Cocaine Deal: NDLEA Opens Case Against DCP Abba Kyari, Calls First Witness

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has opened its case against the suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari, who is standing trial on an eight-count charge, bordering on conspiracy, obstruction and dealing in cocaine and other related offences before the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.

At the resumed trial on Monday, the NDLEA brought a Commander of Narcotics attached to its forensic unit, Mrs. Patricia Afolabi, to testify as its first witness.

Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Sunday Joseph, the witness, told the court that part of her job specification involves receiving and conducting forensic analysis on drug exhibits.

She told the court that she had, on February 7, 2022, received from the forensic liaison officer of the agency, Abubakar Aliyu, one sealed transparent evidence pack containing 24 dispensing packs each and added that each of the parks contained white substance measured at 0.5grams.

She said the package also contained a request form for analysis, adding, “From the analysis, I conducted, which I labelled exhibit A-X, I found out that 21 of the exhibits contained cocaine, while exhibits H to G were found to be negative.

“I then issued an analysis report of my findings, which I signed and sealed. I repacked them as exhibits in a large envelope and addressed them to Officer in Charge of the NDLEA in Abuja.

The court admitted all the exhibits in evidence without objection from the Defendants.

While cross-examining the witness, DCP Kyari’s lawyer, Dr Onyeachi Ikpeazu (SAN), asked the witness if it was true that every suspect in a drug deal must be present before analysis is conducted, a question the witness answered in the negative.

She said it was not customary that all suspects would be present when substances are also handed over for analysis.

The witness, who said she has over 30 years of experience, said: “I was not present when the drug was recovered. I was not present when NDLEA received it.”

She confirmed that NDLEA operatives are stationed in all entry points in Nigeria, including the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu.

Asked if she was aware if it was NDLEA that recovered the cocaine at the Airport in Enugu, the witness said she was not aware, stressing that, “I don’t know who recovered the substance. I did not come in contact with any of them.”

Meanwhile, the court adjourned the matter till Tuesday to enable counsel to the other Defendants to cross-examine the first prosecution witness.

Katie price declared bankrupt after blowing her £45m fortune, failing to pay debts

Former model and reality TV star, Katie Price, has been declared bankrupt in a hearing at the High Court on Tuesday.

She was told by the court that she had failed to stick to a plan to repay her debts.

According to Dailymail, Price is believed to have debts of £800,000 and has been failing to pay £12,000 per month to her creditors.

The 41-year-old who was once worth an estimated £45 million had been pursued by creditors and taxman after revealing she has spent her entire fortune.

The reality TV star, last year December was allowed to enter into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement with her creditors for a repayment plan.

The insolvency practitioner overseeing her IVA said she had failed to keep to the terms of the agreement.

Now that she’s been made bankrupt, the Official Receiver will take control of her financial affairs and property.

Missing child: Group knocks Ondo police over delay in investigation

Two weeks after a one-year-old boy, Gold Kolawole, got missing at a church in Akure, the Ondo State capital, a group has lamented the slow pace at which the police were investigating the matter.

Gold allegedly went missing during a church service on Sunday at the Sotitobire Praising Chapel and his whereabouts were still unknown. The mother of the missing boy, Mrs Modupe Kolawole, has called on the founder of the church, Prophet Alfa Babatunde, and the state police command to help her find the boy.

Although the police command initially said the matter was not officially reported at the station, the boy was later declared missing.

The human rights group, the Sunshine for Integrity and Justice, frowned at the way the police were handling the matter.

The coordinator of the group, Mr Odion Mathew, in a statement issued on Tuesday, alleged that the police command was being lackadaisical in its investigation into the matter.

The statement read, “It would be a thing of shame and ineptitude for the Ondo State Police Command not to have taken any serious step on the matter. A whole human being was missing, not an object and the police seem to have kept quiet about it, it is unfortunate.

“For over two weeks now, nobody has been arrested nor interrogated among the caregivers in the church, under whose care the boy was. How could a boy get missing among many children at the juvenile section of the church and the police is keeping quiet? This is not good enough for a country like Nigeria. We believe we are not in a jungle. So the police must act on this matter.

“The perceived silence of the police on the matter and the experience in the past in this country is luring one to believe that there is an attempt to let the matter suffer a natural death. ”

The group called on the Inspector General of Police, Mr Mohammed Adamu, to order a full investigation into the matter.

However, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Command, Mr Femi Joseph, denied being silent on the matter, saying the police were still investigating it.

He said, “We are not keeping quiet on the matter, the CP ( Commissioner of Police) has ordered the matter to be transferred to the CID ( Criminal Investigative Department) for proper investigation.”

Lady stabs lover to death with fork after she finds another lady with him

One Labake Olowokere has reportedly stabbed her lover, Seun Komolafe, to death with a fork after she caught him with another woman.

Labake, it was learnt, had visited the residence of Seun at Okeopo area of Ilesha around 8.00 p.m. on Monday to pick her cooking gas when she met another lady in the house.

After recovering from the initial shock, Labake was said to have picked a quarrel with Seun and the lady, whose name could not be immediately ascertained.

A fight followed and it was gathered that Labake picked a fork and stabbed Seun in the stomach, which led to his death.

Acting Police Public Relations Officer for Osun State Command, Mustafa Katayeyanjue, confirmed the incident and added that the Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Ige, had directed an investigation into the matter.

He said, “At about 10.30 p.m. on Monday, one Adeyemi Ojo of Araromi Street reported to the police that one Labake Olowokere of Ido Ijesa, a lover of Seun Komolafe of Okeopo area of Ilesha stabbed him in the stomach with a fork and killed him on the spot.

“From preliminary findings, Labake went to the resident of his lover to pick her cooking gas. On getting to the house, she met another lady there, and a fight ensued.

“It was during the misunderstanding that she reportedly took a fork and stabbed Seun in the stomach. He died on the spot. The corpse of the deceased had been deposited at Wesley Guild Hospital, Ilesha.”

BREAKING: Policemen allegedly beat man into a coma in Imo

Policemen attached to Anara Police Division in Isiala Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State have reportedly beaten a young man into a coma.

The policemen had reportedly gone to arrest the yet-to-be-identified young man on Monday evening at St Innocent’s junction in Anara and started beating him when he tried to ask why they (policemen) were arresting him.

Our correspondent learnt that while the policemen were holding and beating the victim, other youths around fled out of fear.

On Tuesday, members of the community besieged the Anara Police Division at Anara junction in protest.

They demanded the prosecution of the policemen who manhandled the young man to the point, where he went into a coma.

Clutching placards, the protesting crowd decried the high level of police brutality and extortion in the community.

A youth leader in the community, Marcel Onuoha, said that the victim had been rushed to another hospital in Owerri after he was rejected by the first hospital.

Onuoha expressed fear over the health condition of the victim.

He called on the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu and State Commissioner of Police, Rabiu Ladodo, to fish out the policemen who brutalised the victim.

Our correspondent learnt that one policeman, popularly known as Blackly was allegedly responsible for the beating of the victim.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Orlando Ikeokwu, said that the leadership of the police would handle the situation.

He promised that justice would be served even as he urged the protesting villagers not to take laws into their hands.

Lagos-Ibadan Expressway: Robbers have taken over Long Bridge, as commuters bemoan attacks

Commuters plying the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway have raised the alarm over the increased spate of attacks on the Long Bridge and the slow pace of work on the part of the contractor handling the Kara-Berger end of the road.

The road users lament that the robberies have increased in recent times due to the gridlock, which has become a permanent fixture of the road, as well as the apparent lack of security agencies within the vicinity of the Long Bridge.

Road users say that the robbers station themselves at OPIC bus stop and the middle of the Long Bridge, under which they disappear to, once they have carried out their nefarious activities.

Joseph Akinbo, who uses the road said that the suspected attackers resumed their evil deeds immediately the flood that had affected several parts of Ogun State receded. He went on to call on security agencies to provide security on the Long Bridge, in order to curb the activities of the attackers.

He said, “These boys have resumed their duties after the flood receded. I suggest to our security agents to move towards the Long bridge.”

Another road user said that he saw two bodies under the Long Bridge, as he was trekking towards Kara at around 9.00 a.m.

He said, “We need security on that bridge because the kind of evil acts that are going on under that bridge is uncalled for.

“Due to the way those commercial bus drivers were increasing their price, I decided to trek to Kara, when I got to the middle of Long Bridge what I saw can’t be told. I two dead bodies under the bridge.”

He also called on the police to look into the issue of security on the road.

An eyewitness said that robbers came from under the Long Bridge to smash people’s cars and cart away their valuables. He said, “I was an eyewitness, robbers smashed people cars and robbed them of their valuables. They came from under the bridge in the middle of the Long Bridge. After robbing, they jump back under the Long Bridge. Security agencies need to comb the axis and flush them out, otherwise, it will continue.”

Another road user blamed the slow pace of work for the hardship experienced by users of the road.

He said, “Julius Berger has become so sloppy, ineptitude and incompetent that if I have my way, they will not get any contract in this country anymore. People have observed that they started behaving this way since their “OIL FOR CONTRACT AGREEMENT” with the federal government was terminated. Go to the Ibadan end of the expressway and see what RCC has done there. The road was handed over to the two construction companies at the same time. I fail to understand why Julius Berger still remains on that road despite all its incompetencies. It should be sacked and the road handed over to RCC or any other company that has shown competence.

“Trucks would break down on the narrow outlet that thousands of vehicles pass through to go their way and for a whole day, the broken-down truck would be left there, thereby creating several kilometres of total traffic lockdown. Then armed robbers would come in and begin to rob the hapless travellers. In a sane society, there would be permanent heavy duty tow vehicles standing by to remove any obstruction instantly as it occurs and there would be a permanent deployment of security personnel across the length of the gridlock to protect the people. But that will not happen here.

“Nobody cares! When those that should care come that way they come with their sirens and security guards which clear the way for them. The rest of you could sleep or die in the gridlock for all they care. I sympathise with all of you currently locked down in that terrible traffic.”

$1m scam: EFCC arrests Kirikiri prison controller, doctor for procuring medical report

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested the Deputy Controller of Kirikiri maximum correctional centre, Emmanuel Oluwaniyi and Hemeson Edwin, also a DC, for allegedly procuring an exaggerated medical report for a suspected cyber scammer, Olusegun Aroke.

Aroke, who is serving a 24-year jail term was allegedly given a referral for treatment outside the facility during which he pulled a $1 million scam.

The convict is one of two Malaysia-based Nigerian undergraduate fraudsters arrested by the EFCC in 2012 at the 1004 Housing Estate, Victoria Island, Lagos following a tip-off.

According to the EFCC, preliminary investigation revealed that the convict, against established standard practice, had access to the internet and mobile phone in the Correctional Centre.

The EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday explained that Oluwaniyi and his accomplice, Edwin, who was in charge of the clinic in the correctional centre, were arrested on Monday by operatives of the commission.

The suspects were said to have given useful information about their alleged involvement in the crime.

Aroke, also known as H.Money, had masterminded a mega scam to the tune of over $1 million.

He committed the alleged crime from prison, using a network of accomplices.

Aroke, who hails from Okene in Kogi State, had claimed to be a student of Computer Science at the Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan University, Malaysia.

However, investigations by the commission revealed Aroke as the arrowhead of an internet fraud scheme that traversed two continents.

When the convict was arrested, a search conducted by EFCC operatives on his apartment led to the recovery of several items such as laptops, iPad, travel documents, cheque books, flash drives, internet modem, and three exotic cars – a Mercedes Benz SUV, One 4Matic Mercedes Benz and a Range Rover Sport SUV.

He was eventually convicted by Justice Lateefa Okunnu of the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja on two counts of obtaining money by false pretence, cheque cloning, wire transfer and forgery.

He was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment on each of the two counts.