10 family members die after consuming herbal mixture

 

SCHOLARSHIP: Olori Naomi Ogunwusi, wife of the Ooni of Ife (right) and #EndSARS teenager, Kemisola, mother of the baby named in Ondo yesterday. The Olori also offered the baby scholarship to secondary school level. Read story below.

The slain broadcaster, Titus Badejo and his wife, Adebisi. Read story below.

TEN members of the same family have been confirmed dead by the Police after consuming a local herb mixture purportedly made to cure foot infection in Kwara State.

The Command Public Relations Officer, Ajayi Okasanmi, yesterday, in Ilorin, said: “On June 22, at about 0700hrs, one Ibrahim Bonnie of Fulani camp, Biogberu, via Gwanara, reported at the police station.

He said one Okosi Musa and Worugura Junlin came to his mother, Pennia Bonni, of the same Fulani camp, who was having a foot infection, with a local herbal mixture purported to be the cure for her ailment.

He said: “She was also told to ensure that all her family members took out of the mixture to prevent the spread of the disease to other family members.

“After taking the local herbal mixture, the family members started dying one after the other, at the last count, 10 members including the infected mother, have died.

“The Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Bagega, has ordered a discreet investigation into the incident. The two suspects are already helping the police in their investigation.”Suspects will have their day in court after investigation,” he added.

Man kills aunt, buries her in shallow grave

TRAGEDY struck, yesterday, in Calabar when a young man simply identified as Christian Edem Eyo chopped off the head of his aunt, Adam Uwatt, and buried the body in a shallow grave in front of her apartment.

The incident took place at Waddel Street, off Inyang/Afokang Street in the Mbukpa Area of Calabar South Local Government Area..

A cousin to the victim, Miss Ann Uwatt, told Vanguard that the woman woke up early in the morning to take her bath outside her apartment when the man, who was laying siege for her grabbed her on the neck and strangled her.

“He grabbed her on the necked so she could not shout and killed her. He, thereafter, cut off her head with a machete and took the head to his room. We suspected he wanted to use the head for ritual,” Ann said.

She said members of a church located in the premises, who came to pray early in the morning noticed bloodstains around the compound and a newly dug grave and called the police at Mbukpa Police Station who stormed the place to arrest the suspect.

But one of the victims’ children, Nkoyo, said it was when the suspect was trying to bury the body in a shallow grave he dug that someone in a nearby building who saw him invited the vigilantes.

“The person then rushed to the vigilantes to report. The vigilantes in turn reported to the Police and he was apprehended,” she said.

A member of the vigilantes in the area who spoke with Vanguard said Eyo’s father, who lives a few metres away, when informed that the son had killed someone reportedly said: “What is your concern, he killed his aunt, let them go with him, they will release him. He then picked up a shirt and wore, closed his door and went out.”

Speaking with journalists at the scene of the incident handcuffed, Eyo admitted to killing the woman, adding that the victim tried to seduce him.

On the grave in his room and the pit where the woman’s head was found, he said: “They are for empowerment!” and that “it is an empire, there is another family inside.”

Irene Ugbo, the Cross River State Police Command spokesman, who confirmed the incident, said investigations are in progress.

Gunmen kill father, 2 sons in Taraba

*Kidnap village head, wife in Oyo

A man and his two sons were killed by gunmen, yesterday, in Jauro Gantang village, Gassol Local Government Area of Taraba State.

It was also learned that a woman sustained injuries and is currently receiving treatment at the First Referral Hospital in Mutum-Biyu.

Contacted, spokesman of the state police command, David Misal, said he was yet to receive information on the incident.

However, the Public Relations Officer, Nigeria Immigration Service, Ayuba Tijos, confirmed the incident saying: “The incident took place in Jauro Gantang Lomudo, under Sarkin Dutse, Mutum-Biyu chiefdom.

“A man was killed by unknown gunmen with his two children and the wife sustained gun injury.”

Village head, wife kidnapped in Oyo

Meanwhile, the Baale of Araromi village in Ibadan, Chief Tafa Apanpa, and his wife, were Tuesday night abducted by some suspected kidnappers, who stormed the village located in Bakatari area of Ibadan.

Bakatari in Ido Local Government Area of Ibadan is a border town between Oyo and Ogun states, located on the Ibadan-Abeokuta road.

A resident of the community, who pleaded anonymity, told newsmen, yesterday, in Ibadan that the hoodlums stormed the village during a downpour and whisked the couple away.

The source said their whereabouts were still unknown at press time.

Contacted, Adewale Osifeso, the state Police Public Relations Officer, confirmed the incident, saying efforts had been put in place to secure the release of the victims.

“The incident happened very late on Tuesday, June 22, at Araromi village. Efforts are in top gear to rescue the victims and apprehend the abductors,” he said.

Cult war: 3 killed over girl  

A fight over a girl reportedly claimed the lives of three people at Usang Afianwe, a popular point in Eket Local Government of Akwa Ibom State

It was gathered that the killing of the trio resulted from a fight between two rival cult groups, Axe confraternity and Klans.

The source, who claimed to be a member of one of the cult groups, said: “The fracas started on Monday and we lost a vibrant young man.

“We all know the clubhouse at Afaha Uqua, where they sell all sorts of hard and contraband drugs and where those loose girls hang around.

“All the cult wars in Eket start from there and it’s high time the government shut the place to stop all these cult wars.”

According to him, one Klans cult member and two Axe cult members have so far been killed in the renewed cult war.

Contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Odiko Macdon, said the command had not received any report on the incident.

“I have not received any report on the incident. However, we shall investigate and get back to you. We will get the needed contacts, but I can’t talk now,” Macdon said.

Truck crushes 3 in Ibadan

A commercial motorcyclist and his two passengers were, yesterday, crushed by a fully-loaded truck at the Total Garden area of Ibadan, Oyo State.

It was gathered that the incident occurred while the cyclist was trying to overtake the truck.

According to an eyewitness, Mr Joel Idowu, some angry youths and motorcyclists at the scene attempted to set the truck, with number plates APP-696-XV, ablaze.

He, however, said they were prevented by the security operatives, who shot sporadically into the air to scare them.

Idowu attributed the likely cause of the accident to brake failure on the part of the truck.

However, normalcy returned to the area, as the Oyo State Road Traffic Management Agency, OYRTMA, personnel towed the truck to their office.

My husband was killed when he started making fortunes —Late Badejo’s widow

WIFE of Mr Titus Badejo, the radio presenter killed by yet-to-be identified gunmen, has said that her husband was killed when he began making fortunes.

Mrs Badejo, who spoke with newsmen in her Felele residence in Ibadan, wondered who would have killed her soft-spoken and gentle husband.

She pleaded with Governor Seyi Makinde and the Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, Ngozi Onadeko, to ensure that the killers of her husband are arrested.

Late Badejo was killed in front of Club 407 in Oluyole area of Ibadan on Saturday.

The bereaved woman said: “Such persons should face justice. Government should get them arrested and prosecute them because he was killed when he started making his fortune.

“My husband does not fight. He plays with everyone. People have been asking me if I suspected anyone but I do tell them nobody. I am not suspecting anyone. I want the government to do the right thing to those who killed my husband. I want the government to do the right thing to the killer of my husband.

“This is the time we should be enjoying from his labour over the years. He must not die in vain. They should, for God sake, get his killers. He sold his car to execute a project in Ogbomoso and he promised to buy another car for me and my children. He promised me many things but they didn’t allow him to fulfil any of the promises.”

Meanwhile, the state police command has said its men have begun investigations into the incident.

Alleged EndSARS protester’s baby christened

*Gets scholarship award from Ooni’s wife

BABY of the alleged EndSARS protester arrested in Akure, Ondo State has been christened with the wife of Ooni of Ife, Olori Naomi Ogunwusi, offering the baby scholarship to secondary school level. Some of the names of the boy include Eriponmile, Elijah, Okikianu, Oluwanifemi son of Temitope. Aside from the scholarship, Olori Ogunwusi also presented the new baby and the mother food items, toiletries and baby items.

She said she was touched by the plight of the baby and the mother hence she decided to come personally to witness the christening of the baby and give her support.

Olori Ogunwusi assured that “groups who have shown interest to support the baby and the mother will soon visit the family, urging all women not to lose hope in every situation they find themselves.

“When I got the news of her release on bail, I was moved to tears and touched that she gave birth in the prison custody.

“This baby must be special and I want to assure the mother, the baby and the entire family that I will stay with the family. Kemisola should take me as her mother, sister and friend.”

The venue of the christening, Vera Christian Assembly in Ayedun area of Akure was full to the brim despite the downpour.

It would be recalled that the Ondo State High Court sitting in Olokuta Medium Prison in Akure granted bail to Kemisola Ogunniyi after spending eight months in prison custody.

She was granted bail in the sum of N10 million and a surety in like sum by Justice Omolara Adejumo.

Culled from Vanguard