How 2-week-old baby's cry exposed child trafficker

Police in Aba, Abia State, have rescued a two-week-old baby from a suspected child trafficker, identified as Gift, at Uratta Junction, along the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway.
Police sources said  Gift, who hails from Gokana, Rivers State, was arrested when she could not explain how she came about the two-week-old baby she was travelling with.

61-year-old retiree dies in Lagos fire

A 61-year-old retiree, identified as Emmanuel Adedeji, was burnt to death when fire gutted a one-storey building in Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos, yesterday.
Vanguard gathered that the fire that engulfed the one-storey building located at 28, Aderinto Street, Ogba, started at about 9:07a.m. when many of the residents were preparing to leave home for Sunday service.
At the scene, sources said that aside the property of the retiree that were razed, others worth millions of naira were also destroyed by the inferno.

Kogi First Lady rescues hawkers

Kogi State Governor's wife, Mrs. Rashida Bello (left) and Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Bolanle Amupitan (right), ran into children hawking on the Lokoja-Jamata Bridge along Abuja Road, yesterday. The Kogi First Lady promised to take 20 children off the dangerous highways to school and skills acquisition centres.

One die in Lagos auto crashes

An accident involving four vehicles occurred along the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Lagos, yesterday, leaving one person dead and several others injured.
One of the vehicles, a tipper-lorry, loaded with gravel which was coming from Oshodi end, rammed into the rear of another lorry loaded with vegetable oil at Ilasa Bus Stop.

How faulty car exposed suspected human parts dealer in Ilorin

in Adewole area of Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, yesterday afternoon, a young man, suspected to be a dealer in human parts, was beaten comatose by a mob.
It was the timely arrival of police officers from Adewole Police Division that prevented the suspect from being lynched.

UNITY, FAITH, PEACE, PROGRESS

2017 Nigerian Air Force Day in Makurdi, Benue State. NAN PHOTO

In Adamawa: Mixed reactions trail SGF's suspesion

The suspension of Secretary to Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir Lawal, has generated mixed reactions in Adamawa, his home state.
Lawal is from Kwambala in Hong council of the state.
The state's  Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mallam Ahmed Sajoh, yesterday, said the state government is not aware of the suspension.
He noted that whenever the state government is briefed on the development, its stand will be made public.

DINO MELAYE ASSASSINATION SAGA: Kogi ALGON boss debunks arrest report

Isah Taufiq, the Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON, Kogi State chapter, who is also the Administrator of Ijumu Local Government Area, yesterday, described as “malicious and a tissue of lies,” reports that he had been arrested and whisked away to Abuja over the purported assassination attempt on Senator Dino Melaye.

Ondo traditional rulers curse kidnappers

WORRIED by the incessant kidnap of traditional rulers in Ondo State, the monarchs, yesterday, said that perpetrators of the act against the traditional stool will soon see the wrath of God.
No fewer than three obas have been kidnapped in the state and ransoms paid by their families before they were released.
The latest was the Oniyani of Iyani Akoko, Oba Joel Daudu, who spent four days in the kidnappers’ den and was released after his family coughed out N3 million ransom.

Drunk breaks mum’s hand, commits suicide in Adamawa

IT was a mixed bag of incidents, yesterday, in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, when a 23-year-old drunkard, Fidelis Musa, broke his mother’s hand and committed suicide, after which a pregnant woman showed up, claiming late Musa was responsible for her condition.
His lifeless body was found dangling in his room in Jimeta, Yola.
A neighbour, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described Musa as a drunk that always fomented trouble in the community. According to the source, on the day Musa committed suicide, he attacked his mother.

Woman allegedly slashes friend’s face over child’s paternity

A 43-year-old woman, Modinat Jide, charged with slashing her friend’s face with a blade, appeared before an Ebute Meta magistrate’s court in Lagos, yesterday. 
The accused, who hawks sachet water, had accused her friend of alleging that her husband was not the father of her new born child.
She was arraigned on a charge of unlawful assault, but pleaded not guilty.

Council boss arrested over assassination attempt on Dino Melaye

THE Administrator of one of the local government areas of Kogi State has been arrested by policemen in connection with the reported assassination attempt on the life of Senator Dino Melaye.
The said council boss was arrested by operatives of the special squad drafted from Police Force Headquarter, Abuja, at about 1.30p.m. at the premises of the Ministry of Education, Lokoja.
Vanguard gathered that he has been whisked to Abuja.

Unemployed father of quintuplets sends out SOS

Mr. Imudia Uduehi, a father of quintuplet, has appealed to government, well-meaning Nigerians and philanthropists to support the family in raising the children.
Uduehi, an unemployed graduate from Ekpoma in Esan West Local Government Area in Edo State, made the appeal in Abuja, yesterday.

Tears as family of 3, murdered by Badoo Boys, are buried

The Ebhodaghe

Sympathisers

Tears flowed freely yesterday, as the bodies of late Lucky Ebhodaghe, his wife and son, Lucky, were buried in their bungalow at Oyekanmi Street, in Ibeshe Tutun community, Ikorodu, Lagos.
Recall that armed men, suspected to be members of a dreaded cult group, identified as Badoo, stormed the family’s home last Tuesday, killing all three. The killers are yet to be arrested, as the police said they were still on their trail.

In Calabar, Head teacher demoted to gateman, security man become teacher

A Head Teacher with the Cross River State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, on Grade Level 13 has been demoted to the post of a gateman on Grade Level 04, while 758 others were sent to lower grade levels for using fake certificates to gain employment into the service.
Dr. Stephen Odey, Chairman of SUBEB, said over 758 teachers with fake certificates and 700 ghost teachers were uncovered during a recent screening by the board across the state.

Abductors of Ondo monarch reduce ransom to N3m

THE kidnappers of the Oniyani of Iyani in Akoko area of Ondo State, Oba Joel Sunday Daodu, have reduced the ransom they demanded for the monarch’s freedom from N15 million to N3 million.
They reportedly turned down the request of the Oba’s family to pay between N500,000 and N1m. But the family source refused to respond when asked where the kidnappers wanted them to drop the ransom.

Abductors of Turkish expatriates want N200m

No news on kidnapped Rivers Commissioner

Abductors of two Turkish expatriates in Akwa Ibom have demanded N200 million ransom to release them, but nothing seems to have been heard from the abductors of Mr. Gabriel Orji, Cross River State Commissioner for Water Resources.
The Turkish expatriates were abducted on April 10 from their hotel room in Eket Local Government Area of the state.

Easter Monday Tragedies: 8 die in auto crashes, 26 injured

Abeokuta

Gbagada

Gbagada

Ojuelegba

Ojuelegba

Eight people died,  yesterday, with 26 others sustaining injuries in three separate auto accidents in Lagos State and Abeokuta in Ogun State.
In Lagos, five persons were burnt to death in Ojuelegba, Surulere axis, when a commercial bus caught fire while descending the National Stadium Bridge inward Barracks Bus Stop. Earlier, two persons lost their lives in an auto crash involving a bus and a taxicab on Oshodi-Gbgada Expressway.
Same yesterday, a life was lost in an accident involving three vehicles at Asero area of Abeokuta, Ogun State.
On the Ojuelegba accident, at about 6:44p.m., the bus with number plates AND 996 XC, caught fire, leaving five people burnt beyond recognition and five others suffering severe burns.
Confirming the tragedy, General Manager of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Mr. Adeshina Tiamiyu, said: “Five persons, including a child, three females and one male, all adults, were burnt to death and were recovered from the bus.
“However, five people were also rescued and rushed to the hospital with severe burns. Recovery was still ongoing at 7:23p.m.”

In Ikoyi

Operatives  of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, yesterday, found $38 million, £27,000 and N23 million in a private residence  on Gerard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, acting on a tip-off by a whistleblower.

The safe

The house

Man, wife, SSS3 son murdered in Lagos

Tragedy struck in Ibeshe Titun area of Ikorodu, Lagos, yesterday, as a man, his wife and their son, were murdered in their apartment by unknown men. The family members had their heads bashed in with a grinding stone.
Their son was writing the ongoing Senior Secondary Certificate Examination, SSCE.

Couple remanded in prison over acid attack on woman

Before and after pictures of Ogochukwu

Magistrate J. O. Adepoju of Igbosere Magistrate’s Court, Lagos, yesterday, ordered the remand in prison custody of Mr. Chidi Ubochiadinjo and his wife, Nkiru, for allegedly bathing one Miss Ogochukwu Nwosu with substance suspected to be acid.
Mrs. Adepoju rejected the plea of the defence counsel to release the couple due to lack of evidence on the part of the prosecutors, Lagos State Government and Women Advocates Research & Documentation Centre, WARDC.

5 die as soldiers, policemen clash over girlfriend in Damaturu

A clash between soldiers and policemen over a girlfriend left four mobile police officers and one soldier dead  in Damaturu, Yobe State capital, yesterday, with several others injured.
Among the wounded mobile police officer is Buba Dauda, the Mobile Commander in Yobe State, whose abduction by the soldiers in the wee hours of yesterday triggered the face-off between the two security agencies.

GKS Laity holds 41st confab

The Laity of God’s Kingdom Society, GKS, The Church of the Living God, will hold its 41st annual conference this Saturday, April 15, at the church’s headquarters, Salem City, Warri, Delta State.

LG employees' protests ground Kwara, Taraba over fiscal autonomy

MEMBERS of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, North-East Zone, yesterday, crippled activities in Jalingo, Taraba State, demanding fiscal and financial autonomy for local governments.
This came as council workers across the 16 local government councils in Kwara State, shut down Ilorin, the state capital, demanding local government autonomy, among others.

FG negotiating with Boko Haram on Chibok girls—Osinbajo

The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has said negotiations are ongoing for the release of more Chibok schoolgirls still in the custody of Boko Haram terrorists, expressing optimism that the dialogue would yield the desired result.
Vice President Osinbajo made this known, Tuesday evening, at an interaction with journalists and activists at the state house in Abuja.
“There is a lot of negotiation going on,” adding that government had “gone quite far” with negotiations to free more girls, but did not provide details of the negotiations for apparent security reasons.

Clash over okada revenue leaves 9 hospitalised in Cross River community

COMMUNAL violence in Bendeghe in Etung Local Government Area of central Cross River State has left nine persons with severe injuries.
Engineer Attah Obi Tangban, a community leader in the area, told Vanguard that the conflict is between two rival groups in the community, who are fighting over revenue charged on motorcycles (okada), which ply farm routes in the village.

How ‘passengers’ strangled UBER driver dead, dump body in church

Many could not hold back tears yesterday, at the Lagos State Police Command, Ikeja, as two men related how they strangled a cab driver, who worked with UBER, to death and took his car, a KIA Rio, to sell in Delta State.
The suspects, Michael Iyoekpe, 27, and Osaro Egberamwen, 31, who posed as passengers, contacted the UBER driver, identified simply as Alex, a fortnight ago, to pick them at an eatery in Ogba, Lagos.

I was chosen by Ifa oracle, not by election, Ibeju-Lekki monarch tells court

A traditional ruler, the Onibeju of Ibeju-Lekki, Oba Rafiu Olusegun Salami, yesterday, told a Lagos High Court sitting at Igbosere that he was chosen as king in 2000 by Ifa Oracle and not by an election.
Salami, who was testifying under a subpoena, said this during cross-examination before Justice K. O. Dawodu in a suit filed by Prince Taofeek Adegboyega Odukoya, challenging his ascension to the throne.

15 die in fresh Benue farmers/herdsmen clashes

They're criminals, not herdsmen—Miyetti Allah
 Only 2 died—Police

NO fewer than 15 persons were feared killed in fresh crisis between herdsmen and farmers in Turan communities in Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State.
However, the state Police Command claimed that two bodies had been recovered from the affected communities.
The renewed crisis has led to the disappearance of many persons, while several houses, huts and farmlands have also been razed in the besieged communities.

APC members protesing in Ibadan

Members of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State, protesting the local government caretaker chairmen-nominees list sent to the state's House of Assemby, at Government House, Ibadan, yesterday