Another Nigerian , Maxwell Ikechuku Okoye, from Oji River Local Government Area of Enugu State, has been allegedly killed by members of the South African Police Service.

The Vice-President, Nigerian Union in South Africa, Mr Joshua Ogade Itua, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on telephone from Pretoria that Okoye was allegedly tortured to death on Friday in Ladysmith, Kwa-zulu-Natal Province.

The Police, according to the Chairman of Nigerian Union South Africa, Ladysmith Chapter, went to the apartment of the deceased and forced their way in.

“While they were with him, he called to alert other Nigerians but before they could get to his apartment the police had made away with his body. Maxwell’s lifeless body was later seen at the mortuary,” he said.

Itua said that NUSA leaders then went to the police for fact- finding, noting that his death has added to the number of Nigerians that were killed either by the Police or through Xenophobia in that country.

“The Station Commander of Ladysmith claimed that he was met foaming at the time they gained entry to his apartment.

“Police murder inquest has been opened and the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) in Kwa-zulu-Natal province have been informed for full investigation.

“Our condolence to his family and Nigerian Community in Ladysmith. We call on our government to seriously engage its counterparts in South Africa for investigation and prosecution if not a natural death.

“This is because, according to our leaders who went to the mortuary, there are bruises and blood all over his body so we have every reason to believe that he was tortured to death.

“Our stand as foremost Nigerian organisation in South Africa is that all cases involving the killings of Nigerians should be investigated and prosecuted irrespective the nationality and status of the perpetrators,” he told NAN.

Maxwell was born on October 5, 1979 and is survived by two children.

Update – The gorilla claim has turned out to be false. On Friday, June 21, 2019, AFP Fact Check investigated the story and discovered that the zoo has never housed a gorilla in its 47-year history.

Umar Kobo, the managing director at Kano Zoological Gardens has said the missing N6.8 million was not swallowed by a gorilla as earlier claimed.

Recall that BBC Pidgin quoted a finance officer in the zoo as claiming that the gorilla “sneaked into their office” and carted away the money before swallowing it.

The alleged incident was said to have happened during the Sallah celebrations. Umar Kobo, the managing director of the zoo, confirmed that the money is missing and that the issue is being investigated.

“The issue is under investigations for now and I don’t want to say anything on the matter, many journalists have come to meet me but I don’t want to talk anything. What I can confirm is that money is missing,” he said.

“Suspected armed robbers stormed into the zoo and broke into the administrative section and burgled and ransacked seven offices,” Yusuf told Abubakar.

“A safe where 6.8 million naira was ripped open and the money stolen. The money was from gate takings during the Muslim Sallah (Eid) festivities. Nine security guards on duty were tied together and locked inside an office by the robbers.”

He said the money had been kept in the zoo office as it was received over public holidays, when “banks didn’t open”.

The Cross River State Police Command has paraded the pastor in charge of the Gate of Testimony Church, Hosanna Okoi, for allegedly raping a lady and threatening to kill her with a gun if she revealed what transpired between them.

Also paraded on Thursday after he was arrested with arms and a soldier’s uniform was a 400-level student of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Calabar, Nnamdi Ikezue. Ikezue confessed that he was a cultist and was using a locally-made pistol to protect himself.

Twenty-three other suspects were arrested for various crimes. Out of the number, nine were arrested for alleged involvement in robbery attacks in various locations across the state. The state Commissioner of Police, Austin Agbonlahor, said Okoi, who claimed that his church was located in Sierra Leone, was arrested after a lady reported to the police that a pastor, who was supposed to pray for her, allegedly raped her and threatened her with a gun not to report the incident.

Okoi, however, said he only took the lady, whom he claimed was unknown to him, to a wedding and later to a pub.

He stated, “I am a Nigerian, but I am the pastor of the Gate of Testimony Church based in Sierra Leone. I came to Nigeria and I met the lady, who said she was going to a wedding. I did not know her from Adam, but I offered to take her there and gave her N500 to drink water. Later, we met at a pub and we drank and that was all that happened. I did not take her to anywhere and I don’t know why she decided to frame me up.”

Ikezue, on his part, said, “I am having the army uniform because I was at the Nigerian Military School, Zaria, before I got admission into the University of Calabar to study Medicine and Surgery in 2014. I am a cultist and I still use the military uniform and my gun, which I acquired to protect myself.” He blamed the devil for his ordeal, saying, “At the level I am now, I am not supposed to be in the cult.”