Startech Safety And Security News Blog

                            The Supreme Court has dismissed a request seeking to nullify the election of Enugu State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwanyi. The application was brought by a former senator, Ayogu Eze. Mr Eze, also a member Peoples Democratic Party, had asked the court to nullify the emergence of Mr Ugwanyi as the governorship candidate of the party in the 2015 governorship election. According to Mr Eze, the governor was forced on the people of the state by a group within the party during the December, 2014 primaries ahead of the election. Mr Eze alleged that some members of the party went against the provisions of the Electoral Act to ensure the emergence of Governor Ugwanyi and asked the court to nullify the candidacy of the state governor. But in a reaction to the motion, Mr Ugwanyi asked the court to set aside Mr Eze’s applicat...

                                  The Gombe State Police Command on Friday confirmed the death of one person in Kufai village of Billiri Local Government Area of Gombe state, following a disagreement between inhabitants of some communities in Shongom and Billiri Local Government areas over farmland. Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) via telephone, the Commissioner of Police, Shina Olukolu, said the incident occurred on Thursday night, adding that arrests had been made. He said the incident resulted in some women barricading the Gombe-Yola highway on Friday, thereby creating gridlock and inconveniencing commuters on the road. Mr Olukolu said a team of mobile police men were however deployed to Billiri after which the road was opened to traffic. NAN reports that communal clashes over farmland between...

                           Gov. Aminu Masari of Katsina State on Saturday expressed disappointment with the failure of governors of the North-West to attend a meeting on the security of the region held in Kaduna. Mr Masari, who is the chairman of the security committee inaugurated by the Northern Governors Forum, said the governors must separate politics from security that affects the generality of the people. The meeting, attended by the deputy governors of Sokoto and Kaduna states, also had in attendance Secretaries to the State Governments of the two states, and that of Katsina, as well as various consultants on security. “The issue of security is more important than politics as it affects life,” Mr Masari said at the opening of the meeting which later went into closed door session. He said it was important to fine ways of sustaining a...

The National Industrial Court, Abuja, on Friday dismissed a suit filed by a lecturer against the Governing Council of Kaduna State College of Nursing & Midwifery, seeking his reinstatement, for being statute barred. Justice Rakiya Haastrup, who heard the matter, dismissed the suit instituted by Afoi Barry for his failure to file the suit within the three months stipulated period. A suit is statute barred when it is no longer legally enforceable, because the prescribed period for legal action had elapsed. Mr Barry had approached the court for a declaration that the termination of his appointment was “wrong and illegal.” He also sought reinstatement, payment of his salaries and entitlements from July 2015 when his appointment was terminated, till date. Mrs Haastrup said the suit did not satisfy Section 2 (a) of the Public Officers’ Protection Act. She said that Section 2 (a) of that Act stipulates that any counter-action against public officers should be inst...

           American comics artist, writer and co-creator of Marvel comic superheroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange ,  Steve Ditko  has passed away aged 90 after being found dead in his midtown Manhattan apartment. According to New York Police Department spokesman George Tsourovakas , Mr. Ditko was found dead on June 29. Marvel President Dan Buckley said in a statement "the Marvel family mourns the loss" of Mr Ditko. Steve transformed the industry and the Marvel Universe, and his legacy will never be forgotten. He added: "Our thoughts are with his family, loved ones, and fans during this sad time.” Ditko was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1927. After graduating from high school in 1945, Mr. Ditko joined the Army and was stationed in Germany, where he drew cartoons for a service newspaper. He later worked in comics in the 1950s in New York, before eventually landing a drawing job with Marvel forerun...

Today, President Buhari attended the grand finale of the 2018 Nigerian Army Day Celebration in Borno State. Speaking at the event, the President said, ' I  am delighted to be in your midst today on this special occasion of the Nigerian Army Day Celebration 2018. I am particularly elated with the choice of the venue for this year’s celebration here in Monguno, Northern Borno State'. 'In the last 3 years of this administration, we have worked tirelessly to ensure and preserve the dignity and sanctity of life. When I was sworn in as the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I promised that this administration would tackle the challenges of Insecurity, poor Economy and Fight Corruption' he said.

              Olisa Metuh, a former spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, took to the dock on July 6, 2018 as he continued with his defence in the ongoing N400 million fraud trial before Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja. At the proceeding, Metuh attempted to enter the dock in preparation to being led in evidence by his counsel, Onyeachi Ikpeazu, SAN,  but was stopped by the judge, who ordered him to testify from where he was seated in the courtroom. Under examination, Metuh briefly told the court about himself saying "my name is Olisa Metuh. I live in Prince and Princess Estate. I am a legal practioner, a business executive, politician and real estate develop er". The matter was thereafter adjourned to October 22, 2018. . After the matter was adjourned, Ikpeazu made an oral application to the court, seeking the leave of the court to allow Metuh trav...

             Christiana Eze, a 31-year-old woman, has been arrested by the International Federation Of Women Lawyers, FIDA, for pouring hot water on her 13-year-old house maid, Beauty, for allegedly sleeping on her couch in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The incident happened on the 3rd of July, 2018. It was gathered that Beauty normally sleeps on the floor, but slept on the couch that fateful day because of cold, promoting the reaction from Christiana. The following morning, she let the girl go to school in that condition and her teacher noticed and filed a report against the suspect. Beauty, from Edo State, accused Christiana of pouring hot water on her and using belt to flog her on the same spot she poured the hot water on, till her skin pilled peeled off. It was gathered that for the last two years of the girl has stayed with Christiana, she knew nothing but torment and torture, a situation the n...

              Omojola Ogundipe, a 20-year-old Bristol University student took her own life in a Cardiff hotel room, just days after a visit home for Mother’s Day. Staff at the Citrus Hotel in Cardiff found her body hanging in her hotel room after she missed her check-out deadline. Late Omojola, described as "bright and bubbly", was in the second year of her economics undergraduate degree at Bristol University, and was a leading member of the Gospel Choir Society. A campaigner on environmental and human rights issues, she volunteered with several groups and was popular among her peers. An inquest into her death heard her dad tell Pontypridd Coroner’s Court his daughter had visited home just three days before they heard the tragic news. During the court hearing on July 5, her dad, Kurle Ogundipe, said in a statement: "I last saw Omojola on March 11 when she returned home for the weekend. She app...

       Brian Isiko, a 25-year old Ugandan student has been handed a two year prison sentence for confessing his “too much love” for Kabalore Woman Member of Parliament, Ms Sylvia Rwabwoogo. The student of YMCA Jinja Branch was convicted on his own plea of guilty to counts of cyber harassment and offensive communication. He confessed that the calls and text messages professing obsessed love to the MP he had never physically seen, were from him. Tears rolled down Ms Rwabwoogo’s cheeks as she told court that she started receiving calls admitting love from a stranger. She said that it all started around November 2017, which made her think that someone was intending to harm her. She thought the calls and text messages were a trap her tormentors had set. She said: “One of his texts that provoked my fears read: “I love you so much and want to protect you. My love is for you alone and since there is no one taking care of you, I will do ...

                        Chris Brown was reportedly arrested in Florida late Thursday for an outstanding warrant. The 29-year-old singer was arrested after his West Palm Beach show at the Coral Sky Ampitheatre stemming from an outstanding warrant, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. According to Page Six, he was wanted on a felony battery warrant from the Hilllsborough County Sheriff’s office. Brown who has a lengthy legal history, including a domestic violence arrest in 2009 after beating up then-girlfriend Rihanna , a 2013 hit-and-run and a 2016 arrest for assault with a deadly weapon was later released after paying a $2,000 bond, the station said.

                       Catholic priest, Reverend Father Andrew Anah who was abducted on Wednesday in Delta State, has regained his freedom. The parish priest of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church Obomkpa, was abducted by gunmen along the Obomkpa/Issele-Uku Road making It was the second time he would be abducted in less than 12 months. The Public Relations Officer of the Delta State Police Command, Andew Aniamaka, confirmed that the priest had regained his freedom. He said the police would ensure that the culprits are apprehended.  Father Anah was first kidnapped in August 2017 along the same road. He was released after an undisclosed sun was allegedly paid. This comes about 48 hours after Governor Ifeanyi Okowa decried the rising activities of kidnappers in the state. The governor lamented about the crime state while addressing some traditional rulers in...

               The Osun Police Command has arrested the wife of a traditional ruler and two persons   suspected to have set ablaze the house of  her rival, killing her three-year-old step daughter in the process. The Commissioner  of  Police in the state, Olafimihan Adeoye, who disclosed this to newsmen, said the husband of the suspect and a traditional ruler, Oba Morufudeen Olawale, reported the incident to the command. Olawale is the Alabudo of Abudo in Egbedore Local Government Area of Osun, Adeoye alleged that the suspect and her accomplices at about 1. am on June 6th, left their base in Ede for Abudo where the other wife and her late daughter reside and set her house ablaze while both were inside. The monarch said the inferno led to the death of the minor  while the other wife was badly injured and is cur...

                            Lagos State police command has just issued a stern warning to cultists over their proposed Saturday 'get together' in the state. In a statement signed by the state Police PRO, SP Chike OTI, 'the authorities of the Lagos State Police Command, have received credible intelligence that members of some unlawful societies such as the Aiye, Eiye, Black Axe, Buccaneers, etc, are going round town serving notices to rival cult gangs in the neighbourhood that they would be converging on Saturday 7/7/ 2018 at yet to be disclosed locations within their domains'. According to available information, the 7th day of the 7th month is sacred to these outlaws. It is also a day they settle scores with rival cult groups and a day of outright brigandage and anomie. The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, CP Imohimi E...

                           The Ondo state police command is currently on the trail of two armed robbery suspects, Rotimi Adeyeye and Adeoye Bukola, who reportedly escaped from a cell at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad SARS of the police command. A source in the command said the suspects were arrested for cultism but later discovered to have been responsible for the robbery attack that took place at the home of one Samuel Arifalo in Ijoka area of the state on April 30th this year. The suspects have been in police custody for 16 days but on Monday July 2nd, they escaped from police cell with handcuffs still on them. Till now, the police is yet to rearrest them. Confirming the escape, the spokesperson of the state police command, Femi Joseph, said the command had started investigation into the matter. He added that the SA...

A Delta State High Court, sitting in Ozoro, has sentenced a former Education Secretary of BomadiLocal Government Education Authority, Mr. Abayomi Tom Kelekumor, to five years imprisonment for employing his daughter, Miss Preye Tom, into the service of the Local Government Education Authority. Kelekumor, who was sentenced by Justice BrikiOkolosi, without an option of fine, was accused by theIndependent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) of violating Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, by using his position to confer unfair advantage upon his relation. The offence is also punishable under the same section. The Commission, in a one-count charge, said that the convict gave employment to his daughter, who was then a Senior Secondary Two (SS2) student, into the local government service, knowing fully well that she was at the same time a full-time student. Miss Tom was employed as a Messenger on Sa...

A father-of-six bled to death after one of his kinsmen cut off his penis following an argument. Mr. Sunday Ikwunyelu, aka A-Big, from Akpulu village, Ugbenu, in Awka North local government area of Anambra state, was killed by his relative Mr. Ifeanyi Eziechine over a ludo game. Ifeanyi reportedly hit Sunday with a heavy weapon, weakening him, then he cut off his genitals with a knife and Sunday bled to death. The wife of the deceased, Mrs. Maryrose Ikwunyelu narrated the incident that led to her husband’s sudden demise. She said: I was in front of my shop playing ludo game with one nurse Rebecca when Ifeanyi, who hap­pens to be my husband’s brother, joined us. He requested to be allowed to participate in the game but I declined on the ground that he often caused trouble each time he participated and lost out in the game. Sometimes, it would lead to wanton destruction of some items in my shop and the compound. It was on that note that he took offen...

This morning, the Supreme court upheld the appeal of Senate President Bukola Saraki and discharged him of the remaining three charges against him in the case of false declaration of assets. The court upheld the appeal in a lead judgment delivered by Justice Centus Nweze on Friday in Abuja, the nation’s capital. Saraki in a statement released this afternoon, says he is elated by the ruling. Read the statement below At the end of a tortuous journey of 1018 Days counting from September 22, 2015 when the case began at the Tribunal, I am happy that I have been vindicated. The Supreme Court has affirmed that there is no evidence of false declaration of assets. The court also observed that certain agents took over the responsibility of the Code of Conduct Bureau in this trial, and one can infer that this was done towards a pre-determined end. This outcome has gladdened my heart and further strengthened my belief in this country and as well as my faith in Almighty All...

Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday, July 5, 2018, refused a bail application filed by Fred Ajudua, a serial fraud suspect. Ajudua is facing trial alongside one Joseph Ochunor on a 12-count charge bordering on fraud and conspiracy. The defendants were alleged to have defrauded one Ziad Abu Zalaf of Technical International Limited in Germany of a sum of $550, 000 in 1993. At the last adjourned sitting on June 13, 2018, counsel to Ajudua, Norrisson Quakkers, SAN, had urged the court to grant bail to his client on health grounds. "We filed a seven-paragraph affidavit dated June 12, where we stated the medical situation of the defendant,” Quakkers had said. However, counsel to the prosecution, Temitope Banjo, who stood in for the lead counsel, Seidu Atteh, had told the court that Ajudua's claim of ill health was no longer a valid reason for him to be granted bail. The prosecution had further describe...

Four Nigerian men are wanted by the South African Police force for drug trafficking. A statement  issued yesterday said the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation in North West is seeking public assistance in the search of the four Nigerian suspects, who were allegedly part of a transnational drug syndicate which operated around North West and Gauteng provinces respectively. The accused; Pedro Odoeman (45), Obi Kingsley Odoeman (42), Kennedy Duru (42), Clifford Okebaram (39), were arrested in 2009 following a Hawks and Crime Intelligence project driven investigation. The Johannesburg High Court has since issued warrants for their arrest. 

A three-year-old boy is the latest child to die in South Africa after drowning in a pit latrine. Little Omari Monono died in the outside toilet at his aunt's house in Limpopo province, the same region where five-year-old Michael Komape drowned in a school toilet in 2014. Police say the boy's aunt called for help when her own search failed. "His aunt took off his clothes and left him to relieve himself outside the toilet as usual. She was busy with her house chores when she noticed she had not seen the toddler for some time," police spokesperson Constable Maphure Manamela said. Earlier this year in the rural Eastern Cape province, a five-year-old girl drowned in a pit latrine. Lumka Mkhethwa went missing without a trace from Luna Primary School in March. A pack of sniffer dogs found her body at the bottom of a dark, faeces-filled toilet. After Lumka's death, President Cyril Ramaphosa called for pit latrines to be eradicated from South Af...

A woman was lucky to escape alive from a ritualist den after the chief priest rejected her, and she has narrated how she watched others get killed after they all boarded a bus together only to find themselves in a forest later. The woman boarded the bus last Friday in Benin, Edo state, with other passengers, but they were taken to a forest at upper Ekhehuan for ritual purposes. She told of how she watched them slaughter the only other female passenger who boarded the bus with them. Next, they slaughtered two male passengers. When it got to her turn, the chief priest rejected her and she was thrown out of the forest naked. She was eventually rescued by passers-by. Read the story below.

Justice M.S Shuaibu of Federal High Court, Kaduna has convicted and sentenced one Abdulkarim Usman to 3years imprisonment for Conspiracy and Obtaining Money Under False Pretence to the tune of N 5, 100,00 ( Five Million, One Hundred Thousand Naira). Usman's sojourn to prison began when a petition was received by the Kaduna office having fraudulently posed to have secured a contract with the Nigeria Communication Commission, NCC, to supply engine oil. He told the unsuspecting complainant that he needed money to commence the said contract which they released into his bank accounts after having discussed with them, he however vanished upon receipt of the monies. Justice Shuaibu added that the 3 years imprisonment is to run on each three counts consecutively and another three years if the convict fails to pay restitution to the victims in the sum of N 5,100,000 and another N 2, 000,000 which he fraudulently obtained respectively. Usman was first arraigned ...

Former Pakistan Prime minister, Nawaz Sharif has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for corruption, while his daughter Maryam Sharif has been given seven years. The verdict was delivered by an accountability court in Pakistan in one of the four cases of corruption against Nawaz Sharif - the Avenfield corruption case, which is related to the ownership of four flats in the posh Avenfield House in London. "Nawaz Sharif has been awarded 10 years imprisonment" over the purchase of high-end properties in London, defence lawyer Mohammad Aurangzeb told news agency AFP. Prosecution lawyer Sardar Muzaffar Abbas also said that the court had ordered the properties be confiscated. Both Nawaz Sharif and Maryam are in London, attending to the former PM's wife, Kulsoom Nawaz, who was diagnosed with throat cancer last year and shifted to the UK for treatment. Since then, Maryam and Nawaz Sharif have made several trips back and forth from London to attend the...

A 10-year-old girl, Udeme Usen Etukudoh, may have been scarred for life after her mother burnt her face with electric iron for allegedly stealing N200. The incident happened yesterday in Ikot Ekang Itam, Uruan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Read report by an NGO, Child's Right and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN). Early Thursday, I met ten-year-old Udeme Usen Etukudoh, an indigene of Ikot Ekang Itam, being treated for burns and a deep cut on her face at a small pharmacy along Calabar/Itu Road. Upon inquiry, I learned that Udeme was severely abused by her own mother for "stealing N200", the sum which is less than a dollar. Udeme, a Primary 5 pupil of RCM School, near Itam Police Divisional Headquarters, said her mother, because of the missing N200, pushed the plug of an electric iron into an electrical socket and further applied the extremely hot device on parts of her body. The burnings later disfigured her face. Not satisfied with the...

A mother of two shot a man in the head on the evening of Fourth of July when he tried to steal her SUV with her two children inside, Dallas police confirmed. Michelle Booker-Hicks of Duncanville was at a local gas station when an employee alerted her that a man, later identified as 36-year-old Ricky Wright, was starting to drive away with her car that had her 2-year-old and 4-year-old sons in the back seat. Desperate to save her kids, Michelle got into her car, grabbed a gun from the glove box and shot Wright in the face after he refused to stop. Authorities said Michelle's car crashed into a telephone pole and Wright was taken to the hospital with unknown injuries. He is in serious but stable condition, according to police who also said an investigation is ongoing. Fortunately, the children were not hurt in the incident. Narrating, Michelle said: I proceeded to jump in my backseat and told the gentleman to stop, to get out the car. He wo...

Three persons were killed in attacks by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Tiza Village, Tormbo ward, Logo Local Government Area of Benue State on Thursday. It was gathered that the attackers invaded the village and laid ambushed for the farmers who were on their way to their farms around 8:30a.m., opening fire on them and killing three instantly, while several others sustained various degrees of injuries. A community leader and former aide to former Governor Gabriel Suswam, Chief Joseph Anawah, said the armed herdsmen came in their numbers wielding sophisticated weapons and blocked farm paths, shooting anything on sight. "The Fulani herders’ terrorism has continued to wipe out Benue farmers especially in Logo and Guma Local Government Areas.” He said the herders had shot and killed three persons at Tse Tyogbihi, Tombo ward in Logo LGA near Anyiin on their way to the farm. Confirming the incident, the Chairman of Logo Local Government A...