16 dies in warehouse fire

At least 16 migrant workers died in a fire that broke out at a Moscow warehouse on Saturday morning, Russian authorities said.

“When the fire was being put out, a room that had been cut off by the flames was discovered,” TASS news agency quoted the regional branch of the emergency ministry’s press service as saying.

“Firefighters tore down the wall and found 16 dead.”

Emergency workers arrived at the scene at 0500 GMT to put out a blaze that had engulfed 200 square metres of a warehouse in an industrial zone in the Russian capital’s north.

The fire at the four-floor facility, which is thought to belong to a local printing company, was extinguished at around 0700 GMT, authorities said.

The head of the Moscow branch of the emergency ministry, Ilya Denisov, told Russian news agencies that the victims of the fire were migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan.

An AFP journalist at the scene saw about three dozen migrant workers gathered outside the warehouse, some of whom wept as they awaited news on the people who had been in the building when the blaze broke out.

Denisov said the fire was thought to have been caused by a broken lamp in a room containing large quantities of flammable liquids and paper products.

“The fire spread from the first floor through the elevator shaft to the room in which the people were killed,” Interfax news agency quoted Denisov as saying.

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Twitter that the people injured in the blaze had been taken to a local hospital and that the city would probe the incident.

“I am certain that those guilty will be found and punished,” Sobyanin wrote.

The Moscow branch of Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement that it was still probing the circumstances surrounding the incident.

A criminal investigation was launched to determine whether the blaze erupted due to arson or negligence.

Five ‘businessmen’ gang-rape customer, demand N2m

Five suspects, who posed as businessmen, have been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command for allegedly abducting and gang-raping a woman.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the suspects – Ugochukwu Eso, Gabriel Obinna, Chinedu Ezechukwu, Akubueze Nnadozie and Godwin Balogun – used a hotel, which the police did not disclose, in the Agege area of the state to perpetrate the crime.

Our correspondent gathered that 18-year-old Obinna allegedly used a Magic Voice application on his mobile phone to change his voice to that of a woman while communicating with the victim on the telephone.

Using a pseudonym, Vanessa, he allegedly invited her to inspect some non-existent goods in his house.

A police source said the gang’s mode of operation was to lure female customers into their midst, gang-rape them and threaten to blackmail the women with video recordings of the rape unless some money was paid to them.

In the latest incident on Tuesday, August 2, the gang members allegedly lured their female victim through telephone calls to their apartment, which was a hotel, before gang-raping her.

The suspects reportedly demanded N2m to release her, but she later parted with N50,000.

Our correspondent gathered that the victim reported the matter at the Isokoko Police Division and the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team, Alausa, after leaving the hotel.

The suspects were, thereafter, trailed to the hotel and arrested.

Speaking with PUNCH Metro while being paraded at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters, Ikeja, on Wednesday, Eso said his gang collected N20,000 from the lady and she willingly had sex with him and Obinna.

He said, “The lady came into the hotel to meet another woman. When she saw us, she became nervous. We calmed her down and told her we were just looking for money to eat and she should give us whatever she had.

“She gave us N20,000 and we began to talk freely in the room. She used some drugs and willingly had sexual affair with me and Gabriel (Obinna). After the sex, we accompanied her to the taxi and we parted amicably. It was not a rape.”

Obinna said, “The lady and I had been discussing on the phone; we were friends. I have a Magic Voice application on my phone which I used to discuss with her. We did not rape her. She did not make any noise during the sex; she was just smiling. We were the ones who put her on a bus. Only two of us slept with her.”

 The DSVRT Coordinator, Lola-Vivour Adeniyi, said, “One of the suspects, named Vanessa, chatted with the victim on Instagram. She claimed that she was a graduate and she sold clothes. According to the victim, the fake businesswoman called her from time to time to discuss business with her.

“On the day of the incident, the victim came from Oshodi to the address Vanessa gave her in Agege. As she climbed into the house, reportedly owned by Vanessa, three men pushed her into a room and increased the volume of the television so that no one would hear her voice.

“After the rape, the suspects said she should provide N2m before she would be released. She called some friends and was able to raise N50,000, which they withdrew from her bank account using the ATM. She was held hostage from 12pm to 7pm.

“The DSVRT has directed her to the Mirabel Centre, Ikeja, for a checkup. We worked with the police to ensure the arrest of the suspects and the victim has identified three of them.”

The state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, who paraded the gang, said the police would charge them to court at the end of investigation.

We have paid nine years pension arrears---- Oshiomhole

Gov. Adams Oshiomhole of Edo has dismissed the allegation that his administration’s failure to settle accumulated pension arrears will cripple the incoming administration in the state.

Oshiomhole said his administration was owing only four years in pension.1

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party in Edo had alleged that the Osshiomhole-led administration failed to pay pension arrears for years in the state, and might be creating problems for the incoming administration.

Oshiomhole, who fielded questions from State House correspondents in Abuja, denied the allegation, insisting his administration paid nine years of pension arrears.

He said, “From 1998, when the Army left, to 1999 and to the end of 2008 when I took over, that was a period of 13 years.

“So, we found a pension bill of 13 years arrears of gratuity and pension not paid by the PDP government including the 7,000 people they dismissed.

“When I assumed duties at the end of 2008, I had two options. There was this temptation to say that I would be paying those who retired during my tenure.

“But, as a former labour leader, I asked myself that if an employer was so callous to carry out massive retrenchment of workers as the PDP did by sacking 7,000 and permanent secretaries and did not pay them gratuity, is it the fault of those workers?

“So, I accepted the fact that government is a continuum. “s we speak today, we have paid all those who pensioned in 1998 and 1999, all the ones they dismissed in 2000 and those who retired from 2001, 2002, 2003 up to 2011.

“I have paid pension arrears of 13 years even though I have been in government for only seven years plus.”

The governor maintained that having cleared 10 years pension and gratuities arrears, only four years were outstanding.

Oshiomhole assured that his administration would settle part of the outstanding four years pensions before handing over power to a new government.

Police arrest man for dumping father’s corpse in septic tank

A 37-year-old man, Chuckuman Udenwa, has been arrested for dumping his late father’s corpse in a septic tank at Okpanam community in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State.

The suspect, who hails from Uli in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, was apprehended by policemen from the Okpanam division.

It was alleged that the suspect dumped the decomposing corpse of his 83-year-old father who died in his house.

The suspect’s landlord reported the incident to the police after he discovered the decomposing corpse in one of the septic tanks in the compound.

Following Udenwa landlord’s alarm he was arrested and detained at the Okpanam police station before he was transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.

The suspect had told some of his neighbours who were aware of his father’s death that he had taken the corpse to the ‎Maduemeze Hospital mortuary only for the corpse to be discovered in the neighbourhood.

The father of three was said to have confessed to the crime upon police interrogation.

He allegedly told police investigators that he took the action because he had no money to pay for mortuary bills.

‎The spokesperson of the state police command, SP Celestina Kalu, confirmed the development when contacted on phone.

She disclosed that the decomposing corpse had been evacuated from the septic tank where the suspected allegedly dumped it, adding that the suspect would be arraigned in court.

PHOTOS: Jonathan visits Buhari

Dollar drops to 390naira

The naira continued its slide on Wednesday, dropping to 390 against the United States dollar at the parallel market as foreign exchange scarcity persisted.

The naira, which dropped to 382 against the United States dollar on Monday down from the 380 on Friday, had been little-changed on Tuesday, hovering between 381 and 382.

A bureau de change operator told The PUNCH that Wednesday’s drop was due to increased demand despite the scarcity of the dollar.

“We don’t think it will rise to N400 today, but I don’t know of tomorrow,” he said.

The naira has been under a persistent pressure as dollar scarcity continues to weigh on the local currency at both the parallel and interbank forex markets.

Economic and financial experts said inadequate forex liquidity at the interbank market was taking a toll on the parallel market.

Analysts had predicted that the naira would weaken further against the dollar this week owing to limited dollar supply as foreign portfolio investors continued to stay on the sidelines until the Nigerian economy showed signs of recovering from the impact of currency controls.

Trafficking: Police intercept vehicles conveying 12 children

Police operatives in Bayelsa State have intercepted two vehicles conveying 12 children into the state for alleged child labour and child trafficking.

The two vehicles – a Mazda 626 with number-plate BC 645 KSF and a Jetta with number-plate DX 643 PH  travelled from Akwa Ibom to Bayelsa.

The children were nine females and three males, aged between five and 17 years.

The vehicles were paraded at the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yenagoa.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Asinim Butswat, said they were arrested on Sunday during a routine stop-and-search operation along the Glory Land Drive.

Butswat said, “Policemen, during routine stop-and-search operation at the Glory Land Drive (in Yenagoa), arrested the two vehicles carrying the children.

“When they were interrogated, they could not tell where they were going. They said their parents are here in Bayelsa, but till now, none of their relatives have come to claim them.”

The police spokesman gave the identities of the prime suspects and drivers of the two cars as Inemesi Koffi and Geoffrey Ezekiel, both from Akwa Ibom State.

He noted that the police were suspecting a situation of either child labour or child trafficking since the children very young and could not say their destination.

Butswat said the children had been handed over to the Social Welfare Department of the state Ministry of Women Affairs while investigation was ongoing.

However, in an interview, Inemesi Koffi, claimed that the parents and guardians of the children asked him to help carry the children to Yenagoa to spend holidays with them.

Koffi, a commercial taxi operator in Bayelsa, said that he was in his village, Nkana, in Etinan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom for a funeral when the children’s parents contacted him and sought his help.

He claimed that some of the children’s parents  were vegetable sellers at Swali Market and restaurant operators in Yenagoa.

Man city signs Jesus

Manchester City have signed 19-year-old Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus from Palmeiras on a five-year contract, the Premier League club announced on Wednesday.

Jesus, who is reported to have cost City an initial fee of £27m ($36m, €32.2m), will remain on loan at Palmeiras until December before moving to Manchester in January.

He is currently on duty with hosts Brazil at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

“Manchester City is one of the best clubs in the world so I’m really pleased to sign,” Jesus said in comments published on the City website.

“We have many great talents in the team and a fantastic manager in Pep Guardiola that I can learn so much from.

“I’m looking forward to showing the City fans what I can do and I think we’ll have a great future together!”

What I learnt from okocha----- Iwobi

Nigeria and Arsenal FC forward, Alex Iwobi, has revealed he learned a lot from former Super Eagles midfield maestro, Jay Jay Okocha.

Iwobi, who joined Arsenal at age seven, is Okocha’s nephew and the 20-year-old says the ex-Nigerian number 10 is his role model.

Speaking in a FourFourTwo report, Iwobi says, “One flick he [Okocha] taught me took a month to learn. But when I did it it in a junior match I thought: ‘Wow, I can do it!’

“I’ve always looked at him as a role model, and he’s always told me to express myself.

“The first shirt I ever owned was a Bolton shirt with my uncle’s name on the back. I wanted my hair like Ivan Campo’s at one point. My mum told me to calm down!”

The Nigerian played youth football for England but chose to play for the Super Eagles despite the Three Lions gunning for him.

He, eventually, donned Nigerian colours on 8 October 2015, replacing Ahmed Musa in the 57th minute of a 2–0 friendly defeat to DR Congo in Visé, Belgium.

Aisha Buhari promise to support female medical workers

Wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, has promised to support the Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria in their efforts aimed at enhancing the health and well being of Nigerians.

According to a statement on Saturday by her Director (Media), Zakari Yau Nadabo, the President’s wife spoke when the members of the association’s Executive visited her at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

She noted that members of association were very critical to the desire to ensure good health and well being of every Nigerian because of their diverse backgrounds in the medical profession

The President’s wife noted with interest the activities of the association in humanitarian services and said her Future Assured Programme was open for collaboration with the medical women to address the challenges confronting women and children .

In her remark, the National President of the Association, Dr. Echendu Adinma, was said to have solicited for partnership with the Future Assured initiative in addressing various health challenges of Nigerians in difficult and crisis areas among others .

She also decorated Mrs. Buhari as the association’s Grand Matron.

She appealed for support to ensure the emergence of one of their members contesting the post of President of International Medical Women Association coming this month in Vienna Austria.

Mastermind of deceptive to overthrow Buhari arrested

The Department of State Services has arrested one Jones Abari, aka Gen. Akotebe Darikoro, for the alleged mastermind of a hoaxed plan to overthrow President Muhammad Buhari by the military.

A statement issued by an official of the service, Mr Tony Opuiyo, in Abuja on Saturday said Abari was arrested in Yenagoa on July 21.

Opuiyo described the suspect as the leader of the Joint Revolutionary Council of the Joint Niger Delta Liberation Force.

He said that Abari had confessed to other criminal activities which included a threat to launch missile attacks on selected targets in Abuja and Aso Rock.

Others include writing threat messages to the management of the Nigeria Agip Oil Company and the Shell Petroleum Development Company demanding for N500m and N250m respectively.

He said that the suspect also masterminded the vandalism of NAOC trunk line in Ogboinbiri, Southern Ijaw and bombing of SPDC oil pipeline.

In another development, the DSS said it had arrested a suspected terrorist, Bulama Ramat, at the Jabi Motor Park, FCT, on July 21.

He said that prior to his arrest, Ramat was planning to attack the Federal Capital Territory and its environs in collaboration with other elements of an extremist cell of the Boko Haram group.

Opuiyo said that the service also made other arrests within the month of July in Enugu, Ondo, Jos, Kaduna, Yenagoa, Port Harcourt and Kano states.

The service urged all citizens and residents to remain vigilant and report all suspicious persons, parcels or vehicles to the nearest security formation.

“Members of the public are further called upon to see our societal and individual safety as our collective responsibility,” he said.

He advised the public to support security and law enforcement agencies with critical information that would assist in providing a safe environment for all to carry out their legitimate businesses.

Munich shooting: Buhari offer to help Germany fight terrorism

President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday expressed shock and horror at the shootings which recently rocked Munich, Germany.

According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President sent his condolences on behalf of the Federal Government to the families and friends of the victims.

He assured the German government that his government is ready to assist in anyway possible to defeat planners and executors of such crimes.

The statement read, “On behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Buhari sends his most sincere condolences to the families and friends of victims of the barbaric act.

“The President says it is quite unfortunate and inconceivable that the forces of evil do not relent on their activities, but expresses confidence that with the unanimity of purpose from all forces around the world, the workers and perpetrators of these evil acts will not prevail.

“The President also assures the people of Germany that Nigerians as a people are standing with them at this time and are ready to assist in any way to defeat the planners and executors of such crimes.”

Train crushes lafarge truck,injures two in ogun

A cargo train on Friday crushed a truck belonging to Lafarge Cement and a Toyota Camry.

The accident occurred at a railway crossing at Kila, a border town between Ogun and Oyo States.

The train was said to have ran into the two vehicles at the level- crossing line, causing damage to them and injuring the occupants.

The Lafarge truck with number plate BDG 287 XE was loaded with cement.  Sources said the truck was travelling out of Abeokuta while the Toyota Camry with number plate RSH306KM was on his way to Abekuta.

The drivers of the truck and the Toyota Camry sustained minor injuries. They were said to be recuperating in a hospital in Ibadan.

The Public Relations Officer of the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency, Babatunde Akinbiyi, said that the incident was caused by the driver of the train, who failed to hoot while approaching the level-crossing line at Kila.

He said, “We got information that the accident was caused by the driver of the cargo train who failed to give the usual warning signal by hooting while approaching a railway level-crossing line.

“Both the driver of the Lafarge truck and the Toyota Camry were injured and they were said to have taken to an unnamed hospital in Ibadan.”

Akinbiyi said the accident led to a gridlock in this axis.

Killers of Abuja preacher won’t go unpunished – Buhari

The federal government vowed that the killers of the Ekiti-State-born preacher with the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Evangelist, Eunice Elisha Olawale, in Kubwa area of the Federal Capital Territory will not go unpunished.

President Muhamadu Buhari, represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal, made the promise during the burial service held in RCCG FCT 2 Provincial Headquarters in Kubwa.

The 42-year-old mother of seven was murdered while preaching in the Gbazango -West area of Kubwa, a satellite town, in the Bwari Area Council on Saturday, July 9 2016.

Meanwhile, tears flowed on Saturday at the Gudu Cemetery in the FCT, where the deceased was buried.

While paying their last respect to their mother, the children of the deceased performed the ‘ash to ash’ ceremony at the cemetery and wept uncontrollably.

Some sympathisers who could not hold back themselves joined them to mourn the deceased who was described as a martyr.

Lawal said, “As a government, we want to inform you that all the perpetrators of this act will not go free and will be brought to book. All Nigerians should be safe and free to practice their religion anywhere. Government’s resolve is to fish out the perpetrators. We pray to God not only to forgive them, but pray that the perpetrators seek for repentance. On behalf of the President and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, may God console you.

BREAKING: Buhari confirms talks with Niger Delta militants

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday confirmed that his administration is currently engaging Niger Delta militants in talks in order to end the spate of violence being experienced in the region.

He said the talks are being done through oil companies and law-enforcement agencies and are meant a to find a lasting solution to insecurity in the region.

According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President spoke while granting farewell audience to the outgoing Ambassador of Germany to Nigeria, Mr. Michael Zinner, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Buhari also told his guest that the Federal Government is studying the instruments of the Amnesty Programme inherited from the previous administration with a view to carrying out commitments made that were undelivered.

“We understand their feelings. We are studying the instruments. We have to secure the environment, otherwise investment will not come. We will do our best for the country,” the President was quoted as saying.

Buhari thanked the German government for its continuing support to Nigeria in the efforts to tackle insecurity and the ongoing rehabilitation and resettlement of displaced citizens in crisis areas in the North-Eastern parts of the country.

He also thanked Nigeria’s neighbours for their firm and unflinching support in the war against terror.

The outgoing German Ambassador noted that bilateral relations between Nigeria and Germany “had improved very much in the last 12 months of this administration.”

He expressed the readiness of Germany to assist Nigeria in the rehabilitation process in the North East to help displaced persons return to their villages. He also expressed the eagerness of German businesses to invest in the country, now that “conditions for investment have been put in place”.

The German Ambassador reiterated the standing invitation of Chancellor Angela Merkel to Buhari to visit Germany.

The politics of university admission in Nigeria

When I applied for admission to the university in the 1960s, I knew nobody. There was no godfather or godmother. Neither my parents nor my older siblings could assist me, because they were all stark illiterates. As the first person in the entire Akinnaso lineage to ever go to school, I was virtually on my own. Without any guidance whatsoever, I applied for direct entry admission to the University of Ibadan and the University of Ife, after passing the required General Certificate of Education (Advanced Level) papers at the end of my first year of the Higher School Certificate class. I was admitted by both institutions, each one acting independently and without recourse to a superior authority. Ife, then, was a regional university, while Ibadan was federal. I chose to go to Ife to read English. The rest is history.

I told my admission story to a senior female civil servant, who approached me last year for assistance in getting her daughter admitted to study law at the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko. She listened attentively to my story and replied: “That was then, sir. The country has changed. You have to know somebody who knows somebody in order to get things done.” I’m sure she did not like my next statement: “It’s people like you, who beg around, that caused the country to change”. She was not done: “No sir, it’s the system”.

There really is plenty of blame to go round, just as there are many sharers of the blame, including the students and their parents; the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board; the universities; the Federal Government; and the society at large. But my focus today is the government, which is now like that wild elephant, reported in the media recently, which killed an admirer who wanted to take a selfie with it.

The Federal Government has been known to be the enemy of quality tertiary education in this country.  It has earned that status by (1) over-centralising the institutions, procedures and regulations governing the activities of the universities and then starving them of the resources needed to carry out those activities. Even where some resources are available, such as the tertiary education funds, the procedures for accessing them are again over-centralised.

In a distinguished lecture, titled ‘Education sector in crisis’, given by Professor Ladipo Adamolekun at the Joseph Ayo Babaloa University in 2012, over-centralisation was one of the three major causes of the crisis in the education sector, the other two being implementation failure – due largely to inadequate funding – and the de-emphasis of the value of education, including quality decline in the teaching profession.

Adamolekun gave five examples of over-centralisation, namely, the Universal Basic Education programme; the establishment and operations of the unity secondary schools; the centralisation of the labour unions; the establishment of the National Universities Commission with its centralising functions; and the allocation of the lion’s share of the nation’s resources to the Federal Government.

Adamolekun rightly traced these developments to over 30 years of military dictatorship, which began its stranglehold on the nation’s universities by federalising erstwhile regional universities. Today, however, perhaps the most controversial centralising agency is the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, empowered to conduct the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations and oversee university admission.  Enough controversy was generated recently between the Director of JAMB, Professor Dibu Ojerinde, and the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, to send significant ripples through the university system.

There are three knotty issues. First, who or which institution should admit students to the university? It normally should be the Senate of the university, which often delegates the authority of processing the necessary papers to the admissions office located within the Academic Affairs Unit in the Vice-Chancellor’s office. That was the case when I was admitted to the university.

Today, however, JAMB has taken over this function, while the admission offices of the various public universities are being used as clearing houses. After weeks of controversy as to how this function should be performed, Ojerinde issued this clarification recently: “The public and all tertiary institutions should note that admission will only be approved by the board after appropriate screening of the candidates by the institutions”.

Yet, the Education minister still believes that this does not “in any way affect the statutory role of the Senate of any university or the academic boards of any tertiary institution conducting its admissions.” It would appear that what the minister understands as the role of the Senate is reduced to shortlisting. According to him, the universities will shortlist the candidates, using the agreed guidelines and return the shortlisted candidates to JAMB for verification of compliance to the guidelines.  JAMB will subsequently issue admission letters to the shortlisted candidates.

The said guidelines appear to be the minister’s main target and it is the second knotty issue. According to him, the admission exercise rests on the tripod of merit, catchment area and educationally disadvantaged states. The last two criteria are intended to trump merit so that low-scoring students from particular localities or states could be admitted. This is not only an affront to the Senate’s ability to control standards in its admission; it also questions the business of the Federal Government in the admission of students to state universities. What should my state government care about admitting low-scoring students from another state because that state is educationally disadvantaged? How is educational disadvantage measured and who measures it? Wasn’t this kind of admission policy the killer of the unity secondary schools, where standards plummeted because many under-performing students were admitted?

The third and final knotty issue is university autonomy. The Federal Government and two of its agencies, namely, JAMB and the National Universities Commission, have killed whatever is left of university autonomy. The truth is that it is JAMB which admits students, while the NUC regulates everything else from the accreditation of courses to curriculum guidelines and the classification of degrees. The Federal Government completes the process by appointing Council members and ratifying the appointment of Vice-Chancellors. Little wonder many a Vice-Chancellor spends substantial time in Abuja these days.

To the extent that Nigerian universities are run like extensions of the ministry of education, to that extent will they continue to rot away like that ministry where there is neither institutional memory nor policy consistency. True, this problem is not peculiar to the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Nevertheless, there are genuine concerns that his administration has yet to have a grasp on education.

This university admission is the administration’s second major foray into education. The first, the school feeding programme, has yet to take off. With the lacklustre handling of this year’s admission procedure so far, it is unclear what the future of education holds in the administration. Certainly, the present Minister of Education has yet to begin the bend in his learning curve.

Drunken man stabs sleeping uncle to death

 A launderer, Monday Eze, has stabbed his 55-year-old uncle, Ebere Akpu, to death in the Orile Agege area of Lagos State.

It was gathered that Eze and Akpu had an argument over a minor issue on Sunday around 11pm.

After the disagreement, the suspect was said to have gone to a pub, where he became drunk.

While Akpu slept, the suspect allegedly stabbed him in different parts of his body.

Our correspondent gathered that Akpu died on Omotoye Estate where policemen from the Elere division recovered his corpse around 1am on Monday.

It was learnt that Akpu and Eze, who were married with children, hailed from Ebonyi State.

While the suspect had lived for more than 15 years in Lagos, the uncle, Eze, had lived for a few years.

Both men were said to be putting up with another relative, identified as James, who had a laundry on Omotoye Estate where the incident happened.

In a visit to the estate on Monday, saw bloodstains on the road and in James’ laundry.

A trader, who did not give his name, said Eze was in the habit of making trouble when drunk.

She said, “I have known him for more than 15 years now. He makes trouble with everybody, especially when he is drunk. He would sometime strip and start misbehaving.

“When Ebere (Akpu) newly arrived from the village, I particularly advised him against arguing with Eze. I never knew Eze would kill him.”

A family member, who did not give his name, said Eze and the deceased had had a disagreement on Sunday.

Although he did not reveal the cause of the disagreement, he explained that the suspect felt slighted and decided to revenge.

He said, “Ebere sold bags; he didn’t have anything to do with the laundry where this incident happened, except that he kept his wares there. But Monday (Eze) lived there.

“Ebere was there to pass the night and he had washed the shirt and jean trousers he intended to wear on Monday for his business.

“They had a minor disagreement, which led to an argument. Ebere thought that was the end, but Monday stabbed him while he was asleep.”

The suspect was said to have fled as the victim staggered out, seeking help.

He was reportedly taken in a tricycle to a private hospital in the area by a resident.

However, when he was rejected due to the severity of the injuries, he was dumped on the road.

A resident, who did not want to be identified, said he saw Eze in a pool of blood on the road.

“I fled at the sight of the body on the road. I later called a security man to join me to identify and probably rescue him. When we got there, he was dead. The security guard identified him as one of the launderer’s family members,” he added.

Policemen from the Elere division were said to have removed the corpse and took it to their station.

It was learnt that the suspect later submitted himself to the police.

A relative told everyone

 that the police put the corpse in front of the suspect at the station.

“He was in handcuffs. He looked round and saw a lot of family members and burst into tears. He said he never knew Ebere was dead. But we have decided that the matter is now between him and the government,” he said.

Another family member said the suspect was the third in the family to be held for murder.

“There is a curse on the family; it is not ordinary,” he added.

The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the incident, adding that the case had been transferred to the State Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba.

She said, “Around 11pm, one Ebere Akpu was assaulted by one Monday Eze with a machete. The victim died on the way to a hospital.

“His corpse has been deposited at the Mainland Hospital, Yaba, Lagos for autopsy. The suspect has been arrested and the case transferred to the SDCI.”