A 32-year-old Lagos tailor, Mr. Suleiman Ajenifuja, has been arrested with three suspected human skulls.
The father of two, who also claimed to be working as a street sweeper in Lagos, said he was taking the skulls to an Islamic cleric for spiritual purposes when he was arrested.
He said he combined street sweeping with tailoring, adding that he wanted to use the skulls to make a ritual to draw more customers to his shop.
Ajenifuja said a friend connected him to the Islamic cleric.
He said, “I am a tailor, but I also work with the Lagos State Government as a street sweeper from 11pm to 2am. While I was working one night, I saw a bag containing these things (the skulls). I initially wanted to drop the bag, but someone told me that the skulls could be used for some things.
“I contacted one of the boys that we usually talk together, named Saheed, and he gave me the Alfa’s phone number. When I called the Alfa, he told me to come to Ilorin. I have never been to Ilorin before, but he asked me to alight at a particular place where he would come to pick me.
“He had earlier asked me what I wanted to do with the items and I told him that I wanted what would bring more people to my shop.”
The Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Mr, Ado Lawan, who paraded Ajenifuja along with other criminal suspects in the state, said he was arrested on March 26 by operatives of the Federal Highway Patrol Team of the command, led by one Mr. Erumebekakhue Benson.
He added that the team intercepted a commercial vehicle conveying seven passengers en route to Ilorin from Lagos.
He said when the passengers were searched, three skulls wrapped in a sack were recovered from a black bag belonging to Ajenifuja.
According to him, the suspect admitted to being the owner of the exhibits and claimed to be taking them to Ilorin from Lagos for ritual purposes.
The CP said the suspect would be arraigned after investigation.
He noted that the command had, during the ongoing mop up of arms, recovered 51 firearms from members of the public who responded to the directive of the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, for them to surrender all unauthorised firearms.
He said the firearms willingly submitted included 32 single-barrelled guns, four locally-made cut-to-size single-barrelled rifles, eight locally-made single-barrelled guns, three cut-to-size double-barrelled guns and one AK-47 rifle.
Others are one double-barrelled gun, one English pistol, and one locally-made single-barrelled pistol with two cartridges.
Ado said, “The Kwara State Police Command wishes to inform the public that the enforcement of the mop up and recovery of illegal and prohibited firearms still in possession of such individuals is ongoing.
“Anyone who fails to voluntarily surrender them will be arrested and prosecuted.
“We wish also to inform members of the public of the extension of the date of withdrawal of all police personnel attached to very important persons, government officials, corporate organisations, political office holders, has been extended to April 20, 2018.
“This is to enable the affected officials to reapply for revalidation of the authority through the CP, Kwara State, for IG’s approval.”
The Pan Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere has called on the United Nations (UN) and President Muhammadu Buhari to launch full-scale investigation into the allegation of bias over herdsmen’s killings leveled against the Nigerian military by a former minister of defence, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd).
Rising from its special meeting held at the residence of its national leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, in Akure, Ondo State, on Tuesday, Afenifere described the allegation as ‘weighty and damning’.
The organisation also noted that the allegation by Danjuma could be linked to an ethnic cleansing.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, noted that if not well probed by the UN and President Buhari, such statement by Gen. Danjuma against the military could lead to serious security breaches and lack of trust among various ethnic groups in the country.
The group expressed dismay that nobody had been sanctioned or convicted over incessant herdsmen’s attacks on farmers across the country.
According to the Yoruba leaders, President Buhari must be more decisive in dealing with security issues, hence the need for the Federal Government to investigate and bring to book any military officer found to be compromising in Benue, Taraba killings and other parts of the country.
The meeting was attended by Yoruba leaders from Ogun, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Kwara, Kogi, Lagos and Oyo states including Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Olu Falae, Basorun Sehinde Arogbofa and Chief Mojisoluwa Akinfehinwa.
Others were the former governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, Sen. Iyiola Omisore and Prof. Tunde Adeniran, among others.
The police on Wednesday declared Dino Melaye, a senator from Kogi State, wanted.
The lawmaker was declared wanted alongside Mohammed Audu, son of a former governor of the state, Abubakar Audu.
Police said the duo have also been placed on Interpol watch list for allegedly providing false information to the police in relation to an alleged attempt on Mr. Melaye’s life last year.
The announcement was made in a statement signed by Kogi police commissioner, Ali Janga, and distributed by the Force Headquarters Wednesday afternoon.
Mr. Melaye had earlier written to the Inspector-General Ibrahim Idris stating his intention to submit himself to the police for investigation.
But the senator attached a condition that the case must only be handled in Abuja and not in Lokoja or anywhere in Kogi State, saying Governor Yahaya Bello has control of law enforcement agencies in the state.
The senator also wrote to the U.S. Embassy, the British High Commission and other foreign missions over the weekend, alleging attempt by the police to hurt him.
While he was being declared wanted shortly before noon Wednesday, Mr. Melaye was on the floor of the Senate during which he lambasted the police again and alleged conspiracy against him.
The police declared him wanted as they were announcing the disappearance of some suspects who allegedly indicted Mr. Melaye last week from custody. The police said they escaped Wednesday morning and declared them wanted while also announcing pending investigation of all officers on duty at the time of the escape.
Mr. Melaye said the police are plotting a cover-up by either killing the suspects or orchestrating their escape.
“I will sue the IGP for intimidation, abuse of power, harassment and mental assault if these 2 suspects are not produced dead or alive,” Mr. Melaye said on the floor of the Senate according to a transcript of Wednesday’s proceeding provided on the Senate’s Twitter handle.
US President Donald Trump decided Tuesday to end the protected status of thousands of Liberian migrants to the United States and gave them a year to leave the country.
It’s the latest of similar moves, after more than 250,000 Salvadorans, Haitians and Nicaraguans lost their protected status under an administration which has made cracking down on immigration a priority.
In 1991, when the West African country was in the grip of civil war, some Liberians living in the US were given “temporary protected status” to allow them to remain in safety.
Then in 1999 approximately 10,000 of them were made eligible for “deferred enforced departure,” or DED, by then-president Bill Clinton, allowing them to continue to build new lives.
Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have periodically renewed the DED status, but Trump has now decided to allow it to expire, deeming Liberia safe for returnees.
Trump has taken a tough stance on immigration in general and, in reported private conversations, an even tougher stance on Africans from what he has reportedly deemed “shithole countries.”
The latest grace period expires on March 31, but Trump said in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security that he would accord the Liberians a 12-month “wind-down” period to prepare their departure.
“Through consultation with appropriate executive departments and agencies and my advisors, I have been informed that conditions in Liberia have improved,” Trump wrote.
“Liberia is no longer experiencing armed conflict and has made significant progress in restoring stability and democratic governance,” he argued.
Trump admitted that the 2014 outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa had brought “tragic loss of life and economic damage” to Liberia, one of the world’s poorest countries after years of civil war.
But he declared himself satisfied with Liberia’s progress in tackling the disease.
It is not clear how many of the original 10,000 DED recipients may have died, moved on voluntarily or been granted another form of legal US residency — but the rest face an uncertain future.
Opponents of Trump’s move warned it would uproot many who had made new and productive lives for themselves in the United States.
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, noted on Twitter that, thanks to the previous presidents’ DED extensions, the Liberians had been living in the United States legally since 1992.
“Many work in Minnesota hospitals and nursing homes,” she wrote. “I won’t give up this fight. We have a year.”
The International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague has said it will investigate the September 2017 invasion of a community in Abia State by soldiers of the Nigerian Army during a military exercise code-named Operation Python Dance 2 (Egwu Eke Abuo).
The Office of the Prosecutor, ICC, stated this in response to a petition filed to the court by a Nigerian journalist, Ahaoma Kanu, following the military occupation of Afara Ukwu community in Umuahia, Abia State, in a bid to arrest the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, which led to the killing of several unarmed members of the group.
In the letter obtained by Daily Sun with reference number OTP-CR-413/17 dated March 20, 2018, which is the second response by the court to the petitioner, it was confirmed that the military invasion and deaths recorded were already under preliminary examination by the Office of the Prosecutor.
Part of the letter signed by Mark Dillon, head of the information and evidence unit at the Office of the Prosecutor, read: “Accordingly, your communication will be analysed in this context, with the assistance of other related communications and other available information.”
The Federal Government had proscribed the IPOB even as its members came under attack by security agencies in the country, including the Nigerian Army, Department of State Services (DSS) and the police, leading to the alleged extra-judicial killing of hundreds of IPOB members since 2015 when Kanu was arrested on charges of treason.
After the September 16, 2017, attack on his country home, Kanu and his aged father have not been seen till date, fuelling speculations he was being held by the state.
However, following petitions by civil rights groups, the ICC commenced and concluded preliminary investigations into the alleged killing of over 200 members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) in December 2015 as well as opened preliminary investigations into the killing of members of the IPOB by the Army in October 2015.
The petitioner, in his petition of September 24, 2017, to the ICC, called for an investigation and prosecution of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai, and all members of the Nigerian Army involved in the extra-judicial killings of IPOB members during the Operation Python Dance 2 exercise.
Dillon stated that “under Article 53 of the Rome Statutes, the prosecutor must consider whether there is reasonable basis to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the court have been committed, the gravity of the crimes, whether national systems are investigating and prosecuting the relevant crimes, and the interests of justice.”
He went further to say that “analysis will be carried out as expeditiously as possible, but please be aware that meaningful analysis of these factors can take some time.”
He further promised to provide reasons for any decision reached by the court to proceed with the investigation.
It was the second time that the ICC would exchange correspondences with the petitioner on the killings in Abia State by the Nigerian military.
Afara Ukwu community recently said it would require about N500 million from the Federal Government to cleanse its land reportedly desecrated by the military invasion,
A five-year-marriage is on the brink of collapse as Mrs. Musilimat Olasuyi told an Igando Customary Court in Lagos that her husband, Oluwagbemiga, permitted another man to sleep with her in their matrimonial home.
The 48-year-old trader told the court on Monday that the man made love to her in her matrimonial home with her husband’s approval.
“It was not my fault.
“ I did not voluntarily submit myself but the man in question charmed me to make love to me with my husband’s agreement all because of his selfish ambition,” she said.
The petitioner said that her husband threw her belongings out of her matrimonial home during her absence during which the money she kept (over N800, 000) kept inside her different boxes were stolen.
“I went to the hospital to take care of my daughter from my first marriage, who suffered from a gas explosion.
“There, I was told that my husband came with some boys to our matrimonial home to pack all my belongings outside.
“After some days; I came home and I discovered that all my boxes and bags had been ransacked; some were missing and my money was stolen.
“My jewellery valued at N250, 000 and the N250, 000 was given to me by my son-in-law to start the construction works on his landed property close to us were missing.
“Also, N100,000 for my customer’s cassava (garri), N250,000 being our mosque’s money kept in my custody and N30,000 my trading money got missing.’’
Musilimat submitted a written petition to the court seeking redress and judicial actions against her husband.
The estranged wife wanted to know if it was proper for her husband to throw her property out without an order from the court.
She also demanded to know if her husband would not be liable for the cost of her lost money and property.
The petitioner was also requesting the court to know if her husband should not pay for the inconvenience as she and the only child of the marriage are homeless.
She pleaded with the court to dissolve the union saying that she no longer loves her husband.
However, the petitioner’s husband, Oluwagbemiga, accused his wife of infidelity.
“My wife does not have respect for her marriage vow, she makes love to her concubine on our matrimonial bed.”
The 55-year-old sand supplier also said that his wife was fetish.
“My wife is diabolical, she comes home with different charms and objects; she gave me a soap on nine consecutive times to bath with.”
According to him, he had given his wife a three-month quit notice to vacate his house but she refused.
“I gave her a quit notice to leave my house; she told me to do my worse that she was going nowhere.
“So, I do not have any other option than to pack her things out from my house,” he said.
The respondent consented to the dissolution of marriage, saying the love between the two of them had long faded.
Responding to Musilimat’s petition, the court’s president, Mr. Akin Akinniyi, said that it was wrong in a valid marriage for a husband to pack out his wife’s belongings from their matrimonial home.
“It is legally wrong for a man to throw out his wife’s property.
“The respondent should have requested for the return of the dowry he paid on the wife from the wife’s parents.
“Better still, he should have sought the dissolution of the marriage at the court of law before such an action could take place.
“The husband should have rented another apartment for the petitioner and the child since he does not want her again.
“He should have moved her belongings there for safe custody, before the petitioner’s return.
“The husband will be responsible for any cost of missing valuables and the wife is entitled to compensation,’’ he said.
Akinniyi urged the estranged couple to maintain peace and adjourned the case until April 26 for judgment.
Two dreaded armed bandits in Adani, Uzo-Uwani Council Area of Enugu State have been killed.
The hoodlums were said to have been overpoweredby their victim when they allegedly attempted to rob.
It was gathered that the two robbery kingpins, identified as Okeme alias Pikin and Philip a.k.a Akwara, said to belong to Ndi Isewo Group of Abbi, have been terrorising members of the public within Abbi, Adani and Uzo -Uwani axis.
Confirming the incident, the state police Spokesman, SP Ebere Amaraizu, said the suspected hoodlums met their waterloo in the hands of irate mob last week when they “emerged from the bush in their usual way to unleash mayhem on innocent citizens. Unfortunately for them, they were resisted by their victim who raised the alarm.
According to the PPRO, “the alarm raised attracted the attention of angrymob from the community, who immediately pursued and intercepted them.
“The mob allegedly beat up the hoodlums, inflicting various degrees of injuries on them before operatives could arrive the scene. They were promptly rushed to a nearby hospital for medical attention by the police operatives, but were later confirmed dead,” Amaraizu said.
The spokesman of the police further disclosed that the deceased hoodlums were members of the dreaded Malaysia forest “who have been operating from the bush to unleash mayhem on innocent citizens and were on the wanted list of the command.
“Their remains have been deposited at a hospital mortuary in the area,” Amaraizu said.
The hope of some parents of the abducted Dapchi schoolgirls to reunite with the children and wards was dashed yesterday with the sad news of the passing of five of them.
According to one of the released girls, Khadija Grema, 12, a JSS3, they died in the hands of Boko Haram as a result of exhaustion, stress and trauma.
Amidst the euphoria that greeted the release of over 100 of the 110 abducted Dapchi schoolgirls and the grief that trailed the deaths, the military has announced that the freed girls, aged between and 19, would have to wait a while before reuniting with their parents.
This is to enable the girls to be debriefed by the military authorities and also undergo medical examination and care.
Confirming it, Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said: “Just as we did when we had the first set and second set of release of the Chibok girls, they will be quarantined and be psychologically counseled before they go back to their schools.”
House of Representatives member representing Bursai/Geidam/Yunusari constituency, Goni Bukhar, also confirmed that the girls would remain in the custody of the government for “few more days.”
“They cannot be released to their parents yet because of security.They will be in government’s custody for two or three days before they are finally released. They will be taken to the hospital and treated before they are released to their parents.”
Boko Haram driving in 11 vehicles early, yesterday morning, reportedly dropped the schoolgirls at the heart of Dapchi, Yobe State, over a month after they were abducted.
Residents said they were alarmed when the convoy of four-wheel drive vehicles painted in military colour drove into the town at about 8am chanting ‘Allah Akbar’ (God is great) without firing a shot, Aliyu Alhaji Maina, one of the parents told journalists at Jumbam, about 2km to Dapchi.
Grema said the insurgents did not maltreat them, adding that they were moved into a house, crossing a river with canoes and ending up in an unknown location where they were kept till Tuesday night before their release.
“They didn’t beat us, they didn’t harass or maltreat us. They said we are children of Islam. They bought water, malt drink and kulikuli (groundnut cake) for us when they abducted us from our school in Dapchi,” she said.
In a statement issued earlier, Mohammed said the release of the schoolgirls was the outcome of the directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to all security agencies to do everything possible to secure the release of the 110 Dapchi schoolgirls.
“For the release to work, the government had a clear understanding that violence and confrontation would not be the way out as it could endanger the lives of the girls, hence a non-violent approach was the preferred option. Within the period when the girls were being brought back, operational pause was observed in certain areas to ensure free passage and also that lives were not lost,’’ he said.
He said no ransom was paid. “The only condition they gave us is not to release (the girls) to the military but release them in the town of Dapchi without military presence.”
Meanwhile, a Federal Government delegation comprising ministers of Information and Culture; Interior and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs are on their way to Maiduguri to meet with the freed girls.
On what government expects to achieve with the delegation to Dapchi, Mohammed said: “I think the issue of the delegation, until we clear with relevant security authorities, is not something I can talk about right now. We are constantly talking to those on ground. Don’t forget as of now that area has become an operational area and so we have to take advice from the security operatives on what to do. What is important is that we must be able to brief you regularly as regards development…”
Reacting to the news, both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the
Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose accused the Federal Government of hoodwinking the populace.
According to Fayose: “This appears like an arranged abduction and an arranged release, but we thank God that the innocent girls have returned home and we condole with parents of those that died.”
In a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the governor said it was strange that the girls could be brought back to Dapchi by their abductors without the security agents knowing when they were returned and who returned them.
“Curiously, the same spirit who made sure that all military checkpoints in Dapchi and other surrounding towns were removed to pave way for abduction of the girls also made sure that the girls were returned without any security agent seeing them.”
The governor reiterated his allegation that Boko Haram insurgency had become a source of treasury looting.
“Those benefitting from Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) scams, payment of ransom (in dollars) to free those abducted by the Boko Haram insurgents, among others will never wish to see the end of the insurgency,” he claimed.
But the Amnesty International, which on Tuesday said it had uncovered evidence that some military and security agents were alerted hours before the abduction, described the release ofthe girls as a huge relief.
However, it criticised the decision to hold them in government’s custody, saying it would further prolonging their ordeal.
“The authorities must immediately release them and ensure that they are able to return to their families or be provided with an alternative safe option if they so-choose.
“The authorities must also ensure the girls have access to comprehensive support, including confidential counselling and medical care.
“Furthermore, it remains absolutely vital that the Nigerian government investigates the security failures that led to the abduction- a fact highlighted by the tragic news that five of the schoolgirls died in captivity.
“The Dapchi abduction must be the catalyst for the government to ensure adequate protection of all schools in Northeast Nigeria so that this can never happen again.
“As a first step towards meeting its responsibility of protecting civilians from Boko Haram attacks, the results of the two investigations into the Chibok girls’ abduction in 2014 must be made public.”
Another leading pro-democracy and non-governmental organization, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) also expressed shock at the news of the death of five of the schoolgirls even as it raised alarm that there could be more to the release than meets the eye.
“It looks like some persons now have the franchise of masquerading as Boko Haram terrorists or may be colluding with the real Boko Haram terrorists to play on the gullibility of Nigerians by staging choreographed abductions and releases of kidnapped hostages either with commercial or political benefits in mind or both. This game of deception must stop and the good people of North East of Nigeria must be allowed to have their peaceful, communal and productive lives back.”
HURIWA through the National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf, stated that since the Federal Government has demonstrated lack of political will to investigate, document and publicly transmit to Nigerians and the international community, the exact circumstances, the actors and sponsors of the Boko Haram terror activities, there was an urgent need for the organised international community headed by the office of the United Nations Secretary General and the security council to conduct an independent, transparent and evidence-based probe into the whole affairs with the goal of bringing it to a minimal level.
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) also described the release as a reassuring development and commended the Federal Government.
Muhammad Ibrahim, ACF National Publicity Secretary, said in a statement that the organisation received the “good news’’ with immense happiness.
The ACF called on the military and other security agencies to sustain the synergy and fasttrack the search and rescue of the remaining Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped four years ago.
Like the ACF, elder statesman, Tanko Yakkasai also urged the Federal Government to deploy the same resources in releasing the remaining Dapchi and Chibok girls.
Speaking to Daily Sun, he said: “In a situation like this, the priority is to get the abducted people released and governments all over the world and also corporate bodies at times pay ransom to secure the release of their people but they (FG) would always say that they didn’t pay anything. Whether money has been paid or not, we should thank God that some of the girls have been released.”
While rejoicing with parents of the girls and President Buhari, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) in a statement by Prof. Ishaq Akintola advised the Federal Government to renew its strategy to ensure adequate protection for all schools in the insurgency zone.
He said the early return of Dapchi schoolgirls had clearly differentiated between action and inaction of governments.
“Chibok and Dapchi are now reference points in a tale of two Commander-in-Chiefs: one who turns the other cheek while his army turns and runs and another who takes immediate action and puts insurgents on the run, “ Akintola said.
While it is happy that the girls have returned, the United Nation Children Fund (UNICEF) promised to work closely with the Ministry of Youths in Yobe State to provide the necessary support to the girls and their families.
“As we await further confirmation, five girls have reportedly died.UNICEF grieves with the families who lost their daughters.
“We are grateful for the efforts of all parties in ensuring safe return of the girls to their families,” representative of UNICEF in Nigeria, Mohamed Malick Fall said in a statement.
Since Boko Haram began its reign of terror, particularly in the North-East and neighbouring states, tens of thousands of people have been killed, over two million displaced and thousands abducted. The kidnapping of 110 schoolgirls on February 19 from Dapchi was the biggest mass abduction since the Islamist group took more than 270 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in 2014.
