Happy birthday to Nana Khadija, the youngest child of slain Lt Col Umar, who turns one today. B.U. Umar, a lieutenant colonel and commanding officer of 114 TF battalion of the Nigerian Army was ambushed alongside his troops last month between Bita and Piridang.

According to reports, his vehicle stepped on an improvised explosive device, but he was not hurt.

He came out to assess the damage on the vehicle and Boko Haram opened fire and killed him in the process.

The soldiers were said to be on their way to Yola in Adamawa State from Bita in Borno State when the incident occurred.

Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) general secretary, Mohammed Sanusi has disclosed that the country’s football ruling body will pay the players and officials of the senior women national team as soon as funds are available.

The Super Falcons returned from Cameroon on Sunday morning after emerging as champions of the African Women’s Cup of Nations for the eighth time, and Sanusi has appealed to the team to exercise a little patience with the federation which is currently going through recession at the moment.

“We know we have financial commitment to you (players and officials of Super Falcons) and we have not at any time stated otherwise. But the money is not readily available at the moment,” Sanusi told NFF media.

“I have come to appeal to you, to understand the situation of the Federation, to understand the situation of the country at the present and exercise patience.

“We will pay you all monies you are being owed as soon as we receive same from the Government, just as we paid the U17 boys who won the Fifa U17 World Cup in Chile last year, after the tournament.

“And just as we sorted out Coach Samson Siasia’s wages as soon as we had the funds, after the Olympics.”

The three men alleged to have kidnapped and killed the human resources manager of the Dangote Industries Limited, Istifanus Bello, have said he was murdered for bringing incomplete ransom.

The suspects – Abdullahi Saliu, Babuga Adamu and Abubakar Gide – told PUNCH Metro that Bello got them angry after bringing N5.6m instead of the N10m agreed for the release of four expatriates earlier kidnapped by their gang.

They said Bello was killed after he had been held for three days because he allegedly refused to call his employer to pay the balance of N4.4m.

Bello had gone to the Ijebu-Igbo area of Ogun State with N5.6m as ransom payment for the four expatriates.While the foreigners were released, he was abducted and later killed.His corpse was reportedly recovered from a river by the police.

Investigations by the Abba Kyari-led Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team resulted in the arrest of Saliu, Adamu and Gide in Lagos, Kwara and Ogun states.

The men, who were Fulani herdsmen, were on Tuesday transferred from the Force headquarters in Abuja to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Ikeja, Lagos, pending the conclusion of investigation.

In an exclusive chat with Punch, one of the suspects, who spoke in Yoruba, said 10 of them carried out the operation.

Twenty-year-old Saliu, an indigene of Kano State, said they were led by one Alti, who fired the shot that killed Bello.

He said:

“We were 10 that carried out the operation and we were all fully armed. We had attacked and abducted the four expatriates while they worked in a quarry located in a forest in Ijebu-Igbo; they were guarded by two policemen who had an AK-47 rifle and a pump-action rifle. We surrounded the quarry, overpowered the policemen and took one of their rifles. We didn’t touch them.

“We then moved the expatriates into the forest where we fed them with bread and soft drinks. We made contact with their families and the company and demanded N30m ransom. We later reduced the money to N20m and then N10m.

“Some days later, the man (Bello) brought N5.6m. Our leader, Alti, was angry and after releasing the four expatriates, he seized the man. He said he must call his family members or the firm to pay up the remaining N4.4m or else he would be killed in three days. But the man said he does not have any number to give us and he does not have any money. After the three days elapsed and nobody came for him, he was shot dead.”

Saliu said he was paid N150,000 from the ransom after which he left the group.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the suspects dumped the victim’s corpse in a river and tied it to a log to prevent the corpse from floating.Another suspect, Adamu, 25, said he had persuaded Alti against killing the victim, adding that the leader rebuked him.

He added:

“I was given N190,000 for my role. I still have the bulk of the money. When the man brought the ransom, I was the one that led the group to take the money. I was able to do this because I have lived in Ijebu-Igbo for over 10 years; I was brought up here.

When Alti insisted on killing the man, I told him to take the man far from where our cows graze; I said it was none of my business if he killed him,”

The third suspect, 24-year-old Gide, from the Gumi Local Government Area of Sokoto State, said Adamu made him to join the group.He said his role was to buy food for the expatriates.

A source told PUNCH Metro that the police and some vigilance group members had first apprehended Saliu and transferred him to the Ogun State Special Anti-Robbery Squad, adding that when they didn’t have a breakthrough, the IGP team was invited.

He said:

“After we intervened, Saliu confessed to us and took us to where the man’s corpse was. It was already decomposing when we found it. Fish had even picked out his eyes. We contacted some council officials, who removed the corpse and deposited it in a mortuary from where some employees of the Dangote company picked it.

“From the information we gathered, we arrested Adamu’s brother, who gave us his address in a forest in Epe, Lagos. We got him arrested around 2am while he was fast asleep with other herdsmen in an open space.

“We later moved to Kwara State to arrest the last suspect, Gide. A policeman had pretended that he had a special assignment and he needed a woman and a hotel to stay in, and since Gide was very familiar with the area, he believed he could help out. After dribbling us for three days, he finally showed up and we arrested him.

“We are still searching for the remaining seven suspects, including the one with the police gun which they took at the quarry; and we will get them.”

The Force Public Relations Officer, Donald Awunnah, said investigations were ongoing.

Source: PUNCH

A pastor running an illegal orphanage was apprehended by the Lagos State Government after one of the children in his care fell ill.

It was discovered that Pastor Onoyngu Chibuike’s orphanage was not registered with the Lagos State Government after the hospital requested the medical history of the sick child, The Nation reports.

The discovery led to a raid of the clergyman’s home by the Lagos State Task Force and the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development where the other children were found and then rescued.

Chibuike who is the founder of the Voice of Salvation Charitable Organisation and has been operating the orphanage in Ojo since 2010, stated that he registered it with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in 2010. This was after he reportedly received a divine mandate to start the orphanage 6 years ago and to rescue society’s helpless children.

“I am from Anambra State. I am called by God to render this service to humanity by helping the less privileged, such as widows, motherless children and homeless people. I provide adequate care for these children till their parents can take over their care. For those that were abandoned, I train them even up to university level,” he stated during interrogation.

Explaining how he came about the children whom he confessed were acquired by different means, the pastor explained;

“Some of these children here were brought to me by the police, some were brought by their biological mothers, who in some instances claimed they had the children out of wedlock and they cannot attend to the needs of the children or shoulder their responsibilities.

The Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Mrs Uzamat Akinbile Yussuf said disciplinary actions would be taken against the pastor after the conclusion of ongoing investigation citing that ignorance is no excuse under the law.

“When you operate an illegal orphanage in Lagos, it is a criminal offence. Your registration with CAC does not give you any licence to operate an orphanage in Lagos. Here we operate with the law that guides us. Orphanage is not a charitable organization you feel God has guided you to go and assist people.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday asked Nigerian elite to stop making what he called expensive demands from his administration because things would no longer be done in the old way.

He warned them to stop insisting that things should be done the old way which impoverished the nation.

The President spoke during a meeting he had with a group of Nigerians in the Diaspora, on the margins of the 3rd Dakar International Forum on Peace and Security in Africa in Dakar, Senegal.

According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President said his administration was on the right track to improve the image of the country by entrenching accountability and probity in governance.

He told the 11-man Nigerian delegation of association leaders resident in Senegal and Cote D’ Ivoire, that the last 16 years of poor handling of the nation’s resources and infrastructure have continued to impact negatively on the country.

The President, “This administration is pleased we won the election, we are pleased Nigerians are cooperating with us. But the problems are so enormous that we need the cooperation of Nigerians, particularly the elite.

“They (elite) should reflect on the condition of the country, and stop making expensive demands because things cannot be done the old way.”

On the welfare of Nigerians in the Diaspora, Buhari assured them that the Federal Government would continue to promote good neighbourliness and improve the negative perception about Nigerians abroad.

“Nigerians are known for their competitiveness and I am very passionate about Nigeria. I will continue to preach good neighbourliness and work hard to improve the numerous human and material resources in the country,” he said.

Source: Punch

The 2016 Batch ‘B’ corps member, late Ifedolapo Oladepo, who died at the National Youth Service Corps orientation camp in Kano, had renal sepsis which occurred as a result of an infection.

Oladepo graduated from the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso before the her tragic demise.

This was the report of an investigation conducted to unravel the immediate cause of her death. The investigation revealed she “had kidney infection, probably due to untreated urinary tract infection.”

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung and Director General of the NYSC, Brig-General Suleiman Kazaure, while presenting the report on Tuesday in Abuja, said the government will continue to ensure the safety of youth corps members.

The family of the deceased corps member had accused the government of negligence in handling Oladepo’s health condition leading to her untimely death.

While presenting the report of the committee set up to unravel the immediate and remote causes of their deaths, Kazaure said Ifedolapo Oladepo’s death was as a result of her “refusal to disclose her ailment she had been battling with before resuming to camp.”

He said, “It is clear that the deceased had an ailment which she did not disclose. From the doctors’ report, the corps member died of renal sepsis occasioned by infection.

“Even, to the untrained, kidney infections do not develop and degenerate to the level of mortality in three days (i.e 7th to 29th November, 2016).

“The deceased first appeared at the camp clinic with complaints of headache and fever, which she said she had been experiencing for two days.

“On examination, the doctors on duty noticed rashes on her legs, which she claimed started appearing as a result of her use of a second-hand knickers she bought without first washing it.

“Doctors noticed increase in the rashes on her legs, the deceased still dismissed it as a reaction to usage of a second-hand knicker. By this time, she had been vomiting. Therefore, she was admitted at the camp clinic and treated with Drazamol injection and Piriton to soothe her body pains as she was already on malaria drugs.”

According to him, the deceased was immediately referred to Gwarzo General Hospital for further treatment, where, after examination, “the doctor concluded that the deceased had kidney infection probably due to untreated urinary tract infection.”

He said Oladepo died on her way to the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital for immediate dialysis.

He said, “The investigation showed that the deceased responded well until about 2:00am on 29th November when her condition worsened, and her body began to show noticeable signs of fluid retention.

“She was thereafter placed on oxygen as the doctors battled to stabilise her for the long journey to Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital.”

She finally died at about 4:00 am on November 29, 2016.

It would be recalled that apart from Oladepo, two other corps members died recently died during the on-going 2016 Batch ‘B’ (Stream I) orientation programme.

They are Chinyerum Nwenenda Elechi, Ifedolapo Oladepo and Monday Asuquo Ukeme, deployed to Bayelsa, Kano and Zamfara states respectively.

The Naira took a fall again on Tuesday, December 6, as it dropped to N485 from N484 against the dollar and N600 from N590 against the British pound at the parallel market.

However, the local currency maintained the N510 per Euro as it was yesterday, December 5.

Some have attributed the fall of the naira to the recent crackdown in the parallel market against currency traders.

However, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, in an interview with Reuters, said “his office was working with the central bank to make the foreign exchange market more flexible and more reflective of actual demand and supply”.

At the official side of the market, the naira depreciated from 305 to 315 per dollar, while the pound went for N401.