An automobile dealer, Osas Felix Bright, has confessed that he buys stolen vehicles from robbers and gave one of such SUVs to a pastor to pray for his barren wife to conceive in Lagos State, western Nigeria.

Bright was arrested along with the pastor, Titus Onwuchekwa who received the stolen SUV as gift.

Bright made the confession when they were paraded by the State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni last week.

The police also recovered 18 stolen vehicles of various brands from the suspects.

Delta Stat- born Bright also revealed that he did not tell his wife that he was buying stolen vehicles from robbers.

He explained that she only knew him as a genuine auto dealer at Berger.

“My wife does not know that I buy stolen vehicles. She got to know after I was arrested,” Bright said.

Bright also confessed that he knew that suppliers of the recovered vehicles were car snatchers because he buys the SUVs at give-away prices.

Pastor Titus Onwuchekwa of the Presbyterian Church, Umuahia in Abia State, was arrested along with other suspects, Bola Salami, 30, Opeyemi Aregbesola, 28, Chibuike Umeh, 22, and Ndibe Samuel by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni.

Bright said that Pastor Onwuchekwa did not know that the SUV he gave to him was stolen, but he committed himself when he contacted him again and was demanding to buy another car (Toyota Camry) for N250,000.

He said unknown to Onwuchekwa, he (Bright) was already in police custody, adding that it was when the pastor came to Lagos to buy the Toyota Camry he was also arrested.

Onwuchekwa said that he did not know that the SUV was stolen.

He said when he contacted Bright and informed him that he was a pastor, he was elated and informed him that he was sowing a seed with the SUV.

He said he only paid him N350,000 and he prayed for him and his wife became pregnant.

According to CP Owoseni, the police recovered an unregistered Toyota 4 Runner SUV, Toyota Camry with registration number, AAA 391 AA, Toyota Camry with number, FKJ 441 DV, Lexus Rx30 with number LSR 520 RF, Toyota Highlander SUV with number LSR 492 DX and Mitsubishi Pajero SUV with number SMK 484 DS.

Other suspected criminals paraded by CP Oweseni made confessed committing crimes such as kidnapping, fraud, robbery among others.

“I am one of those people who say they got pregnant by accident. I got pregnant at 19 just in my second year of university.

I didn’t expect to get pregnant because I took the necessary precautions. From the beginning I wasn’t sure in my mind whether I should keep the baby. The father had already denied me.

I didn’t have a father figure in my life so I didn’t know what to do. I thought of how I was going to tell my mom, I didn’t know how she would react, especially being that I am the first and only child. I didn’t even know where to start. I felt I had already let her down.

WORST FEAR
My worst fear became a reality; my mom became harsh with me. It was like a switch in her flipped. She even refused to be associated with me.
She didn’t want a kid who was in my kind of situation; forced to drop out of school in second year. She abused me, verbally and physically.
I had never seen this side of my mother. We only had each other and I thought that would never change. Yet there she was, the one person I thought would always be there for me, turning her back on me.

RAN AWAY
Everything was too much. I ran away. I had to escape because even my own mother wanted me to get rid of the baby. I had already made up my mind that I was going to have it.

With some money saved up, I decided to start a small business. I prepared chips and crisps and sold them. I rented a shack and used it as my house, paying Kshs. 1,500 rent every month. I had to survive. I couldn’t let my baby down.

Through a friend I found out my aunt had relocated to Nairobi. I was unsure on how she would react to me being pregnant. She was very close to my mom. I took the risk and went to see her; I had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

My aunt decided to secretly help me because she knew I didn’t want my mother getting involved. She used to visit me in my shack, every day until I gave birth.

SAVING GRACE
Giving me advice and checking on how baby and I were doing. She was the saving grace that I badly needed. I had no one. She gave me the love and care that my own mother denied me.

When I finally gave birth, I couldn’t imagine that I wanted to get rid of someone so innocent. I imagined how I would have felt if I got an abortion. It made me hate myself for a while. I had to find a way to love myself again. It helped that no one in the area knew my story. They just saw me as a stranger with a baby.

Then I met a man. He always wondered how such a young girl was so stressed. I told him my story, he told me his. I kept on asking myself why anyone would be interested in someone like me. As time went by, we became friends. I didn’t have friends. I had been rejected by everyone and was raising a baby on my own.

NAIJA MAN
He was nice to me and wanted to take care of me. He sort of felt sorry for me. He gave us-my baby and I- an apartment to live in.

He also sent me money. Enough money to ensure the baby got everything she needed. I was even able to finish my education.

He took me to Nigeria and gave me money to start my own salon business. When he asked me to marry him, how could I refuse?

He took me and my baby in as his own. He took us from nothing and gave us everything. I knew for once, God remembered that I exist.”

Source: Nairobi News

Residents of Port Harcourt have been advised to stop drinking garri soaked in cold water for now, because rats that carry the highly contagious Lassa fever virus also like exposed dry garri.

Dr. Furo Green, the Chairman of Rivers State branch of Nigerian Medical Association, NBA, gave this medical advice, while speaking on the Lassa Fever scourge in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State Capital.He said

“Because you are not sure which garri has been infected by rats, its advisable to stay away. When you want to sip garri, you only pour cold water, add sugar and milk as the case may be.

“When you do that you only succeed in gulping a life virus that can cause Lassa fever. The virus is empowered easily to attack you. Rather, garri should be consumed in the traditional way prepare it well boiled hot water or pour the garri in a pot of boiling hot water and steer it.”

Dr. Green also advised members of the public to store food in closed containers to keep rats at bay.

“When you buy foodstuffs like garri, you should pour it into a container that is covered to avoid the garri from being contaminated infected rats”.

Since the outbreak of Lassa fever disease, three people have died in Rivers state, claiming the life of a medical doctor with the state-owned Braithwaite Memorial Specialised Hospital (BMHS), Livy Ijamala, on Wednesday January 13 night.

The medical doctor was said to have contracted the fever from a pregnant woman that conducted an emergency Cesarean Section unknown to him that she was infected.

The death of Ijamala brought to three, the number of persons who have died from the disease in the state, as a nursing mother and her two-week-old baby died earlier from the virus.

Source: PM News