Lecturer rapes 18- year-old admission seeker in Lagos

The police in Lagos State have arrested a part-time lecturer, Afeez Baruwa, for allegedly raping an 18-year-old girl, identified as Caroline (pseudonym) in the Yaba area.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the victim, who was reportedly raped inside a study room, was seeking admission into the University of Lagos, Akoka.

It was gathered that Baruwa was arrested by the Surulere Police Division on Monday, August 3.

Our correspondent gathered that the lecturer, however, told the police in his statement that the sexual intercourse was by mutual consent, insisting that he did not rape the victim.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the lecturer and Caroline’s father belonged to the same landlords’ association in the Abesan, Ipaja area.

It was gathered that the victim’s father had allowed her daughter to follow the lecturer on July 23, to UNILAG for an admission process.

It was learnt that Baruwa allegedly took the girl inside one of the study halls, bolted the door, and raped her.

It was learnt that after the incident, Caroline, who told her parents about the rape, was taken to a non-governmental organisation, Mirabel Centre, where she was tested.

The medical result reportedly confirmed that the teenager was violated.

Our correspondent gathered that Caroline was thereafter taken to the Lagos State Office of the Public Defender, and the matter was also reported at the police station. Baruwa was subsequently arrested.

A police source in Surulere said, “The suspect is actually a friend of the father of the girl. The girl had written the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, and she needed assistance with the post-UTME.

“So, the father sent her to meet and discuss with the lecturer.

“But, it turned out that on July 23 when the girl visited the suspect, he raped the girl in the study room.

“The suspect confessed to the act, but his claim is that the sex was by mutual consent.”

The Director of the Office of the Public Defender, Mrs. Omotola Rotimi, said the OPD would write a letter to the UNILAG Vice-Chancellor on the incident, so as to ensure that such did not reoccur.

She said, “The victim’s father wanted the lecturer to assist with his daughter’s admission. On the fateful day, the girl left with the lecturer as early as 5.30am, and they got to the school at about 7am.

“No one had arrived at the hall except a woman. While the exams had yet to start, he raped her. She went home, and the father found out that her daughter had been raped. He took her to the Mirabel Centre, which then informed the OPD.

“The centre also contacted the police at the Surulere and Isokoko divisions, and the suspect was arrested.

“We are going to defend the girl, and we are writing the VC. The suspect is said to be in the Department of Accounting. He claimed the sex was consensual, but that is not a defence.”

Our correspondent gathered that Baruwa, who was in custody, would be charged to court on Thursday (today).

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Patricia Amadin, confirmed the arrest.

She said, “The suspect claims to be a part-time lecturer, but not an employee of the University of Lagos.

“He has confessed to the crime and the medical result proved same.”

Source:Punch

We Rape Our Victims Before Killing Them – Robbery Suspects

Six armed robbers, who specialised in raping and killing their victims were on Thursday arrested by the Oyo State Police Command in Ogbomoso after they were traced through a mobile telephone they stole from one of their victims.

Commissioner of Police in the state, Mohammed Katsina, said while parading the robbers that one of them died during a gun duel with the police while another was seriously injured.
Until their arrest, the robbers were said to be living in different cities and only came together when they wanted to go for operations. Katsina said investigation took his men to Ijebu-Ode, Ibadan, Ogbomoso and Oyo where the robbers were picked up.

Katsina explained that, “The group had been terrorising Oyo and Ogbomoso for a long time. On one occasion, they robbed a house and gang-raped two women. While escaping with their loot after an operation on May, 28, 2015, they shot a passer-by. The gunshot alerted my men and they acted quickly. Further investigation led us to Ijebu-Ode where the leader of the gang was caught.

“His wife was in possession of the mobile telephone that led us to him. He cooperated with us and led us to other gang members. In their hide out in Ogbomoso, they opened fire on the police, leading to a gun duel. At the end, two of them were injured and one died in hospital. We must thank the public for their cooperation and appeal to them to volunteer information when they notice unusual movement of bad people in their community.”

A prominent member of the gang, Fatai Balogun(28), who was traced to Ijebu-Ode, alleged that the member that was killed during the gun battle with the police raped and killed their victims.
He said, “I live in Ibiade in Ijebu Waterside and I sold fairly used imported clothes in Ijebu-Ode before I joined the robbery gang about a year ago. I was introduced to the gang by Jankaa who was killed in an operation in Mile 12 area of Lagos State. I have participated in seven robbery operations in Ogbomoso and Oyo town.

“I have never raped any of our female victims. One of us, Segun, was fond of raping our victims. He was the one that was killed when police came to arrest us. When we robbed a Ghanaian sometimes ago, we also killed his wife. Segun said that the woman knew him so he shot her.”
Balogun added that the gang started by stealing petty valuables before stealing a gun with which they began armed robbery operation, raping and killing.

“We started by stealing mobile telephones and small valuables after cutting window nets to gain access. But one day, we were coming from an operation when we saw a night guard sleeping. We stole his double barrel gun.

“The last operation was done in Oyo where we stole money, mobile telephones and computers in a house. The phone was used to track us. I was in Ijebu when the police came to my house, I knew there was no way out so I cooperated with them,” he added.

One of the victims, who was raped in their last operation, said they entered through the window and forcibly took money from her husband who is a car dealer.
“They later came to my room and took money from me after beating me. One of them also raped me. My husband alerted the police but they escaped,” she said.
Source:Punch

I got N1000 for slaughtering 4-year-old boy –Suspect

Operatives of Lagos State Criminal Inves­tigation Department (CID), Panti has be­gun investigation into what led a 16-year-old Tajudeen Azeez to slaughter a four-year-old boy, Ibrahim Hassan in a bush in Ijan­ikin area of the state last Sunday, July 26.

Little Ibrahim was allegedly butchered by Tajudeen and a herb­alist whose true identity remains unknown behind Anglican Pri­mary School, Deeper Life Bus Stop, Ijanikin, Lagos State.
He was spotted with the lifeless body of Ibrahim, whose his penis, kidney and intestines had been removed. He led the po­lice to arrest seven others whom he alleged knew and participated in the crime.

Looking blank and ap­peared not disturbed by the weight of the crime, Tajudeen, who hails from Ibadan, Oyo State, told Saturday Sun report­er that he was paid only N1000 to bring the boy.
“Everyone knows that the Babalawo’s (herbalist) power in the community is too much. He has been disturbing me that he needs body parts that I should help him bring a small boy. I even advised him that it would be better if we look for an adult but he said that children are more potent. He told me that they are innocent and their blood are still pure.

“Initially he gave me N100 to buy biscuit for the child. I started by giving him biscuit so that the boy will like me so much. Luckily for me, on Sunday evening, they were left alone to play in their compound. Since he has got used to my face, I called him that we are going to buy a bigger biscuit that night. Since he knew that we were going to buy biscuit, he did not cry but was happy even when we entered the bush,” Tajudeen narrated.

According to him, the unnamed herbalist was already waiting for him in the bush. “When we got there, he sprayed powder on his face and he slept off. I had to hold him down on the floor while he sliced off the penis; he then cut open the stomach and brought out the intestine, kidney and heart. He put those things on fire and roasted them. He then grinded them and poured in a bottle,” Tajudeen said.

When further queried what that was meant for, Tajudeen said: “It’s for power, after grinding it, he would make a mark on the body of anyone who wants power and sprinkle it on it,” Tajudeen said de­scribing how the marks are made.

He pleaded that it was the herb­alist who convinced him that there was nothing wrong in what he did. “I left Ibadan when I was 14 years to learn a trade. My mother had no money to send me to second­ary school and besides, she got married to another man. I had to survive even when I got to Lagos, that was why I joined a bad group. Am learning to be a carpenter but they are not paying me a kobo, I still have to feed myself. I started living in an uncompleted house, that was where I met these my friends.

They were the ones who introduced me to the Babalawo when we went for prayers,” Taju­deen said
On the role of the others whom he indicted, Tajudeen said that they were all his friends. “They are my friends as we sleep within the same area at Ijanikin. They did not participate but they were aware that Babalawo needs a small boy. Everyone was planning but I was the one who succeeded. It was because I do not want to share the N1000 with them, that was why I took the boy to the Ba­balawo alone. They all know who Babalawo is. In fact, this small one, Monday is his son,” Tajudeen insisted.

Monday, who was already in tears pleaded with Tajudeen to be sincere and tell the truth. “It is true that I used to hang out with them but my father cannot be that Ba­balawo. My mother told me that my father ran away and that he is now in Ibadan. Tajudeen is not mentally okay, he takes too much of Indian hemp and it has affected his brain. I only know him where we used to buy hot drinks and smoke Indian hemp. God forbid, I will not kill a small child,” Monday said crying.
 The other suspects chorused that Tajudeen is insane.

Meanwhile, father of the de­ceased, Jamiu Hassan, who was still in shock told Saturday Sun reporter that he never knew that as God was about to bless him with a baby, the devil was at the verge of snatching another. “On Sunday, I was in the Mosque praying when my preg­nant wife, Felicia called me that it’s like the baby was ready to come. I told her to start preparing while I look around for money. Part of the preparation was to cook food for the children to eat. Although they re­fused to eat, she left them with our neighbours and left for the hospital at about 7pm.

My wife called me at about 8pm that she had been delivered of a baby girl; I rushed to the clinic, paid the bill and took her home. It was when we got home at about 8:30pm that I realised that Ibrahim was not in the house or compound. We started searching everywhere for him and could not get him. I consoled my wife to relax that he could be sleep­ing in someone’s house. It is not a new thing in Ijanikin that children stray away and are later found,” Has­san narrated.

The next day, Hassan intensified efforts to find their lost son till he got the shocking news. “We waited till the next day being a Monday and as early as possible I raced to the Oba’s palace and also checked at the police station and yet he was not there. It was while I was running around that a neighbor told me that they found a child in the forest.

Hoping that it’s not my Ibrahim, I raced to the scene and got the shock of my life. He was not only dead but parts of his body were missing. What did my little Ibrahim do to him to deserve such treatment? He is an apprentice in our area and was al­ways coming around to play with the kids,” Hassan said.

Manhunt for herbalist
Meanwhile, CID detectives have since launched a manhunt for the herbalist who allegedly mastermind­ed the gruesome murder of Ibrahim. The state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Awoseni had ordered that the herbalist, who is currently at large, be fished out. Detectives led by Of­ficer in-charge of the Homicide Section, CSP Iyamah Dan have since commenced investigation to ascertain the level of involvement of the other suspects who were indicted by Tajudeen.
The acting state Police Public Relations Officer, Patricia Amaden confirmed the report and the ongo­ing investigations.

The Sun

EFCC invites judge who accused Aregbesola of fraud

THERE were indications in Osogbo on Sunday that Justice Folahanmi Oloyede, who recently accused Governor Rauf Aregbesola of graft, had been invited to the Abuja headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

A source close to the judge told journalists in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, on Sunday that the judge was contacted by an official of the EFCC, who asked her to come to the Abuja office of the commission to assist them in the investigation into the allegations.

Oloyede, a serving judge in the Osun State judiciary had recently petitioned the state House of Assembly, asking that impeachment proceedings be commenced against Aregbesola, who she also accused of being corrupt.

The source said the judge had expressed her readiness to assist the anti-graft agency if they come to Osogbo to investigate the petition but that she could not afford to travel to Abuja at the moment.
The judge had in her petition written on June 19 to the Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Mr. Najeem Salam, accused Aregbesola of financial recklessness.

She had also sent a copy of the petition to the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, among others.
The governor had told the House of Assembly during the inauguration of the lawmakers in June that his administration had received N20bn from federal allocations and internally generated revenue since inception till the end of 2014.

But the judge said the state got N538bn and alleged that the governor falsified the figure in order to hide the balance of the receipts.
Her petition read in part, “Mr. Governor is deemed to have received on behalf of the state and local governments, revenues well in excess of N538bn within the period under reference, therefore, the figures being currently touted by Mr. Governor are cooked, manipulated, fallacious and fraudulent. They are undeniable evidence of corruption!

“But in spite of all those huge earnings, and for no justifiable reasons, at least not justifiable before rationally thinking minds, coupled with the accumulation of foreign and local debts, Mr. Governor could still not provide the much touted infrastructures and to make matters worse, he couldn’t even discharge the simplest and least complicated of functions in governance, which is to maintain the civil service, pay pensions, run public schools and hospitals, and the maintenance of existing ‘Trunk B’ Roads.”

The state House of assembly had set up a panel to investigate the judge’s petition but she had disagreed with the panel.

The judge, who did not show up in person before the panel, had sent her counsel, Mr. Lanre Ogunlesi (SAN) to represent her and she complained that the panel ought to make a copy of Aregbesola’s reply to her petition available to her for further action.

But the panel headed by Mr. Adegboye Akintunde, who is also the deputy speaker of the House, disagreed with the judge’s request, saying the panel was not obligated to make the response of the defendant available to the petitioner.

The two week given the panel to investigate the petition had expired last Friday.
Efforts by The PUNCH to reach the Head of Media and Publicity, EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, to comment on the development on Sunday was not successful as repeated calls to his mobile telephone line indicated that it was either switched off or in an area outside network coverage.
Source:Punch

Witches pushed me to rape nine-year-old girl, says father of three

A 39-year-old father of three, Ekpeyong Essien, has blamed his two sons, whom he alleged are witches, for pushing him into defiling a nine-year-old girl.

Essien, who hails from Bakassi Local Government Area of Cross River State, had on July 12, defiled the little girl, Bright Benjamin, at Hawkins Primary School in the Calabar South area of the state capital.

He said the girl had approached him for money to pay her fares home, but he simply instructed her to follow him to a nearby primary school where he defiled her with his fingers.

Essien said his life became useless after his two sons were bewitched by one of his neighbours.

Essien is currently in the custody of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Cross River State Police Command at Diamond Hill in Calabar and would soon be charged to court.

Narrating how he defiled the little girl to Southern City News on Thursday, Essien said he took Bright to a corner in the primary school and started romancing her before he was caught by a security man.

He said, “It was the handiwork of witches. Someone bewitched my children and my children in turn used what they have been given to affect my life negatively. The person who bewitched my children lives in our compound. What my children are doing with the witchcraft is to ensure that I become useless in life.

“When I saw the girl, I called her and she followed me. I touched her a little before she followed me to Hawkins Primary School area in Calabar South. The place is close to the Hawkins cemetery and when I saw her, she was actually behind some group of persons that were going to the cemetery to bury someone.

“She wanted me to give her transport fare back to her home. That was how I lured her with a promise to give her money. I have grown up children older than her. I do not know how she got attracted to me at that moment because I believe I was under the spell of my children’s devilish practice.

“When I took her to one side of the school, I started romancing her. I did not force her to follow me, she did willingly. It was raining at that time. I had not seen her before. I only saw her on that day. I only fiddled with her private part, we had not really started making love before one security man in the school raised the alarm and I was caught.”

He said he was a footballer with a local team before his children made him become useless.

“I used to play football in one of the local clubs but my children stopped me through their devilish practice. I am not the only one that is accusing my children of practising witchcraft; other tenants in the compound also know,” he alleged.

Essien, who regretted his action, is pleading with the parents of the girl to forgive him.

“I wish I could see the girl’s father to beg him. I am willing to pay any amount that they have spent on her in the hospital. I am really regretting my action because I have never had a criminal record before,” he said.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Hogan Bassey, said the medical report after the incident showed that the girl had been defiled.

He said, “Because the suspect tried to penetrate and could not succeed, he used his fingers to defile her and based on the medical report, the girl has been defiled. The report showed bruises all over her vagina.

“He actually heard the footsteps of someone coming and he ran away. The security man raised the alarm and he was caught. He is still under investigation and will soon be charged to court as soon as that is completed.”

Source:Punch

Baby born without limbs in Bauchi

A baby boy without limbs has been born in Gudun Sayawa, a suburbs of Bauchi Metropolis, Bauchi State.
The baby Christened Chongfilawos, was born without limbs with only three fingers jutting out from a shortened arm that is less than two inches each side around his shoulder.
Mother of the child, Blessing Samson, 20, an indigene of Lussa in Bogoro Local Government Area, said she gave birth to the baby on July 4, 2015.

Blessing who resides with her parents, Mr and Mrs Samson Baraya at their family house in Gudun Sayawa, said she delivered at home.
Blessing’s mother Diana her daughter could not be taken to the Primary Health Care centre at Dumi, about three kilometres from Gudun Sayawa, because she experienced labour late night

“My son Chongfilawos is a blessing from God,” Blessing said in an interview with Daily Son. “His birth was easy. When I saw him like this, at first I was not happy but later I prayed and told myself it is the will of God.




“I love him and I will protect him with everything I have,” she said. She said that the father of the child, Jehu Luka, a peasant farmer who lives in Lussa, was away when the baby was born but had come to check his child and left.
“This baby is a gift from God and we are not sad in the family,” Bukata Bukar, elder brother to Blessing.
Grand-mother of the child, Diana Samson, said although her daughter Blessing had been going for ante natal from the house, her labour started late in the night and had to call a birth attendant to deliver her.

“At first we were shocked when we saw the child without hands. But as Christians we believe God has purpose for everything so we started thanking God,” Mrs Samson said.
Baraya appealed to well meaning individuals in the community not to discriminate against the child.
“This is the first time we are seeing this kind of baby in our community. We need the support and love of everyone to help this child lead a normal life.

“We also appeal to NGOs or the government to help with the education of this child because the father is just a poor farmer and from what we have seen this child needs special support,” Baraya said.
A neighbour, Jude Frank, who said he hailed from Anambra State, said he expected to meet Blessing crying for delivering a baby without limbs but was praising God.

“I thank God that they have accepted the child as a creation of God. People have been coming to support the child with cloths. We can assist with clothes and food but I think the family will need assistance of government to bring this child up,” Jude said.
Source: The Sun