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.