17042019 - 9th NASS: Fresh crisis looms in APC over leadership slots

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2019—7
3 policemen, 4 others sentenced
to death for kidnapping in A-Ibom
By Chioma Onuegbu
UYO—THREE policemen and
four others were, yesterday,
sentenced to death by an Akwa Ibom
State High Court sitting in Uyo for
kidnapping one Deaconess Ime
Anietie Ekanem
Those sentenced included Cpl
Emmanuel Charlie, Cpl Bassey
Sunday, PC Mfon Bassey, Ekaette
Edet Moses, Fidelis Emmanson
Jeremiah, Ndu Okon Johnny and
Unyime Edem Etukakpan
The court presided by Justice Joy
Unwana convicted the culprits on a
three-count charge of conspiracy to
commit felony, kidnapping, aiding
and sponsoring of kidnapping.
In a confessional statement by the
8th accused person, Mrs Itohowo
Akpakwa, which was admitted as
an exhibit, she confessed to visiting
her friend in a bar at Idakeyop Aka
where she gave the 7th accused
person, Unyime Edem Etukakpan
money to buy medicine for his ill
health.
While Mrs Akpakwa denied
knowledge of the plot to kidnap her
friend and neighbour, Deaconess
Ekanem, no fewer than three other
members of the kidnap gang told
the court that they did not know her
name at the time she visited during
the final meeting at Aka.
They insisted that she was the
one who identified her friend and
gave direction to her residence in
Obio Etoi village, Uyo Local
Government Area.
How she was
kidnapped
It was gathered that the
kidnapped victim was dragged out
of a Toyota Sienna car driven by
her husband in front of her house
at about 6.30 pm that fateful day and
transferred to a Volvo Wagon car
used by the hoodlums.
She was taken to an isolated
building at Afaha Udoeyop in
Ibesikpo Asutan LGA and N20
million demanded before she
would be released by her
abductors.
The kidnappers after
negotiation with the husband
later agreed to collect N1.8 million
to be paid in two instalments.
It was learned that plainclothed
operatives of the State
CID, investigating the kidnap
case, were, however, shocked to
discover that the first two persons
who approached the Afaha
Ibesikpo market square, venue
for the delivery of the ransom
were their colleagues at the state
CID.
It was further gathered that it
was when a member of the gang,
who at the time of sharing the money
was in Uyo Prison on a different
criminal matter, returned home to
discover that he had been shortchanged
that trouble started among
the gang.
He then disclosed the plot and how
it was carried out to the police, and
later became the star witness for the
state.
However, the 8th accused, Mrs
Itohowo Akpakwa, a staff of the
University of Uyo, was earlier granted
bail.
Her lawyer, Samuel Ikpo, had
insisted that there was no reason his
client should languish in prison
when there was no direct evidence
linking her to the commission of the
crime and was accordingly
discharged and acquitted.
7 die, 12 children, others injured
in Kwara auto crash
By Demola
Akinyemi
ILORIN—NO fewer than
seven persons were,
yesterday morning, confirmed
dead in a motor accident at Osi
bridge on old Ilorin-Jebba-
Mokwa road, along Abado in
Ilorin East Local Government
Area of Kwara State.
Vanguard reliably gathered
that the victims included three
males and four females, while
the injured were 34 adult
females and 24 adult males.
Among the injured were 12
children, including six boys and
six girls.
The Federal Road Safety
Commission, FRSC, Sector
Commander, Kwara State,
Uchechukwu Wihioka, while
confirming the incident, said the
crash involving Toyota Dyna
with number plate FA 655 NAS
and Toyota Hiace with number plate
LSD 919 SR, was caused by
dangerous driving and wrong
overtaking.
The FRSC boss, who said: ”The
driver could no longer control the
vehicle after finding himself in the
dangerous condition, and,
therefore, flung his passengers in
different directions on the road. “
He, however, said the rescue
team, comprising FRSC officials
and policemen, came to the scene
on time to render necessary
assistance.
Wihioka cautioned commercial
drivers among other road users to
always drive with caution and
charged passengers to drive along
with commercial drivers, so that
they could caution them when
driving recklessly.
He said the passengers have the
right to do that, adding that lives
would be saved when everyone was
involved in road safety.
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The Comptroller of Customs, Oyo/Osun Area Command of Nigerian Customs Service,
Abdullahi Zulkiflu, displaying some of the goods seized by his men.
Train crushes two in Kano
By Abdulmumin
Murtala
KANO—TWO
people
sleeping on a rail-track
allegedly abandoned for long
were, yesterday, crushed to
death by a moving train
behind Kano Club in
Nasarawa Local Government
Area of Kano State
Though the ages and
gender of the victims have not
been confirmed, it was
gathered that one of the
victims was cut into halves
by the train.
Confirming the incident,
Kano State Police
Command‘s Police Public
Relations Officer, DSP.
Abdullahi Haruna, said on
April 16, at about 8 a.m, the
police received a report
that two yet-to-be-identified
persons, who were
stretched out on the railway
track, had been crushed to
death by a moving train behind
Kano Club in Nasarawa Local
Government Area of the state.
According to him, when the
police visited the scene, it was
discovered that one of the
victims had been cut into half
by the moving train.
He said the corpses had been
evacuated to a hospital, whose
name he did not disclose.
The PPRO called on the
public to steer clear of railway
tracks to forestall unnecessary
accidents, adding that sitting
beside the railroad could be
very dangerous.
A word is enough for the wise