TheNewsGuru

Tag: Awka

  • One killed as cultists go on rampage in Awka

    One killed as cultists go on rampage in Awka

    There was pandemonium  in Aroma junction in Awka, Anambra State capital, as persons suspected to be cultists  killed one person.

    The shooting of the youth on Wednesday evening caused mayhem in the community as traders and residents scampered for safety.

    The victim, who was said to hail from Amudo Village in Awka, was said to be a tricycle revenue collector who was previously a Keke operator himself.

    A source said the assailants trailed him from the Ifite area of the state capital and shot him at close range at a filling station, which serves as a popular bus stop for buses and tricycles.

    Business outfits in the area were forced to close shops, and roadside traders abandoned their articles and fled.

    The major roads in the vicinity of the incident suddenly became empty, just as many people abandoned their cars and took to their heels.

    The lifeless body of the victim was still lying at the filling station at the time of filing this report.

    Awka has been witnessing cult-related killings for some time now, with gangs killing their rivals in broad daylight.

  • Stray bullet kills female student in Awka

    Stray bullet kills female student in Awka

    A 100 Level  female student of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, Anambra State, Uche Jovita Chigozirim was killed after she was hit by a stray bullet suspected to be fired by cultists.

    It was  gathered that the incident occurred on Thursday evening at Miracle Junction in Ifite, Anambra State.

    A coursemate of the deceased, Dickson Anayochi, who spoke with journalists said Chigozirim was hit by a stray bullet at Miracle Junction.

    He said  “This girl, Uche Jovita Chigozirim, a 100 level student of the faculty of Health Science was killed yesterday (Thursday) evening by stray bullet shot by suspected cultists at the popular Miracle Junction.

    “Please help us and let the world know the insecurity situation we are facing here in the UNIZIK environment and the state government is not doing anything to improve the situation.

    “Please let the Inspector General of Police help us with a checkpoint around Ifite area of UNIZIK because we are tired of complaining to the state government. It’s now a culture we are almost used to. It’s really sad,” he said.

    The Anambra State Police Command, Tochukwu Ikenga is yet to react to the incident.

    As of the time of filing this report, the lifeless body of the student was still lying at the crime scene and covered with banana leaves.

  • EEDC explains reason behind power outage in Awka, Anambra

    EEDC explains reason behind power outage in Awka, Anambra

    Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) on Thursday said that the current power outage being experienced at Awka was due to the loss of supply from Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) Station.

    This is contained in a statement from the EEDC Head, Corporate Communications Mr. Emeka Ezeh, who said that the outage that started on Wednesday by 6:30pm was due to loss of supply from its source.

    The statement said that all feeders under EEDC in Awka district are out of power supply owing to the development.

    It said that TCN engineers are already patrolling the lines to ascertain the cause of the power outage.

    “We therefore apologise to our esteemed customers in Awka and appeal for their patience and understanding as we are on standby.

    “EEDC is hoping that the issue is resolved and power restored within the shortest time possible,” it said.

  • Houseboy hits university lecturer to death In Awka

    Houseboy hits university lecturer to death In Awka

    A middle-aged man has murdered a lecturer working with the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State.

    The incident happened on Friday night at Ifite village in Awka, the State capital.

    It was gathered that the lecturer who belonged to the Psychology Department, simply identified as Chima Anolue, was murdered shortly after a brief argument with his houseboy, which led to a fight between the two.

    This was corroborated by videos currently trending on the social media, which show the suspect as he confessed to have truly killed the lecturer with a pestle.

    He said, “When he came back, he told me to cook rice. And as I was cooking the rice, he asked me why I did not wash plates. I did not reply him anything. And then, he further asked why I wasn’t responding to his question.

    “In the process, he slapped me. But I told him I usually have ear problem, and that people don’t slap me. As I was saying that, he angrily asked if I was still talking while he was talking. And therefore, he slapped me again, and brought out cain and started flogging me all over.

    “Then in the process, I got angry, and we started fighting. It was also in the process of that fight that I picked up the pestle in the kitchen and hit him on the head.”

    The suspect also confessed to have hit Chima with the pestle up to three times before he stopped, after he had fallen on the ground.

    The video also shows the deceased lying lifeless in the hospital bed, while his bereaved relatives gathered to behold and mourn him, alongside his friends and some hospital officials who were also interrogating the suspect.

    It was also gathered that while Chima’s friends and the suspect were taking him to the hospital that night for medical attention after the encounter, he (the suspect), was attempting to choke him to death right inside the vehicle where he was sitting close to him.

    “It was in the process that we discovered what was going on and therefore hit off his hand and started suspecting him. As that was going on also, the victim who was still alive then, used his last strength to cough out the suspect’s name, before he finally gave up the ghost,” said one of the eyewitnesses.

    Meanwhile, the suspect was said to have denied knowing anything about Chima’s death, but eventually confessed to the crime to the doctor on duty at the hospital that night.

    “In his confessions, he first said that it was the girlfriend of the deceased who visited him that night that attacked him. However, he eventually confessed that he was the person who killed Chima with pestle,” the source said.

    A source close to the scene of the incident also alleged that the Abakaliki-born suspect bruised the deceased’s body with knife after hitting him to unconsciousness, so as to make it appear as if he was attacked by a third party. Though the suspect denied the allegation.

    Efforts to get reaction from the police Spokesperson of the Anambra State Command, DSP Ikenga Tochukwu, on the matter, proved abortive.

  • Sen. Umeh appeals disqualification

    Sen. Umeh appeals disqualification

    The Court of Appeal, sitting in Awka, has granted Victor Umeh, Anambra Central Senatorial Candidate of the Labour Party, the permission to serve his Notice of Appeal on Sen. Uche Ekwunife of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) through substituted means.

    Chief Alex Ejesieme, counsel to the appellant in a motion experte with Appeal No. CA/AW/24/2023, told the court that the bailiff had made several efforts to serve Ekwunife directly without success.

    He accompanied the motion with a 13-paragraph affidavit to support his argument, as well as a bailiff affidavit of attempted service.

    Ejesieme described the trial court judgment as “rather unfortunate“ in the light of the numerous decisions of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court on the subject matter.

    Justice Hannatu Sankey, Presiding Judge of the Appeal Court, granted that the Notice of Appeal should be posted at the entrance gate of Ekwunife’s Campaign Office situated at the Uche Ekwunife Event Centre, Awka.

    Nigerian standard recalls that Ekwunife and PDP had gone to the Federal High Court, Awka, to contest the validity of Umeh’s nomination in the Labour Party.

  • Keke rider killed as rival cult groups clash in Awka

    Keke rider killed as rival cult groups clash in Awka

    Hoodlums suspected to be cultists were on a rampage and in the process shot a Keke rider at the back gate of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, (UNIZIK)

    It was gathered that the incident happened on Wednesday evening in Anambra state.

    There have been killings, which have been traced to rivalry between various cult groups in the state. This has led to many people decrying the spate of violence and bloodletting in the state.

    According to a source, a student of UNIZIK who spoke on condition of anonymity said students and residents now live in fear.

    He said “Residents and students are currently living in fear as incessant killing and shooting has started again in Awka and environs.

    “For the past two or three days, there have been records of young people being gunned down, and that of today (Tuesday) has happened at Unizik school gate in ifite Awka.”

    Meanwhile, police authorities in the state have confirmed the incident, saying it is cult related. The state police command’s spokesperson, DSP Toochukwu Ikenga, who spoke with our correspondent, said its operatives had intensified surveillance in the city, especially around Ifite, close to Nnamdi Azikiwe University.

    He said: “Our operatives have been deployed in the area, and the situation is closely monitored. Preliminary information shows that the shooting is a result of a cult-related clash between two rival groups.

    “Police patrols have been intensified within awka and other sides of the state.”

  • Woman remanded for luring teenagers into prostitution in Anambra

    Woman remanded for luring teenagers into prostitution in Anambra

    Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Magistrate Court in Awka has remanded a Delta State-based woman, identified simply as Madam Success, has been remanded in Anambra State for her alleged role in luring 13 and 15 years female students into prostitution in her state.

    Madam Success was on Friday was denied bail and also remanded.

    The victims, four female students (names withheld), were said to have been lured by Madam Success from Akwa Ibom State to Agbor in Delta State, after initially deceiving them with employment offers.

    The female students aged between 13 and 15 years, were said to have been promised job offers as sales girls in Delta by Madam Success but were allegedly put in a brothel and made to sleep with at least five men a day.

    However, the Anambra State Commissioner for Women and Children’s Welfare, Mrs Ify Obinabo, reportedly rescued the four female students in Onitsha, from where their trafficker had camped them en route Delta. The trafficker was also arrested, TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) gathered.

    The media assistant to Obinabo, Chidimma Ikeanyionwu, told journalists that the commissioner, working with men of the Nigeria Police, stormed a motor park in Onitsha on a tip-off, and rescued the girls while also arrested the trafficker in the process of their boarding a bus to Delta State.

    Ikeanyionwu, in a press statement, disclosed that Madam Success was on Friday arraigned before the Children, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Magistrate Court in Awka, where she was denied bail and also remanded.

    The female students, while narrating their experiences to newsmen, stated that the woman socialite had promised them employment offers.

    “Auntie Success told us that she has a job opportunity for us in Agbor, Delta State, where we will be selling drinks in a beer parlour, but on getting there, we discovered that it was prostitution work they brought us to do,” the students said.

    They spoke further, “The men pay the sum of N1,000 or N2,000 directly to our madam, who only give us N400 every day for feeding. The direct payment to Madam Success made it difficult for us to have any cash at hand.

    “These dresses (skimpy clothes) were bought for us from the proceeds which people pay to our madam.”

    The girls who claimed that it was in their quest to secure their school fees that they got lured into the act maintained that they had made several unsuccessful attempts to escape but were always caught and punished severely.

    “After the punishment, we were taken to a herbalist who forced us to take an oath that we would never run away or we would die,” they narrated.

    The Police Public Relations Officer for Delta State Command, DSP Bright Edafe, could not be reached for comments on the incident as of the time of filing this report.

  • 2023: Surprise as Peter Obi, Soludo seen talking together in Awka

    2023: Surprise as Peter Obi, Soludo seen talking together in Awka

    There was anxiety and drama in Awka, Anambra state capital  on Thursday evening when the  presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, and the governor of Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, met.

    Both political figures  met at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church during the thanksgiving mass for Most Rev. Paulinus Ezeokafor in celebration of his 70th birthday and were seen embracing each other while exchanging pleasantries.

    Soludo created a scene by quickly running to where Obi was seated to hug him, why both men exchanged pleasantries.

    Meanwhile, Soludo,  described the rift between him and Obi as mischievous, insisted that the former Anambra governor remained his brother, irrespective of their political differences.

    Recall that Soludo wrote a piece where he dismissed Obi’s chances in next year’s election, saying he wouldn’t win.

    His piece reads in part ‘History beckons and I will not be silent,’ dismissed the chances of the Labour Party candidate in the 2023 presidential poll.

    The article generated reactions across the country and particularly from Obi supporters, who heavily criticised the governor.

    However, Soludo, speaking during the thanksgiving mass, said he would soon be meeting Obi to iron out their differences, adding that their rift was essentially political.

    He also dismissed the rumour of $28m he allegedly collected to run down the LP presidential candidate, saying he would have been a trillionaire if he was into such.

    He said, “When I came in, I quickly went to where he sat and hugged him; people watched with bewilderment as if it was a drama, asking is it not the same people quarrelling?

    “Let me tell you, we spoke two times just last night. We are brothers. You know I am not one of those politicians that speak from two sides of the mouth. I can’t pretend.

    “There is no rift between Obi and me at a personal level. Nobody snatched each other’s wife. What appears to be the rift between us is fundamental political differences. Nothing else.

    “So for those forging blackmail and all that, including the one they said I collected bribe to say what I said, I ask them to bring it so I use it to construct roads. If Soludo is into bribery, I would have been a multi-trillionaire.”

    While thanking God for the life of Ezeokafor, the governor pointed out that the cleric had been of great influence on him and his government.

    Meanwhile, Obi didn’t speak at the event as he left mid way into the programme.

  • SAD: Three female university students found dead inside hostel

    SAD: Three female university students found dead inside hostel

    Three students of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Igbariam campus in Awka, Anambra State have been found dead inside their hostel.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that the three students were found dead inside their hostel on Sunday.

    The Public Relations Officer of COOU, Dr. Harrison Madubueze, who confirmed the incident, said the date, time and manner of their death are still uncertain at the moment.

    In a statement, Madubueze disclosed that the university management received with rude shock the news of the death of three of their students.

    He said: “The security operatives are investigating the matter and at the appropriate time, they will make the findings public.

    “The university was not in any way aware that any of her students in the second year class and above were still within the University environment.

    “This is because the institution closed on Wednesday, August 24, after the second-semester examination and will resume on October 1, 2022.”

    Also, Anambra State Police Command has commenced an investigation into the matter.

    The Command’s spokesperson, Ikenga Tochukwu, in a statement, said: “On receipt of the information, our operatives quickly moved to the scene and recovered the bodies of the victims. We also recovered substances suspected to be hard drugs.

    “Meanwhile operatives from the forensic department have taken over the crime scene as the commissioner of police, Echeng Echeng, has ordered the immediate transfer of the case to the State Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) for discreet and comprehensive investigations”

  • My husband starved me of sex, Money, so I planned his kidnap – Wife

    My husband starved me of sex, Money, so I planned his kidnap – Wife

    Mrs Joy Sunday, a 40-year-old woman in Akwa Ibom state has confessed to partaking in her husband’s kidnapping because he starved her of sex and money.

    The housewife who was arrested by the police for conspiracy over the kidnap, said on Friday that she partook in the act.

    TheNewsGuru gathered that the kidnappers demanded N10m as ransom and later reduced it to N2m which was paid before the police arrested them while sharing the loot.

    The suspect who was among 29 others paraded for various offences including kidnapping, robbery and child theft by the state Commissioner of Police, Olatoye Durosinmi, in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, said she had been subjected to menial jobs to fend for herself and the children since her husband got married to another woman.

    She added that when one of her children completed secondary school there was no money for him to further his studies.

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    She said, “I arranged my husband’s kidnapping because for a long time he abandoned me with his children. Even when my father and mother in-law were alive he abandoned me. He never cared for his children. I did n menial jobs such as weeding people’s farms to feed my children and pay their school fees.

    “One of the children completed secondary school and I approached my husband to plan how to send him to learn a trade since he refused to send him to university but his husband shunned me. The major reason I arranged his kidnap is that because he refused to have sex with me and does not take care of me and the children.”

    She added that she never collected her share of the money before they were arrested by the police