by Admin | Oct 30, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI A human rights group, Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED), has accused the Nigeria Police Force of an attempt to cover up the rape of a 14-year old girl, Maryam Yusuf, by a Mobile Policeman, Corporal Barau Garba (Police Service Number: 275601). The allegation was contained in a statement signed by Dr. Ibrahim Zikirullahi, the group’s Executive Director. In the statement, CHRICED said it has received credible information that the Corporal abducted Maryam and raped her repeatedly. “According to information reaching us, the young Maryam, who lives with her parents at the Hausa Quarters in Asaba, Delta State, traveled to Onitsha to buy some items for her father. Unfortunately, Maryam lost the money for the items she was meant to purchase. It was while frantically searching for the vehicle she boarded in a bid to recover the money that Garba approached her,” said the group. It added that Garba promised to help her find the money and show her the way back home. In desperate need of help and lured to think she was safe with a policeman, Maryam took the offer of assistance from the officer, who took her on his. motorcycle to his room at the Police Base. “Pleas by the young girl to Garba to take her home to her parents fell on deaf ears. The bubble burst when the young girl was able to take her captor’s phone while he was asleep, and placed a call to her father to come and rescue her. Hospital tests subsequently showed that Maryam was raped with all brutality, and her vagina had been...
by Admin | Oct 25, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI The Nigeria Police Force says it has sanctioned 20 personnel involved in corruption between January 2016 and June 2017 in four states. A report obtained from the Public Complaints Rapid Response Unit by the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, indicated that those sanctioned served in Enugu, Abuja, Ogun and Lagos commands. It indicated that 10 police officers were dismissed during the period, one given severe reprimand, one demoted, and eight given other forms of punishment. The report showed that 4, 342 complaints were received by the unit during the period under review, out of which 3,602 were amicably resolved and 318 pending. It added that 422 complaints received by the unit were discovered to be false. According to the report, the 106 distress calls received by the unit during the period under review were not part of the complaints captured in the report. The unit was established in November 2015 to receive and resolve cases of professional misconduct brought against police personnel. (NAN) See graph...
by Admin | Oct 25, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima has flagged-off food distribution in five local government areas of the state. The food items were donated by the Federal Government to cushion the effect of the Boko Haram insurgency. The Governor also used the opportunity to inspect various ongoing projects in the health and education sectors in the local government areas. Governor Kashim also visited troops of the the Multi national joint task force in Baga, who are fighting the Boko Haram insurgents around the Lake Chad general area. Addressing the displaced persons in Baga, governor Shettima assured them of government efforts towards ending the Boko Haram crisis and promise to ensure that, their wellfare remained paramount in his administration’s goal. Shettima also urged the internally displaced persons to continue to pray for the state and northeast in general, stressing that, “prayer is the weapon that can help our gallant soldiers to have total victory over the insurgents.” SOURCE: DAILY...
by Admin | Oct 25, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI A former Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and Superintendent, James Omafuaire, has been kidnapped along with his wife and a customer at his Ikpeshi quarry site in Akoko Edo Local Government Area, Edo State. The retired police officer is an octogenarian and a native of Akperhe-Olomu in Ughelli South LGA of the state. His younger brother, Akpokona Omafuaire, is a senior photojournalist at Vanguard Newspaper. Mr. Omafuaire was kidnapped along with his wife, Victoria Omafuaire, and a customer at the site, but his wife was released shortly after her kidnapping. Our correspondent gathered that the kidnappers have established contact with the victim’s son, Charles Omafuaire, and have demanded a ransom of N25 million. Confirming the N25 million ransom, a family member of the victim, Christy Omafuaire Atie, said “Pa James Omafuaire was supervising his workers at his quarry site in Ikpeshi near Auchi when the Fulani herdsmen with guns kidnapped him, his wife and a customer.” She said that the kidnapping has caused severe panic in the family and she urged the police to rescue her father or to appeal to the kidnappers to lower their ransom demand. Source: Sahara...
by Admin | Oct 24, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI The Niger State Police Command on Monday arrested one Abubakar Suleiman with 88 bundles of fake dollars, the News Agency of Nigeria reported. The command’s spokesman, SP Abigael Unaeze, while parading the suspect before newsmen in Minna, said Suleiman and three others at large conspired and took his father-in-law to an unknown place in Kogi State under the pretext of curing him of his sickness. The spokesperson said the suspect, who was arrested with a bag containing 88 bundles of fake dollar notes, confessed to the crime. She said that the command had commenced an intensive investigation into the matter. In a related development, Unaeze said the command had arrested six suspects with 86 wraps of dried leaves suspected to be marijuana, 11 Diazepam packs, one packet of big bond and a box of matches. According to her, detectives attached to the command also recovered one AK47 rifle with 25 rounds of 7.62 ×39mm live ammunition abandoned by a gang of armed robbers. She added that this followed a distress call that robbers numbering five were operating in the residence of one Dr. Amandi Akorbumdu of Bosso area of the state. Unaeze explained that the police detectives attached to the Bosso division swung into action and gave them a chase; as a result, the robbers fled and abandoned the items. The police spokesperson said that all the suspects would be charged to court after investigation. She appealed to the members of the public to assist the command by providing useful information about the movement of criminals to the nearest security office for prompt...
by Admin | Oct 24, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI A popular Bishop of the African Church, Rt. Revd. Samuel Ojo, yesterday narrated how he escaped abduction by the whiskers. He also lamented the killing of his Chaplain, Revd. David Ayeola, by suspected kidnappers in Ekiti State. It was reported that Ayeola was kidnapped by gunmen while travelling with the bishop, his wife and the driver. The police were attempting to rescue the 26-year-old cleric when he was shot dead by the gunmen, who immediately fled the scene. The kidnappers had demanded N100m ransom, but the church offered N500,000. Recounting the attack that led to the capture of Ayeola, he said, “My in-law, an indigene of Ayegbaju Ekiti, had died and my wife, the chaplain, as well as my driver followed me to the village last Tuesday in preparation for the burial. “We went to my hometown in Imojo Ekiti. Around 6pm, we left the village to return to Ayegbaju, venue of the burial. However, when we got to a place between Imojo and Oye Ekiti, some masked gunmen emerged from the bush, blocked the road and started shooting continuously. “Our driver attempted to turn back, but he discovered that members of the gang were also coming from the back. He suddenly drove into the forest. Myself, my wife, the reverend, and the driver ran into the bush. I told them to run for their lives and we fled in different directions. I crawled in the forest like a snake for hours.” He explained that he and his wife, together with the driver, later emerged in another town at different times, from where they informed villagers and...
by Admin | Oct 24, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI Nigerian doctors have threatened to go on mass ‘sabbatical’ if the federal government accedes to the demand of other health sector workers. In what is clearly a continuation of the rivalry between doctors and other health workers, the doctors, under the banner of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, described the association of other health workers, JOHESU, as an ‘illegal body.’ The NMA declared its opposition to many of the demands made by JOHESU, describing them as unacceptable. The members of JOHESU are hospital workers apart from medical doctors and dentists. The NMA Chairman, Mike Ogirima, while addressing a news conference in Ilorin on Monday to mark the 2017 Physician Week, warned that doctors “will be compelled to take a sabbatical, if JOHESU does not contain its radicalism.” “Government should not allow itself to be intimidated by illegal bodies like JOHESU in the health sector; we expect each professional to stick to the ethics of their profession,” he said. The chairman also alleged that doctors are now endangered species in the communities and traditional hospital environment. “The value for money and hospitals titles have made the members of JOHESU to set up fellowship colleges with the aim of bearing the title of consultants,’’ he said. JOHESU embarked on a nationwide strike on September 20 to protest among other issues, salaries adjustments, promotion arrears, and improved work environment for its members. In compliance with the declaration of an indefinite strike by JOHESU, the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, NANNM directed its members to stay away from all federal health institutions across the country. On the 9th day...
by Admin | Oct 24, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI Local former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, treats Nigeria’s airport security rules and procedures with disdain. Airline and airport sources told our correspondent that he habitually violates the procedures, particularly at airport security checkpoints in Lagos. Several concerned passengers also observated three separate trips between March and September this year when Mr. Fani-Kayode refused to submit himself for the routine security body check after he had triggered off metal detectors. They separately gave the dates of her observation as March 10, June 16 and September 16, affirming that the former Minister always offered security officials the same primitive and arrogant excuse that he was a former minister of aviation and as such could not submit to a search. On those occasions, she said, he was let through, unsearched, despite the groaning of other passengers. Airline and airport sources said Mr. Fani-Kayode has behaved in this manner for a long time. During our investigation, it was discovered that in April 2006, before he became a Minister, he was stopped from traveling by one Mr. Okuyiga who was at the time the Airport Manager of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport for refusing to submit himself to a security check. When Mr. Fani-Kayode became the Minister of Aviation two months later, we learned, he made his first task at that airport the redeployment of Mr. Okuyiga, leading to the resignation of the Airport Manager. One airline official who spoke anonymously claimed he has observed Hadi Sirika, the current Minister of Aviation, submit himself to the same screening several times and cannot understand why security officials cannot insist that Mr. Fani-Kayode...
by Admin | Oct 24, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI Ondo State police rearrested an armed robber awaiting trial, Kola Ogunbiyi, for committing a fresh robbery. Mr. Ogunbiyi was apprehended after robbing an Ondo State police inspector of his vehicle at gunpoint in Akure. The 35-year-old robber also robbed residents on the popular Mother and Child Hospital Road in the state. The culprit was apprehended alongside Oluwafemi Ayodeji by operatives from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Akure. Police sources told our correspondent that the duo were in a robbery gang that terrorized the people of Ondo and Ekiti states. They were paraded alongside twelve robbery suspects before journalists at the police headquarters on Igbatoro Road in Akure on Monday afternoon. Mr. Ogunbiyi, popularly called “Oloye,” had been committing crimes with his gang while awaiting trial in Ogbomoso. The Ondo State Police Command spokesperson, Femi Joseph, said that well-coordinated intelligence gathering operations led the police to Mr. Ogunbiyi and other criminals. He explained that the arrests were part of an ongoing onslaught to tackle crime in the state. According to him, the culprits were part of a five-man armed robbery gang who had been on the watchlist of the police. “The hoodlums confessed to the crime during our police investigation, and one AK-47 rifle was recovered from them along with a red motorcycle. “Now that the deviants have met their Waterloo, we shall charge them to court after all investigations have been concluded,” Mr. Joseph said. He vowed that there would no longer be any hiding places for criminals in Ondo State. During an interview with journalists, Mr. Ogunbiyi confessed to the crime for which he was...
by Admin | Oct 24, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI The embattled ex-chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, who has been accused of complicity in a N2bn fraud, has gone into hiding. The fugitive, who is still on the wanted list of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for the alleged offence, went into hiding soon after news that the anti-graft agency had launched a manhunt for him became public. One of our correspondents gathered that Maina, who had been reinstated as an acting director in the Ministry of Interior, was to meet with yet to be identified persons in his office but apparently had a change of heart because he was nowhere near the office building when our reporter arrived at the office at 8.20am and at 2.00pm when he left. The office located at the Old Secretariat in Area 1, consists of a reception, a waiting room before a massive door leading up to the director’s office. The reception looked dreary while two young men in the waiting room fiddled with their phones as they conversed in low tones. Attempts to speak with the female secretary, who refused to give her name, failed as she rebuffed all questions. In response to enquiries about the whereabouts of her new boss, she snapped, “I don’t know where he is.” A source, who spoke to one of our correspondents, in confidence because of the sensitivity of the matter, said Maina travelled to Kano during the weekend and had given appointments to some persons to meet him at the office on Monday but went into hiding soon afterwards. The source said, “He planned to...
by Admin | Oct 24, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita, has countered the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, who on Sunday blamed her and the Federal Civil Service Commission for the reinstatement of the former Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, to office. Mrs. Oyo-Ita said through a statement by her Assistant Director, Media Relations, Mohammed Manga, “The attention of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation has been drawn to several media reports that the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation has approved the reinstatement into the Federal Civil Service of Alhaji Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina and his subsequent posting to the Ministry of Interior. “The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation wishes to inform the public that the reinstatement and posting of Alhaji Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina never emanated from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. “Consequently, the purported reinstatement and posting by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation is totally erroneous and misleading.” Mr. Dambazau had in a statement by his Press Secretary, Ehisienmen Osaigbovo, denied responsibility for Mr. Maina’s recall to service. The statement explained that Mr. Maina “was posted few days ago to the Ministry of Interior by the Office of the Head of Service on an Acting capacity to fill a vacancy created following the retirement of the Director heading the Human Resources Department in the Ministry.” The minister blamed Mr. Maina’s recall on the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation and...
by Admin | Oct 23, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI Suspected kidnappers have killed the chaplain to the Bishop of the African Church, Ondo Central Diocese, Revd. David Ayeola. The gunmen shot Ayeola dead in a botched rescue operation after the church declined to pay the N100m ransom the kidnappers demanded. The African Church had offered N500,000 instead. The remains of the victim had been deposited in a morgue. Our correspondent gathered that Ayeola, the bishop, Samuel Ojo; and the bishop’s wife were travelling to Abeokuta, Ogun State, from Imojo Ekiti, Ekiti State, when they were waylaid by the gunmen on the road. The bishop, his wife, Ayeola, and the driver of the car were said to have fled into the bush. A source said, “While others escaped, the chaplain was caught and abducted by the gunmen. “They later contacted the headquarters of the church at Akure and demanded N100m. The church, however, offered them N500,000, which they turned down.” Another top leader of the African Church said the church’s leadership involved the Ekiti State Police Command in the rescue of the priest. He explained that while trying to buy time with negotiation, the police also closed in on the hideout of the abductors. “On Saturday, the police swooped on the hideout of the kidnappers and there was an exchange of gunfire between them. “The police team was overpowered and the kidnappers decided to shoot the priest. He was shot in the side; they (kidnappers) left his corpse behind. The family has taken the body to the morgue,” he added. When contacted, the Diocesan Public Relations Officer, Alex Akande, said he could not talk about the incident,...
by Admin | Oct 23, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has secretly reinstated fugitive former Chairman of the Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, into the civil service. Multiple sources confirmed to that Mr. Maina, who is wanted by the Anti-Graft Agency, EFCC, was secretly recalled and promoted to the position of director in charge of Human Resources in the Ministry of Interior. Before his appointment to chair the pension task force, Mr. Maina was an assistant director in the ministry. The news of the reinstatement first filtered through a congratulatory message for Mr. Maina by a group called League of Civil Society Organizations which commended the federal government for the reinstatement. Mr. Maina was in 2013 dismissed by the Federal Civil Service Commission following a recommendation by the Office of the Head of Service. A retired director in the Office of the Head of Service familiar with the matter said recalling Mr. Maina was an affront on the rule of law. “He should not have been reinstated. Doesn’t Mr. Maina have a case in court? The rules provide for action to be taken only after the courts have dispensed of the case fully,” he said. Trouble started in 2012 when Mr. Maina was accused of leading a massive pension fraud scheme amounting to more than N100 billion. Mr. Maina was drafted by the Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2010 to sanitize a corrupt pension system. Based on the allegation of corruption, Mr. Maina was invited by the Senate Joint Committee on Public Service and Establishment and State and Local Government Administration. The Senate after completion of its investigation issued a Warrant...
by Admin | Oct 20, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI A pro-democracy and Non-Governmental organization, the Human Rights Writers Association, HURIWA, has alleged that the police high command is in the process of sweeping under the carpet, the alleged killing of 19-year-old female student of Cross Rivers State University Miss. Joy Odama by one Alhaji Usman I. Adamu in Abuja. The Rights group also condemned the “lack of action” by the Inspector-General of Police, IGP, Ibrahim Idris on the attack by gunmen on Saint Philips Catholic Church Ozubulu, Anambra state on Sunday August 13th 2017. HURIWA said the Anambra state police command and the office of the Inspector General of Police seems to be colluding to maintain conspiratorial silence on the crime and allegedly failed to embark on any comprehensive investigation into the bloody attack on the worshippers. HURIWA, in a statement made available to DAILY POST by the National Coordinator its Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, condemned the rapid deterioration of professionalism in the Nigeria Police Force under the current dispensation which has led to the piling up of several unresolved crimes that happened in different parts of Nigeria. The group said the last time it reached out to the police high command in Abuja about two months ago, it was informed that the Inspector General of police has sent the file of Alhaji Usman Adamu to the director of public prosecution for action. The statement added, “We are shocked that the office of the Federal Attorney General has refused to take action to bring the alleged murderer to speedy trial before the competent court of law. Does the...
by Admin | Oct 20, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and other Related Matters, Kano Zonal Command, said it had rescued 57 victims of human trafficking in Katsina State. The NAPTIP Zonal Commander, Mr Shehu Umar said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Kano on Tuesday, that the latest arrest raise the number of victims rescued to 263 this year. He said the 57 victims were intercepted on Saturday, Oct. 8. “The victims were intercepted in two separate groups by the Nigeria Immigration Service in Katsina state along Kongolom border in Mai’adua Local Area on their way to Libya.” He said following the receipt of the report, the Zonal command went to Katsina and rescued the victims whose traffickers had since escaped. “All the victims are here now with us pending the completion of the investigation currently going on.” Umar said preliminary investigation had shown that the victims paid between N5, 000 and N250, 000 as fares to their traffickers to facilitate the journey to Libya. He said the victims, aged between 12 and 38, had no travelling documents and were from Abia, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Enugu, Imo, Kogi, Lagos and Ondo states. According to him, the victims would be reunited with their families as soon as investigation was completed. “With this achievement, the command has been able to rescue no fewer than 263 victims of human trafficking from January to date. “Out of this number, 173 are female while the remaining 90 are...
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