also spoke about the causes of human trafficking.
She said: “They include, ignorance, low level of education,
unemployment, poverty, greed, increased demand for cheap labour and peer
pressure, while negative effects of human trafficking include, among
other things, impaired growth on children, negative impact on national
image, bad health such as HIV, tuberculosis, gonorrhea and negative
effect on the country’s culture,” she explained. Mrs. Emmanuel argued
that women should effectively participate in curbing the trend.”
She urged women leaders to select trustworthy women to form a committee in charge of taking children outside their homes.
“This committee should also be in charge of human trafficking
activities in their area and should report back to us as a kind of
follow-up,” she suggested.
She also advised that women should not give out their children to
unknown persons or allow their children, especially the girl child, to
be taken to places where they would not have access to them.
She cautioned against handing out their female children to people of
questionable character who might want to use them for prostitution
outside the country.
The NAPTIP boss reminded the women that children are gifts from God and as such proper care should be accorded them.
Emmanuel also warned them to be careful of people with sugar-coated
tongues who come to take away their child promising to do all sorts of
goodies for the child.
She said many people come with the intention to take them for
prostitution and slavery outside the country where they are subjected to
all kinds of forced labour.
While noting that even boys are subjected to prostitution, she advised mothers to monitor the whereabouts of their children.
She said: “You should be sure of where your child is. Even some that
take them as house helps also use them as slaves from one family to the
other only to collect money.”
She warned that those found indulging in such abominable acts as well
as parents who use their children to beg for alms would equally face
the consequences as prescribed by law.
By MATTHEW DIKE
A woman threw caution to the winds in Imo State as she set her
85-year-old stepmother ablaze, after splashing her two grandchildren
with hot water.
The natives of Ndiokwu Lorji, Aboh Mbaise area of the state, would
not forget the fateful day in a hurry as the devil, metaphorically, took
control of one of them and she caused tragedy within her own family.
People wept uncontrollably at the sight of the old woman and the two
kids who were writhing in pains following the alleged action of the
suspect.
Gladys, 48, mother of many children, was said to have splashed hot water on Emeka Ukaegbu, 4, and Nzube Ukaegbu, 6.
Daily Sun gathered that the children were viewing a film in the
family parlour when Gladys appeared with the hot water and before
anybody knew what she was up to, she had poured the hot water on the two
kids.
Their uncle, Chukwuma Ukaegbu, 32, told Daily Sun in Lagos that the
kids screamed as they were running out from the parlour in agony.
Chukwuma said his mother, 85-year-old Mary Ukaegbu, staggered as she ran to inquire what had happened.
The woman was shocked to see her grandchildren with their body peeled .
The children kept shouting the name Gladys to their enraged grandmother who moved in haste to see Gladys.
Upon sighting the old woman, Gladys allegedly poured a substance suspected to be fuel on her and immediately set her ablaze.
Mary, Emeka and Nzube were rushed to the hospital but only the two kids were admitted while hospitals rejected the old woman.
Chukwuma said the incident began at about 1.30pm, adding that his mother (Mary) gave up the ghost at 11 pm same day, August 20.
Chukwuma said the kids are still in hospital receiving treatment as at the time of filing this report.
He explained that Emeka sustained injury from his head to the back.
He said Nzube was the worst hit as his body peeled completely from head to toe.
He said it took some days before the eyes of Nzube could open.
Chukwuma could not fathom what could have been the cause of Gladys’ anger.
According to him, there used to be minor quarrel over sundry issues like “your goat ate my leaves or yam.”
He alleged that there was nothing very serious that would have warranted such wicked act.
He further alleged that his elder brother, Nnabuihe, told him that
Gladys had several times threatened that she would kill his (Nnabuihe’s)
children, kill him (Nnabuihe) and their mother, Mary.
He said Nnabuihe waved her threat off as one of those empty ones.
They never knew evil thought was brewing in the heart of the suspect until the fateful day.
Policemen from Aboh Mbaise Division arrested Gladys the following day
and later transferred the case to the State Criminal Investigation
Department (SCID), Owerri, Imo State.
While Chukwuma insisted that the name of his half sister is Gladys,
the Imo State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Vitalis Onugu, a
deputy superintendent, while confirming the story to Daily Sun, said the
name police recorded in the file was Clarene.
Onugu said the suspect had an altercation with the two children and
as she wanted to pour petrol on them, she allegedly poured it on the old
woman, Mary, and she went up in flames.
Onugu also said the suspect later poured hot water on the children.
The police spokesman said the suspect would soon be arraigned in court.
Source: Daily Sun
What residents have to face as a result of the River Benue surge (credits: Vanguard)
As the floods that have been predicted in strategic parts continue, at least ten teenage girls have lost their lives when their canoe capsized on their way to a wedding in Taraba one of the regions hit by the predicted flooding.
According to the head of the Red Cross in Taraba
State, Manja Agwe Mathew, on Wednesday, three others who were in the
canoe that capsized on the Karim River are still missing: “The bodies of
10 passengers in the canoe were recovered by local fishermen while
search for the remaining three is still on,” he said.
He added that the accident occurred late on Tuesday while the group
was travelling “to a wedding ceremony in another village across the
river.”
Earlier on, on Monday, the Red Cross had announced that at least 137 people have died in Nigeria since July from flood-related causes. Water levels have surged on the River Benue,
which feeds the Karim, causing at least 30 deaths. Meanwhile, the
thousands of people in the south and centre of the country who live on
the plains of the River Niger have been urged to evacuate their homes, fearing that the river will overflow.
You
remember the story we brough you last week of the Ghanian “Doctor” that
rapes his patients- usually young women with unwanted pregnancies,
before performing crude abortion procedures on them? Well, here’s a
video to his dastardly act which was secretly recorded by a Ghanian
undercover journalist who posed as a worker in the clinic where this
fake doctor works.
The “doctor”, Joshua Drah, will pretend to ‘seek the consent’ of his
victims by telling them while they are in that helpless position, that
he has to have sex with them to make the procedure ‘less painful’ and to
drive home his point, actually starts yanking out the insides of a
hesitant girl, who quickly allows him have his way after screaming out
in pain! Even with blood already dripping out of his hapless victim! The
procedure is also carried out without the patients been anesthetized,
so the women are fully conscious, feeling every torture this ” Sexy Lord
of Abortion” inflicts on them.
Meanwhile, The Ghana Medical Association has expressed worry over the
news reports about Joshua Drah at Madina, who claimed to be a medical
practitioner. This was contained in a release issued and signed by the
General Secretary, Dr Frank Serebour, and copied to the Ghana News
Agency on Friday. It said: “Indeed, the Ghana Medical Association will
like to state emphatically that the said Joshua Drah, according to our
records, is not a Medical Doctor and that his actions should not be used
to drag the name of doctors into disrepute.”
The press release also enjoined the public to be circumspect in their
dealings with individuals who posed as medical doctors and should
immediately report all suspicious individuals to the security agencies
for appropriate actions to be taken.
“Moreover, the judicial system should give stiffer punishment to such
unscrupulous individuals to deter others from treading the same
course,” it added
Click the link below to watch the video.
A Texas man, Franklin B. Davis, accused of
murdering a 16-year-old girl used social media to lure her to a meeting,
abduct her from her school and drive her to a river, where he killed
her to keep her from testifying against him, police and a family
spokeswoman said.
Franklin
Davis gave a series of jailhouse interviews to local media outlets on
Monday [Sep 10] to share his part of the story. Demons, he said. It was
the demons. "I didn't plan on hurting her", he told WFAA's David
Schecter. "I was fighting demons. It was like a different person was in
me”.
The facts of the story are unsettling. Davis, 30, is charged
with molesting Shania Gray, then 14, several times when she was a
babysitter for his kids. She was scheduled to testify at his trial in
October 2012 which, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by the
Morning News, is why Davis wanted to talk to her.
Davis created a
fake Facebook account with the picture of a teenage boy. He began
messaging Shania, telling her he knew her friends and had a crush on
her, per the paper's front-pager on Sunday. He called her using a
pre-paid cell phone and agreed to meet her Thursday at Hebron High
School.
Shania was surprised to see him, according to the
affidavit, but agreed to get into the car when he said he just wanted to
talk about the assault case. During the drive to a trail head at Valley
View Lane and 635, she saw a pistol in his car and asked Davis if he
planned to hurt her. He said no, and they walked down the trail to the
Trinity, where he shot her twice.
Quote
"Why,
Wish?" she asked as she stumbled into the water, using his nickname.
Davis then pulled her onto the bank and stepped on her neck until she
stopped breathing, according to what he told police. Shania's body was
found there two days later.
"I needed to get some kind of
evidence, some kind of proof myself to show I did not made love with her
and that she's lying”, David told the television station. He said he
didn't intend to harm Gray but was overcome in the moment.
"I was fighting demons", Davis told the station. "It was like a different person was in me. It wasn't me."
Hundreds
of friends and well-wishers joined Gray's parents at a candlelight
vigil Monday [Sep 10] night outside Horn High School in Mesquite, where
she previously attended.
KTVT-TV of Dallas and Fort Worth
reported that one student was taken to a hospital after her friends said
she was crying so hard that she had a seizure.
Davis was
arrested on Saturday [Sep 8] and allegedly confessed. He's being held in
Dallas County on a capital murder charge. Bond is set at $2 million.
Friends and family have set up a memorial Facebook page in memory of
Shania.
Members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities, (SSANU), Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko branch, who are currently on a three-day warming strike over unpaid allowances, on Tuesday staged a protest march in the university campus.
The workers chased the Vice Chancellor, Femi Mimiko, out of his residence over what they described as his “high-handedness.”
They alleged that the VC, who is a younger brother to the state Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, treated the members of staff of the university as less than human.
It took the combined efforts of policemen and operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) to rescue the VC through the back doors of his official residence when the angry protesters marched on the house.
The striking workers massed around the imposing structure and sang solidarity songs, holding the VC and his management team hostage for hours.
The incident later degenerated rapidly, as the workers hauled stones and other dangerous missiles at the building where Mimiko and the management team had just ended a meeting with leaders of the striking unions.
They were protesting over payment of arrears of hazard allowance as captured in the FGN-Unions agreement of 2009.
Attempts by the VC to leave the premises after the meeting was delayed for several hours, as the workers, led by Ayo Falade (JAC-3), Akingbesote (SSANU), Giwa (NASU) and Aguda (NAAT) virtually held him hostage.
The VC’s exit was ultimately facilitated by some top officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) who, reportedly, had been around all day to discourage the striking workers from taking any action that could impair the delicate peace in the state.
An aide to the VC who insisted on speaking anonymously after he (VC) had been spirited out of the complex decried the development which he described as unfair.
“It was a horrible experience and to think that some workers could go to this extent to pursue arrears of a package that more than 90 per cent of universities in this country have not even started implementing at all is quite unfortunate.
“I just thank God for the presence of the SSS people. The situation would have degenerated. Indeed, anything could have happened,” the aide said.
Attempts to get the VC for comment proved abortive.
He was, however, seen giving instructions to his security aides as he was driven past the mob.
In his earlier address to the striking workers, JAC-3 Chairman, Ayo Falade, had vowed that his members would leave no stone unturned in collecting the arrears, noting that contrary to the claim by the university management, his union (SSANU) indeed had the approval of its national executive to embark on the three-day protest.
President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday evening returned to Abuja from his two-nation state visit to Malawi and Bostwana.
He returned 24 hours ahead of his scheduled Wednesday arrival date.
His arrival ahead of schedule further increased the speculation over the
state of health of his wife, Patience, who is believed to be undergoing
treatment in a German hospital.
The President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben
Abati, had in a statement on Saturday said the President would return to
Abuja on Wednesday after his state visits to the two countries.
Online reports had it that while in the middle of a luncheon in
Gaborone, Bostwana, the President received a message which allegedly
changed his countenance and forced him to leave the country.
The reports further insinuated that he left some members of his
delegation behind in Bostwana and might have headed to Germany to see
his ailing wife.
But our correspondent confirmed that Jonathan returned to Nigeria on Tuesday evening with members of his delegation.
Our correspondent spoke with Abati on telephone but while making enquiry
on the President’s alleged sudden arrival, the line went off.
The presidential spokesman did not pick subsequent calls made to his mobile telephone.
THE Military Joint Task Force (JTF) in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital,
has arrested five suspected Boko Haram commanders and six others.
Acting
on an intelligence report on the sect’s hideout at Waka-Biu of the Biu
Local Council of the state, the JTF arrested the suspected terrorists on
Monday night.
Apart from arms and ammunition, 36 primed Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were recovered from the hideout.
Five
riot tear gas and four tear gas canisters, bomb making materials, two
handcuffs, two cameras and a binocular were also recovered.
Police helmet and combat boots, a Yoshita empty tank and driller machine were recovered too.
Waka
Biu is 187 Kilometres south of Maiduguri and headquarters of the sect. A
statement by JTF spokesman, Lt.-Col. Sagir, confirmed the arrest.
Besides,
Governor Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe State has condemned the recent attacks
and torching of the office complexes of the Ministry of Religious
Affairs and Pilgrims Welfare Commission (YPWC), mosque, a secondary
school, Global System of Mobile Communication (GSM) firms’ masts and 14
vehicles in Damaturu.
He said that the attacks were sponsored by the opposition within and outside the state.
The
governor gave the condemnation while inspecting the destroyed three
office complexes and vehicles on Potiskum Road, Damaturu, the state
capital.
Gaidam said: “The wanton destruction of government
property and GSM firms’ masts by suspected Boko Haram members, is not
only barbaric, evil-minded and counter-productive, but condemnable in
totality by any right-thinking person that wants this state to move
forward and live in peace and unity.”
The governor recalled that
in June this year, primary and Islamiyyah schools as well as churches in
parts of Damaturu, the state capital were attacked by hoodlums in a
similar manner the offices complex, school, and government and private
vehicles were destroyed.
Gaidam said that government would reconstruct all destroyed government office complexes
(Reuters) - Young men who had smoked marijuana recreationally were twice as likely to be diagnosed with testicular cancer than men who have never used marijuana, according to a U.S. study.
Researchers whose findings appeared in the journal
Cancer said the link appeared to be specific to a type of tumor known as
nonseminoma.
"This is the third
study consistently demonstrating a greater than doubling of risk of this
particularly undesirable subtype of testicular cancer among young men
with marijuana use," said Victoria Cortessis of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, who led the study.
"I myself feel like we need to take this seriously
now," she added, noting that the rates of testicular cancer have been
rising inexplicably over the past century.
The research isn't
ironclad proof that the marijuana is to blame, and even if it is, the
danger isn't overwhelming. According to the American Cancer Society, a man's lifetime risk
of getting testicular cancer is about one in 270 - and because
effective treatment is available, the risk of dying from the disease is
just one in 5,000.
So far, little is known about what causes it. Cortessis
said undescended testicles, in which the testes remain in the abdomen
beyond the age of a year, are a risk factor. Both pesticide and hormone
exposure have also been associated with the tumors.
Cortessis and her colleagues used data from 163 young
men who had been diagnosed with testicular cancer and nearly 300 men in a
comparison group without the disease. Both groups had been interviewed
about their health and drug use between 1987 and 1994.
Among the men with cancer, 81 percent had used marijuana at some point, whereas that was the case for 70 percent of the comparison group.
By contrast,
cocaine use was linked to a smaller risk of the tumors. That's important
because it signals that men who have been diagnosed with cancer aren't
just more honest about their drug use, thereby creating a spurious link
between marijuana and cancer, Cortessis said.
It's not entirely clear how marijuana would influence
men's cancer risk, but Cortessis said developing testicles may somehow
respond to the drug's main active ingredient.
The new study is "interesting," said Carl van Walraven
of the University of Ottawa in Canada, who has studied testicular
cancer, but said it has a number of limitations.
For instance, it didn't find an increased risk among men with higher marijuana use, and it was relatively small.
But Cortessis highlighted the consistent results from all the studies so far.
"It is hard to
imagine a scenario whereby it is due to chance and I can't think of a
systematic bias that would cause this. I will feel very confident that
this is cause and effect once we have worked out the biology," she said.
THE South-West chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has
asked the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) leader and former governor of
Lagos State, Senator Bola Tinubu, to apologise to Nigerians, for
bringing the country into disrepute, with his lie that he was specially
invited to attend the United States (US) Democratic Party convention.
The party, speaking through the media aide to Chief Segun Oni, the
national vice chairman (South-West) of the party, Mr Lere Olayinka, also
asked the ACN to advise Tinubu to go for deliverance, so that he could
be purged of the spirit of lies that had made him to lie about
everything.
“Was it the PDP that made Tinubu, in his characteristic manner, to
lie that he was invited and given a Gold Card to attend the Democratic
Party convention when, in actual fact, he bought his invitation with
$5,000?
“To us in the PDP, the most honourable thing these fraudulent
elements in the ACN must do is to own up to the fake personality that
Tinubu has become and apologise to Nigerians for ridiculing the country
with their lies,” the party said.
(Vanguard) ABUJA — Following an application by Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Festus
Keyamo, an Abuja Chief Magistrate Court sitting at Wuse, has ordered the
Inspector-General of Police, to arrest and investigate Senator Andy Uba
and one Chibuike Achigbu, with a view to ascertaining their actual
involvement in the $15 million bribe allegedly offered to the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, by cronies of the convicted
former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori, in 2007.
It will be recalled that Achigbu, who identified himself as an oil
magnate, on August 29, 2012, approached a Federal High Court, Abuja,
claiming that the said money, which is currently in custody of Central
Bank of Nigeria, CBN, belonged to him.
This is even as both the Federal Government and the Delta State
government are currently enmeshed in a legal tussle over who should keep
the alleged bribe money, which Ibori denied offering or authorising
anyone to offer on his behalf.
Meanwhile, few days after the court fixed September 17 to hear
arguments from both the Federal Government and Delta State government on
the issue, Achigbu, who engaged the services of three Senior Advocates
of Nigeria, went before the court, claiming that he actually gave the
$15 million to Dr. Andy Uba, a former aide to the then President,
Olusegun Obasanjo, for the purpose of financing Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, during the 2007 general election.
In an affidavit he deposed to before the high court, Achigbu averred
that owing to his desire to ensure that PDP secured power at various
levels of governance in the country then, he initiated a personal
fund-raising scheme for the party.
Nevertheless, dissatisfied with the explanations, Keyamo sought an
order for the duo to be thoroughly investigated and prosecuted for
either acting as accessories to an act of bribery or for deposing to
false affidavit, which he said amounts to perjury.
Keyamo maintained that in the event that the origin of the $15
million was not ascertained, Uba and Achigbu should be charged with
money laundering and/or conspiracy and bribery.
He further contended that in the alternative, the Federal Government
should: “Arrest Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, interrogate him and charge him to
court, if necessary, for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and
perjury as regards the proceedings in Asaba, when he swore on oath or
procured another to swear that he was given a bribe.
“This is because, it is either Ribadu on the one hand is lying that
he was offered $15 million as bribe or Andy Uba, Ibori and Achigbu on
the other hand are all lying that it was not bribe. Both versions cannot
be correct and any version that is false amounts to a crime under our
laws.”
