TheNewsGuru

Tag: Cultism

  • LASU suspends three students over cultism, rape

    Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun, Vice-Chancellor, Lagos State University (LASU) has approved the indefinite suspension of two final year students, Oloyede Akanbi and Tobiloba Olutade over cultism related activities.

    The university said on Wednesday in Lagos that Akanbi and Olutade were 400 level students of the Department of Industrial Relations and Personnel Management and Department of Accounting, respectively.

    “The Students’ Affairs Division received information on a fracas that happened on June 20, 2019, on the campus involving some students and non -students.

    “Our preliminary investigation revealed that the fracas which started at the Faculty of Management Sciences was between two cult groups.

    “ With the prompt reaction of the Security Department, those who were involved ran out of the campus and some of them were eventually apprehended and later handed over to the Police,” Fagbohun said in a statement.

    He said said that the outcome of its investigation revealed that the two affected students were involved in the incidents.

    In a related development, the university also approved the indefinite suspension of Afeez Ogunbowale of the Department of Chemistry Education over an alleged rape case.

    It said Ogunbowale was reported to have carried out the act on April 18, 2018 and was apprehended on September 13, 2018.

    According to the university, the case was subsequently transferred to the Festac Police Station, since it was a criminal offense.

    The university’s management, however, said that it was aware of the pressure being mounted on the Students’ Union and Faculty Associations leadership by students who would want the platforms to be used to shield offenders and perpetrators of criminality from justice.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, the university will not condone harassment and blackmail of students’ leaders by unscrupulous elements even as it encourages the union leaders to always pursue legitimate means in championing the interest of the students,” the statement said.

  • Buhari reacts to latest killings in Kaduna, resurgence of cultism in Rivers

    President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned recent violence in Kaduna state, which led to the death of 20 members of Adara community.

    A statement by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja on Tuesday, noted that the unfortunate deaths were result of latest incident between the Adara and Fulani peoples in the state.

    “The two communities have a long history of mistrust between themselves,” he noted.

    Buhari, therefore, appealed for peace and decried on-going culture of ‘an eye for an eye’ that has fuelled a number of attacks and reprisal attacks, with the two communities at different times, suffering casualties in Kajuru and Kachia Local Governments Areas (LGAs) of the state.

    He also appealed to residents of the state and other Nigerians to refrain from comments in the traditional and social media, especially by people who have little knowledge of the history of the longstanding conflict.

    According to him, such comments can fuel further conflict in the area and between the two groups.

    Buhari enjoined traditional and religious leaders to be cautious with their comments on the conflict, insisting that whatever words they share publicly should not be inflammatory but be inspired by an interest in peace.

    While condoling with those who lost loved ones in the attacks, the president said: “The entire nation grieves with you. The Nigerian army and police are already in the area to ensure that peace and security are restored.”

    In response to reports of the resurgence of cultism leading to loss of lives in Rivers, Buhari condemned the cultist killings and ordered for increased community and law enforcement action against its escalation.

    He also called on law enforcement agencies to intensify efforts to end the menace.

    The President urged quick and effective intervention by community and civic leaders in support of law enforcement efforts, in all such areas bedeviled by cultist attacks and inter-communal violence.

  • Police nab 6 suspected cultists, armed robbers in Anambra

    Police nab 6 suspected cultists, armed robbers in Anambra

    The police command in Anambra says it has arrested six suspected cultists and armed rubbers after a gun battle that left one of the suspects injured at Ogidi near Onitsha. (more…)

  • Education: OAU suspends, sends 6 students home

    The management of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, has announced the suspension of six students of the institution over alleged involvement in cultism.

    A statement issued on Wednesday in Osogbo by the university’s Registrar, Mrs Margaret Omosule, said the suspended students confirmed their membership of secret cults after police investigation.

    According to Omosule, the school management on July 2 received an information that two of the university’s students were forcefully initiated into cultism outside the university campus.

    She said after a thorough preliminary investigation, 12 students were apprehended and handed over to State Police Command to assist with further professional investigation.

    ” After the investigation of the suspected students by the Nigeria Police, the university on Aug. 20 received a detailed report of the police findings.

    ” In the report, it was confirmed that six students of the university had admitted their membership of proscribed groups, thus breaching their Matriculation Oath, Code of Conduct and other pertinent university regulations.

    ” Accordingly, and in accordance with the relevant statutes, the students have been suspended pending the outcome of investigations by the appropriate Students’ Disciplinary Committee,” Omosule said.

    According to the registrar, the names of the suspended students with their matriculation numbers are Onyekwusi Praise Chinemerem, ASE /2014/218; Ojo Abiodun Olamide, MCB /2012 /149 and Ude John, ASE /2015 /362.

    Others are Oladoye Tobi Olakunmi, EGL /2014/ 383; Ayeyi Damilola Ayomide, EGL /2016 /075 and Davis Jesulayomi Olakunle, EGL / 2014 /207.

    She assured the university community and all other stakeholders, most especially the students, that adequate measures had been put in place to secure lives and property.

    The registrar also pledged that management would put in place a peaceful environment for all residents of the university estate.

    ” It is the collective responsibility of all stakeholders to protect the university from persons with criminal intentions.

    ” Members of the university community are advised to be vigilant at all times and report any suspicious activities which could undermine the peaceful coexistence of members of the university community,’’ Omosule said.

     

  • Four men dock over alleged cultism, cell phone theft

    Four men dock over alleged cultism, cell phone theft

    Four men were on Wednesday brought before an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court over alleged cultism and stealing of a cell phone valued at N40, 000.

    The accused- Habeeb Adio, 24; Dare Damilare, 27; Olasunkanmi Buhari,34 and Eze Joseph, 28- are facing a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, stealing and belonging to a secret cult.

    They, however, pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to them.

    The prosecutor, Insp. Mathew Akhaluode, told the court that the accused committed the offences with some other persons still at large on April 26 at 9:00p.m. in Ifako, Gbagada area of Lagos.

    Akhaluode said that the accused belonged to an unlawful society called “Eiye Confraternity’’.

    He said that the accused also stole an Itel cell phone valued at N40, 000, property of Mr Olarenwaju Bakare, the complainant.

    “The accused were caught holding their meeting at Ifako after they had stolen the complainant’s cell phone,” Akhaluode said.

    The offences contravened Sections 42 (a) 287 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015 (Revised).

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Section 287 stipulates a seven-year imprisonment for stealing, while Section 42 prescribed three years jail term for unlawful society.

    In her ruling, the Chief Magistrate, Mrs A. A. Adetunji, granted each of the accused bail of N250, 000 with two sureties in like sum.

    Adetunji said that the sureties should be gainfully employed and show evidence of two years’ tax payment to the Lagos State Government.

    She adjourned the case until July 4 for mention.

  • Bayelsa suspends seven secondary school students for practicing cultism

    The Bayelsa Government has announced the indefinite suspension of seven senior secondary school students for engaging in cult related activities.


    The Bayelsa Commissioner for Education, Jonathan Obuebite made the disclosure in a statement issued in Yenogoa on Saturday.

    According to Obuebite, the students were reported to have attacked and injured a fellow student at the Central Epie Secondary School, Opolo-Epie located in Yenagoa.


    Obuebite who did not mention the names of the students, said the alleged cultists did not only attack their victim but also endangered the lives of other students.

    The commissioner said that they also disrupted academic activities of the school during their nefarious actions.
    He further prohibited government schools from admitting the students without clearance from the state ministry of education.

     

  • Police dismiss two officers for alleged involvement in cultism

    The Akwa Ibom State Police Command has dismissed two police officers for his alleged involvement in cultism.

    The Commissioner of Police, Adeyemi Ogunjemilusi, disclosed this on Tuesday during a visit to the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Onofiok Luke, and the leadership of the House.

    Ogunjemilusi said the two officers were currently facing trial.

    He did not, however, give out the identity or the rank of the dismissed officers.

    The police chief told the speaker that over 60 suspected cultists have been arrested recently in the state, with 17 of them charged to court, while others were still being investigated.

    Ogunjemilusi, who said he was in the Assembly to seek collaboration and support from the legislature towards crime-fighting, told Mr. Luke that the police in the state did not have adequate operational vehicles.

    He appealed to the state lawmakers to desist from the practice of covering the license plate number of their vehicles to enable the police track down culprits whenever a crime is committed.

    The speaker assured the police chief of the lawmakers’ readiness to partner and support the police.

    “I want to give you our commitment that we are ready to work for the peace, order, and security of lives and property in Akwa Ibom State,” Luke said.

    “Let the long arm of the law takes its course, anyone caught involving in cultism should not be spared.”

    Luke, who expressed the lawmakers’ readiness to review the state’s anti-cultism law, requested the police commissioner to forward a memo to the House on the areas of the law that he thought should be reviewed.

    Akwa Ibom state has been bedeviled of late with cult-related killings and violence.

  • Shun cultism, kidnapping, other negative vices, Jonathan advises students

    Shun cultism, kidnapping, other negative vices, Jonathan advises students

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan has counseled Nigerian students to shun kidnapping, robbery and other social vices that portray the academic community and the country at large in bad light.

    The former president gave the advice while presenting his remarks as the Special Guest of Honour at the 4th convocation of Baze University in Abuja.

    He said, “It is important to note that the negative activities of some of our youths are portraying the academic environment in bad light.

    I urge the graduating and other students of this university to realise that those people are out of line, and it is not cool, whenever they involve themselves in such abhorrent social vices as cultism, thuggery, armed robbery and kidnapping. They should know that they let the nation down, each time they engage in acts that debase human dignity and hurt our values as a nation of great people.”

    Jonathan further made a case for the kind of responsible education that will inculcate moral values in our youths.

    He said, “I would, however, clarify that our kind of education must be the type that will have a soul. That is why I always challenge the staff, especially the academic staff, to develop curricula that will produce respectable and patriotic citizens and graduates, in tune with our peculiar social and economic environment.

    “We must aspire to restore those glory days when a graduate’s value was weighed equally in character and in learning.”

     

  • 12,430 cultists surrender in Rivers state

    No fewer than 22,430 cultists have surrendered and returned 911 assorted arms to Rivers state Amnesty Committee, Governor Nyesom Wike said on Monday.

    Wike said at a Town Hall meeting and accountability Forum in Port Harcourt to mark his administration’s second anniversary.

    He stated that the amnesty programme had reduced cult related violence and other criminal activities in the state.

    The governor noted that the programme had also recovered 7,661 assorted ammunitions and 147 explosives by the repentant cultists.

    Wike stressed that the government provided over 150 patrol vans to the security agencies to fight crime in the state.

    He said that the government also handed over some gun boats to the Nigerian Navy to patrol and protect the Rivers waterways.

    The governor stated that the administration had in the last two years made unprecedented investments in infrastructure, which had led to economic boom.

    He noted that 13 General Hospitals in 13 local government areas were undergoing reconstruction with the completed ones awaiting furnishing and inauguration.

    ‘’ We are also completing the regional hospitals started by the immediate past administration, located in Etche and Degema councils to serve as referral centres for secondary and tertiary health care, ‘’ he added.

    He said that the government released over four million US dollars to equip and upgrade the Braithwait Memorial Hospital to international standard.

    Wike stated that the gesture was to enable it serve as the Teaching Hospital for the Rivers State University Medical School, pending the construction of its permanent site.

    He noted that moribund businesses were gradually re-opening in the state, while fresh local and foreign businesses were being attracted to the State.

    The governor disclosed that the administration has streamlined multiple taxation in order to enable business to thrive to the benefit of the people and to attract more investors.

    “We are also supporting the growth of indigenous entrepreneurs through contracts as well as encouraging small and micro-enterprises with financial support to revitalise local economies, ‘’ he added.

    Wike said that in the administration had invested over N145 billion on the construction of roads, bridges, pedestrian walkways and underground drainage systems.

    ” As we speak, several road construction works are either underway or completed in Port Harcourt, Obio/Akpor, Abua/Odual, Ahoada East, Ahoada West, Akuku Toru.

    ‘’Also in Degema, Etche, Andoni, Opobo/Nkoro, Ikwerre, Emohua, Khana, Gokana, Okrika, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, Oyigbo, and Tai Local Government Areas of the State, he said.

    The governor pointed out that his administration was improving the quality of education by creating enabling environment for the system to produce graduates with skills and knowledge to drive development.

    He noted that 300 primary schools were being refurbished and equipped across the state, while infrastructure at the Rivers State University was being upgraded to ensure successful accreditation of courses.

  • ‘Again, Governor Wike Goes Mad’ says Amaechi

    ‘Again, Governor Wike Goes Mad’ says Amaechi

    Former Rivers state Governor and current Minister of Transport, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi has replied an alleged vindictment hauled at him by the current Governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike, saying Mr. Wike, has again “gone mad.”

    The Transport Minister was responding to an alleged Governor Wike’s allegation that he (Amaechi) is a sponsor of cultist groups and activities in the state. Mr. Amaechi said Wike has lied again as he had been lying before, challenging the Rivers Governor to provide any proof to substantiate his claims.

    In a statement made available to TheNewsGuru.com on Tuesday, Mr. Amaechi urged Governor Wike to approach the court rather than trying to draw attentions to himself from Nigerians who have become uninterested in him and his “lies against Amaechi.”

    the statement in full: “Yesterday, the governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike continued to display unabated, his exclusive and uncommon strand of gubernatorial madness when he attempted to link his mentor, benefactor and predecessor Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, as a sponsor of cultists in Rivers State. And as usual, Wike did not provide any shred of evidence to prove his claims.

    We know that Wike craves attention and always want to be seen in the media to be “exposing and fighting” Amaechi. However, we will burst his bubble this time and will not indulge him or dignify his crass stupidity. If he has any sense, Wike ought to know by now that no one takes him seriously anymore, especially whenever he makes those cooked-up vile, malicious allegations against the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi. This his new concocted story is not any different from the previous numerous false allegations he has made against Amaechi.

    Again, Wike’s new cult fabrication against Amaechi fits into Wike’s style and pattern of distraction and obfuscation- tell a lie to distract, and then tell another lie and another lie to distract our attention from the previous lie, creating an endless web of lies, confusion and deception. Same pattern of telling blatant lies with no proof or intention to prove his claims. Sadly, this is the kind of irresponsible, reckless, disgraceful garrulous, scallywag conman that presides over the affairs of Rivers State

    Wike wants us to forget that only recently, he made an allegation that the over $43million found in an Ikoyi apartment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) were stolen Rivers State funds kept in the apartment by Amaechi. Wike had also lied that the luxury Ikoyi apartment belonged to Amaechi.

    But we won’t forget. We remember vividly that on the night of Friday, April 14, during his hurriedly arranged shambolic press briefing, Wike had threatened the President Buhari administration with fire and brimstone, vowing the mother-of-all legal action against the Federal government if the over $43million was not given to him within seven days. His 7-day ultimatum had long expired, yet no action, whether legal or otherwise by Wike to prove his malicious allegations and claim to the money. On Friday, May 6, when another opportunity was opened for Wike to prove his frivolous allegations against Amaechi and claim the money before Justice Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court, Lagos; neither Wike nor his lawyers were any where near the court to claim the money. Again, another no show.

    Nyesom Wike, also used his lackeys and minions like former President Goodluck Jonathan campaigner, Femi Fani-Kayode, Lere Olayinka(an aide to Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State) and one Senator George Sekibo who like a clown, foolishly blew a whistle on the floor of the senate to push his (Wike’s) false, malicious narrative of Amaechi’s ownership of the Ikoyi money. Nigerians are sick and tired of Governor Wike’s shameful spectacles, his nuisance value of wanting to entertain us regularly, with different frivolous stories about Amaechi.

    This fresh attempt by Wike to distract Nigerians from his earlier false, politically motivated allegations against Amaechi on the over $43million Ikoyi money, will not fly.

    We will continue to remind Wike and insist that he must go to court, like he vowed (as he goes, he can also take his minions and lackeys with him), to prove his frivolous claims that the over $43million Ikoyi money and luxury apartment belongs to Amaechi and were stolen from Rivers State by Amaechi; or be ready to face the wrath of the law at the appropriate time (constitutional immunity for governors is not for life) the wrath of the people and ultimately the wrath of God, which no constitutional immunity can protect him from.