A young man identified as Ikechukwu Anigbo was reportedly killed and burnt to death over the weekend around a relaxation centre in Apo Mechanic Village, Abuja.

According to reports, the 32-year-old barber from Aku, Enugu State took a bike and argument ensued between him and the motorcycyclist when he paid. The man insisted his money is N60 instead of N50.

It was alleged that attracted his colleagues to the scene by shouting “thief”. The mob gathered and started beating Ikechukwu after which they set him ablaze.

Confirming the tragic incident, Mr. Ezema Virginius Chukwudike, the taskforce chairman of Abuja Spares Dealers Association, Apo, said “The mob that gathered following the alarm collected tyres from a vulcanising workshop near the scene and set the deceased on fire”

The next day, angry Igbo men in Apo blocked the road and started attacking any vehicle or Keke Napep with Hausa person or people who look like Hausa. Fortunately, the police were able to stop the riot before it escalated.

Speaking to Daily Trust, a friend of the deceased, Chukwudi Orji said he learnt about Ikechuwu’s death when he got home at about 11p.m.

“I saw the fire, but I did not know that someone was inside. There was smoke everywhere; there was no way you would have known that there was someone in the fire, except you were there or somebody told you about it,” he said.

“If I had known about it on time, I would have tried to save him because he was innocent,” he added.

Speaking further, Mr Chukwudike said, “When news of the incident spread, people became angry. They wondered why the motocyclists would burn an innocent man. Even the man who voluntered to carry the corpse after he had been killed, was chased away”

He said this is not the first time that motorcyclists are killing someone over a paltry sum of money.

“A similar thing happened in Kabusa, when a boy was stabbed because of change. Another man was killed on Wumba road. The same change issue led to the death of a man in Damagaza. In his case, after he was killed, they kept him near a river until the next day,” he said.

Chukwudike said the last time such an incident occurred in the area, the traders protested and that it took the intervention of riot policemen to bring the situation under control.

“Because the motorcyclists knew what they did, they boycotted this route from Sunday evening until policemen were deployed to the area.”

Azeez Akinola, Anigbo’s boss at the barbershop, corroborated Chukwudike story, saying the attitude of motorcyclists in the area is a cause for concern.

Akinola who lives around the area where the late Anigbo lived, said he and two other people rushed out of their houses when they received news of the incident, but that the motorcyclists at Kabusa junction refused to take them to the scene.

Akinola who had worked with Anigbo for more than four years in a small barbershop at NEPA Junction, Apo, said it took them a longtime to find a motorcycle to convey them.

He said when they arrived the scene, they saw several people with sticks, but that they did not understand the magnitude of what had happened until someone pointed to the corpse of Anigbo in the fire.

“I could not believe it. There were heaps of iron treads from the burnt tyres on his body,” Akinola said amidst tears.

“He was very gentle,” Akinola continued.” If small wound touch am, he go treat am for more than one week. I.K. can’t ride a bicycle, talk less of motorcycle. Because of fear, he refused to learn driving despite the fact that they were many people around to teach him,” he said.

He said the matter was reported at the Apo Police Station, where he wrote a statement before police officers took the corpse to a mortuary.

When contacted, the spokesperson of the FCT police command, ASP Anjuguri Manzah said, “there was an early morning disagreement between two opposing groups that could have resulted in a clash but it was averted by the timely intervention of anti-riot police personnel.”

Manzah said the FCT Commissioner of Police, Wilson Inalegwu, warned people of the area to desist from violence at the wake of the disagreement and promptly deployed police officers to the scene.

The commissioner assured residents of the area and other parts of FCT that adequate measures have been deployed to contain the situation, investigate and unravel the remote and underlying issues behind the upheaval.

He reiterated that any attempt to jeopardise the existing peaceful and serene atmosphere in the Federal Capital Territory will not be tolerated.

Though normalcy has returned to the area, the relative peace enjoyed may not last for long if a lasting solution is not proffered. Chukwudike said government should stop motorcyclists from arming themselves with daggers.

“Why should government allow them to move around with daggers unchallenged?” he asked.

There are several versions of the incident, while some insist that the late Anigbo did not commit any crime, some alleged that he attempted to snatch the motorcycle he rode to the junction but was overpowered by the motorcyclists.

However, it is hoped that the police through their investigation will be able to give a clearer picture of what actually transpired.

Source: Daily Trust

For fondling the breast of his female customer without her consent, a 45-year-old trader, Sunny Onugu, has been charged before a Kado Grade 1 Area Court sitting in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, on a two-count charge of gross indecency and assault, Daily Trust reports.

The police prosecutor in the case, Salisu Khaleel, told the court that one Adeyemi Rafiu had reported that the defendant had touched her breast when she went to his shop to purchase an item, an action she did not find funny.

Khaleel said that Onugu, a resident of Plot 26, Dan-Suleiman Street, Utako, in the FCT, touched Rafiu on the breast without her consent while she was paying for a candle she bought at his shop and that when the woman protested over the assault, accused defendant allegedly slapped her on the face.

Khaleel said the offences contravened Sections 285 and 265 of the Penal Code.

When the charges were read to him, Onugu, pleaded not guilty and the judge, Malam Abubakar Sadiq, granted him bail in the sum of N50, 000 with one surety in like sum.

The National Universities Commission has declared that any student who wants to study medicine will henceforth spend a minimum of 10 years in the university.

The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Prof. Julius Okojie made the declaration in a lecture delivered at the maiden matriculation and inauguration of the University of Medical Science, Ondo, Ondo State.

In a lecture titled ‘Development of Medical Education : Prospects and Challenges‘, Okojie, who was represented by the Deputy Executive Secretary of the commission, Prof. Chiedu Mafiana, said the development was imperative in order to enable the students mature psychologically for the profession.

He said the 2015 document for the training of medical students made provision for students to spend the first four years in studying basic sciences in university after which they would proceed to the medical school to spend another seven years.

Stressing the need for adequate funding of medical training and practice, the NUC Executive Secretary admonished the management of the institution to ensure that the money earmarked for the development of the institution was used for the purpose it was meant.

The Visitor of the school and Ondo a State governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, in his speech said the university was expected to leverage on the benefits of the medical complex around the institution to advance efforts in medical research and training.

He expressed optimism that the institution would be a leading internationally-recognised platform for raising crops of professionally-competent individuals in the various disciplines of the health care industry.

“It is our hope and belief that it will provide sound scientific, technological and professional training to address identified health needs and problems, solve them within the context of community and national needs and sustainable development,” Mimiko said.

In his address, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Friday Okonofua, said the that the university would achieve the objectives for which it was established, appealing to all well-meaning Nigerians to render assistance to the varsity by contributing to the ‘Friends of UNIMED Funds’ initiatives which was targeted at raising N1billion for the school .

He lauded the initiative of the Ondo State government for the establishment of the university describing it as the most creative and innovative idea that has taken place in the development of tertiary education in the country.

Recall we brought you reports on how two students were gruesomely beheaded by their rival cult group (Read Story and See Gory Photos Here).

The beheaded students have been identified as Samuel, a 300 level Political Science student and Chukwuebuka Benedict Nwaigbo, Estate Management, 300 level.

A third person who was present during the attack was critically injured and currently receiving treatment at a hospital. He is however not a member of any cult group.