NIS Discovers `Baby Factory’ In Ondo State

The Nigeria Immigration Service, Ondo State Command, said on Thursday it had discovered a ‘baby factory’ in Ilu-tuntun, Okitipupa Local Government Area of the state.
The command told newsmen in Akure that 19 men and women who were allegedly cohabiting and producing children for the owner of the ‘factory’ were arrested.

They comprised eight men and 11 women and the owner of the factory.
Five of the women were carrying children, while another five were found pregnant.
The Comptroller of the command, Alhaji Al-Hassan Musa, said “we were able to arrest these people by acting on a tip-off we got from Abuja.”
“A circular emanating from the headquarters informed us that an operator of a baby factory in Imo State has relocated to somewhere in Ondo State.

“We swung into action and our investigations led us to Ilu-tuntun where we arrested these people.
“Our investigations also revealed that the operator, who was said to be in connivance with a Camerounian, has another such factory in Ore, Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State,” he said.

The comptroller also said that the culprits would be handed over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Offences (NAPTIP) in Lagos.
However, some of the suspects and the alleged proprietor, who spoke with newsmen, denied the allegations, saying they were all members of a family.(NAN)
 Leadership

Suspected homosexuals escape lynching in Bauchi

Nigerians demonstrated their disdain for same-sex relationships last week when an angry mob almost lynched seven suspected homosexuals who were brought for trial before Sharia Court 4 in Anguwan Jaki, Bauchi State.
This is coming less than a month after President Goodluck Jonathan signed into law, the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act that criminalises gay marriage, gay organisations and anyone working with or promoting them.

The presence of the seven suspected homosexuals at the court premises sparked off an uproar  from the crowd who came to witness the trial. The suspects are facing trial for allegedly engaging in gay activities, an action that contravenes the Islamic laws, which the Bauchi State operates.
Security personnel had a hectic time trying to rescue the endangered seven. They fired tear gas canisters and several  gunshots into the air in a bid to disperse the mob.
Tension started brewing around the court premises when the suspects who were brought n a Hilux van, alighted from the court room.

The suspects -  Ibrahim Marafa, Shehu Adamu, Yusuf Adamu, Aliyu Dalhatu, Abdulmalik Tanko, Usman Sabo and Hazif Sabo Abubakar were hurriedly taken back to prision by the security personnel as the angry crowd hurled stones at the van. A few people sustained various degrees of injury in the process.
The crowd which gathered on hearing about the trial,  rained abuses on the suspects and  pelted them with stones. The charged atmosphere compelled the trial  Sharia Judge, Yakubu Aliyu, lawyers and the horde of journalists to run for their lives.
Earlier, inside the rowdy court, the Counsel to the Sharia Commission, Danlami Ayuba, told the court that one of the suspects identified as Ibrahim Marafa, is the Principal of a Government Secondary School.

But Counsel to the suspects, Abdul Musa told the judge that he was not ready and sought for bail for his clients to enable them study the charges. The bail application was however opposed by the Counsel to the Sharia Commission.
The trial judge, El-Yaqub Aliyu refused to grant the bail application and adjourned the case to a later date to enable the prosecutors present their witnesses.
In a related development, the  State Sharia Commission also arraigned six other suspects before the court.

When their case was mentioned, the Judge cautioned the Commission’s Counsel to ensure that they have proper evidence on the accused persons before arraigning them in court.
He decried a situation where an accused had pleaded guilty of the offence he committed four years ago and had repented but was brought to court after he had repented.
Quoting sections of the Hadith, he said the accused remained innocent until proper evidence is established that he had committed the offence again.
Counsel to the Sharia commission presented two witnesses against two of the suspects but under cross examination, none of the witnesses said he saw them while they were committing the alleged offence.

The Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, DSP Haruna Mohammed, said that the suspects were arrested by the Bauchi State Sharia Commission.
In a similar incident, a young man convicted of sodomy by an Islamic Shariah court in northern Nigeria was whipped 20 times.
20-year-old Mubarak Ibrahim, an artisan, pleaded guilty to the gay crime carried out seven years ago.
He said he was tricked into the act by the principal of the High School he was attending and has not since committed a homosexual act.

Mr Ibrahim was spared a sentence of death by stoning because the incident occurred many years ago and because he had shown “great remorse,” Judge Nuhu Mohammed said.
The lashes were given using an animal skin whip in the packed public court. Mr Ibrahim was also ordered to pay a fine of 5,000 naira (around £20). It was not clear if he was able to immediately pay the fee and go free.
Some residents of the State who spoke with VM expressed their disgust with the  seven gay suspects, saying that they deserve to die because they have no fear of God and respect for humanity.

-vanguard

I Supply Guns To Robbers —Suspect

A citizen of Repubic of Benin, who resides in Lagos State, southwest Nigeria, Abbey Edward, has allegedly confessed that he supplied guns to armed robbers for their operations in the state.

The father of four children, who has been living in Agbara area of Lagos State for over 30 years, allegedly made the confession while denying the allegation that he was part of a robbery gang.

Edward was recently arrested and was Wednesday paraded with other suspects including, Adewale Osoja, 21, Bala Yahaya, 28, Hassan Ado, Almed Boladale, 20, Abiodun Olarewaju, 27, by the police at Ikeja, Lagos Command for armed robbery.

Edward, however, insisted that he has not participated in any robbery operation except selling arms to robbers.

He said people knew him as a driver, but his main source of income for many years came from buying guns for robbers in his hometown in Cotonoun, the economic capital of Benin.

Edward said that because he has been living in Agbara for many years, it was easy for him to cross the border and bring arms into Nigeria without being caught.

He said those that patronise him are mainly young men who cannot afford to buy high calibre guns and decided to start with cheaper locally made guns which he bought for them.

Edward said he does not ask his customers what they do with the guns, but knows that they are criminals.

“How can I ask them what they do with the guns? As an adult, I know they are criminals and they want to use them to rob people,” he said.

The suspect admitted that he sells a local made double barrelled pistol for N14,000 to robbers.

Also paraded with Edward was the leader of the suspected robbery gang, Adewale Osoja who narrated how they robbed members of Christ Authority and Power Evengelical Mimistry, CAPEM, at Vespa Ijaniki, Lagos-Badagary Expressway at gun point.

Osoja said on 31 December, 2013, one of their gang members called Sodiq, who is now at large, informed them during their meeting that many worshippers will be attending the church that day because it was the last service before the New Year.

He said his 12-man robbery gang went to the church when they were exchanging pleasantries for the New Year.

He said they dispossessed the worshippers of their valuables such as phones, jewellery and money.
He said they later ransacked the church for valuables and took all the money in the church’s offering box before they left.

However, nemesis caught up with the gang when they went for another operation on 1 January at Morontola Street, at Vespa, Ijanikin.

According to him, when they attempted to rob in the area, the residents fought back.

He said while they were fleeing from the area, one of their guns fell off but they abandoned it.

He said when their gang member, Hassan Ado, went back to the area to make inquiry on how to recover the gun from the street urchins, known as area boys, they immediately informed the community leaders and Ado was arrested and handed over to the police.

P.M.NEWS learnt that Ado led the police to arrest of other members of the gang.

Ado also admitted to have participated in several robbery operations.

He said Edward knew that they were armed robbers before selling guns to them and he had asked him not to deny it to the police.

The Public Relations Officer, of Lagos State Command, Ngozi Braide, confirmed that the suspects were arrested after the community leaders handed Ado over to the state Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS.

Braide said efforts are being made to arrest other suspects at large.

Confusion As Woman Accuses Driver Of Ritual Killing

There was confusion at Somolu on Saturday when an unidentified woman accused a commercial driver, known simply as Paul, of kidnapping and ritual killing.

The woman was said to have accosted Paul around noon while he was washing his bus outside his home at Sodeke Street, Somolu.

Sources, who requested anonymity, told PUNCH Metro that the woman, on sighting Paul, went back for a closer inspection. She was said to have subsequently raised the alarm and held on to Paul. She insisted that Paul was the driver of a bus that had kidnapped her a while ago.

A source said, “When she screamed and identified Paul as a kidnapper and ritualist; he at first, tried to escape. But the woman held on to him and kept telling curious residents that Paul was the driver of a bus that had kidnapped her and about 10 others a while ago.

“She claimed that she had boarded the bus at Odunlade Street in the evening and immediately became unconscious, along with other passengers who boarded the bus with her. She said that they did not regain consciousness until they got to an unknown destination.

“She said she was released after her captors had used an object to touch her; she was the only one in the bus to regain her freedom. How she was able to find her way home, she could not recall.”

PUNCH Metro gathered that the community development association chairman of the community alerted the Onipanu Police Division of the situation when it became apparent that the woman was not ready to let Paul go.

Paul’s neighbours, dumbfounded by the allegations, were said to have admitted that they had no idea what he did for a living. Although they were aware that he often drove his commercial bus in the evenings.

“Paul would on most mornings go out with his Sport Utility Vehicle, only to return in the evenings and drive out his commercial bus. Sometimes, he would travel for a two or three month stretch on business trips, but no one actually knows what he does for a living,” a source said.

Policemen from the Onipanu Police Division were said to have taken Paul and his alleged victim to the station.

The policemen were said to have later returned to search Paul’s home. He was said to have been later transferred to the Area H Police Command, Ogudu.

Calls made to the Lagos Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ngozi Braide, rang out, while a text message to her telephone had yet to be replied as of the press time.

-Punch

WICKEDNESS: Parents Lock Daughter Inside Cage For 2 Years

This is quite bizarre, I knew Nigerian's were a bit strange but this is just taking it too far, but one thing everyone is sure is the fact it has something to do with witchcraft, I wonder how this poor girl would have felt being in a cage for more than two years, having no human contact or whatsoever, its very bad.

Tongues have begun to wag in Bayelsa following the discovery of a 16-year-old girl, Blessing Olokumo who had been locked up in a cage for the past 30 months by her parents over an alleged witchcraft induced illness.
Saturday Sun gathered that the cage that has housed the victim for two and half years is just by the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital in Okolobiri community, Yenagoa Local Government Area of the state.  She was rescued from the cage few days ago by the Mary Slessor Twins Foundation.
The group, led by its acting president, Mr Robert Ebitei Tonye, disclosed that preliminary investigations revealed that Blessing was diagnosed with an illness nine years ago which triggered convulsion.

Findings by Saturday Sun revealed that when Blessing was taken to the hospital for medical attention nine years ago, the parents were asked to pay N15, 000 for her treatment. It was further learnt that the father, who said he could not afford such medical bill, requested her to be discharged and signed a form that he was taking her from the hospital against medical advice.
He was said to have later taken her to different traditional homes for her illness to be cured and when no solution was forthcoming, especially when she defecates and vomits in the house, he decided to construct a cage where she was kept.

Concerned neighbours, who have watched in horror the maltreatment Blessing was subjected to, alerted the group known for its campaign against maltreatment of twins in the state.
The first day the group went to the house to rescue her, Tonye said some strange occurrences and the blunt refusal of the father to hand her over, prevented the group from rescuing her. But on its second mission, they succeeded and immediately took her to the Okolobiri hospital.
While lamenting the condition of the teenager, Tonye said:  “She was kept like a rabbit. She was given food when it was available and was allowed to sleep in her vomit, feces and urine. She lost weight and could have died”.

At the Okolobiri hospital where she is kept, many who visited her described her parents’ action as wicked and callous.
Speaking further on the incident, Tonye said: “The father told us that the girl has been sick for 13 years and since she refused to die, she was locked up. We rescued her and took her to the hospital. Our pre-occupation is to stabilize her condition before we ensure we press charges against the parents”

Scared that he could be arrested, Saturday Sun gathered that Olokumo has already  gone underground. The mother, Mrs Olokumo, who now stays with her at the hospital, lamented that they have spent all their money to get solution to her problem.
According to her, since they could not get money to get her proper medical attention, they decided to give up and she allowed the father to handle it.
Dr Oyedeji Adeyemi of the NDUTH, who is attending to her, explained that her case is that of seizure disorder which was not properly treated.

“The case is principally a case of a child having a seizure disorder in what some people would call epilepsy which in technical terms is seizure disorder which was not treated appropriately. Rather than give her medical attention, she was kept out of the house, sort of restricted environment and barely fed which had over time led to malnutrition”, Adeyemi stated.
Some civil society groups have already concluded plans to give all the necessary support to the Mary Slessor Twins Foundation to see that Blessing’s parents do not go free for the act of inhumanity to their own child.