On Monday, a 37-year-old bar operator who was identified as Lucky Esonahae was arraigned on one count bordering on causing bodily harm by setting his pregnant lover on fire.

The prosecuting officer, Sergeant Ganiyu Yahya, told the court that the incident took place  at Uwelu Quartres in Benin, and was reported by the victim, Stella Isaac, on July 6, the same day it occurred.

 

Yahya said Esonahae poured kerosene on Stella, who was said to be 7 months pregnant, lit a match and set her on fire.

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He said that the victim was later rescued by one of her sons and her neighbours, who forced the door of her room open, as she had been locked in.

He said the victim, who was later rushed to the Central Hospital, where she received treatment sustained burns on her hands and forehead.

The police prosecutor also told the court that Esonahae had earlier accused the pregnant woman of infidelity for allegedly returning at about 6pm from her ante-natal care and had threatened to kill her, before she ran to her sister’s residence.

 

The charge read:

“That you, Lucky Esonahae, on July 6, 2015, at Uwelu Quartres, Benin, in the Egor Magisterial District, did cause grievous harm to one Stella Isaac, by setting her on fire with kerosene, which cause her bodily harm and, thereby, committed an offence punishable under Section 355(B) of the Criminal Code Cap 48, Vol. II, Law of the defunct Bendel State of Nigeria, 1976, as applicable to Edo State.”

The accused pleaded guilty to the offence and begged for leniency.

 

But the presiding magistrate, Igho Braimoh, said the court would not be lenient, adding, “for a 37-year-old man to set a lover on fire leaves much to be desired.”

 

She, therefore, sentenced him to 5 years in prison with hard labour.

 

 

Punch

Senate Minority Leader and former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, escaped death in Abuja on Monday morning after his car got involved in an accident along the busy Airport Road.

The accident occurred near the Bolingo Junction close to the Ship House in Abuja. A witness disclosed that Mr. Akpabio was moving in a convoy of vehicles towards the City Gate when his vehicle ran into another car.

“My wife and I were coming from the NNPC Mega Station and we stopped at the traffic light by Bolingo Hotel Junction. When the green light showed and we made to move, there was this siren-blaring Mercedes Benz jeep that came from the town and almost crashed onto my car. I don’t know how we dodged but another that was behind the jeep hit the car behind me and tumbled on its side.

“I and my wife rushed out of our vehicle and helped the driver bring out his boss. When we brought him out, we found that it was former governor Godswill Akpabio.

“At the time we brought him out, the siren was still blaring. We put him in the other vehicle and he was rushed to the National Hospital,” the eyewitness told Premium Times.

He said Mr. Akpabio was badly shaken and was in a traumatic condition when he was brought out of the crashed vehicle. He said the former governor was apparently rushing out of the city when his convoy beat the traffic and crashed.

Akpabio was still at the National Hospital in Abuja as at the time of posting.

Nigeria’s first IVF baby, Hannatu Kupchi has gotten admission into a Hungarian university to study medicine. Hannatu, who was born at Nisa Premier Hospital in Abuja on February 11 1998, says she wants to pursue a degree in medicine so she can also help married couple have their own children.

Hannatu's parents waited 13 years for a child before going the IVF route.

"God has a big hand in this. God was behind me. I want God to use me get more children. I am hoping that through me God will make people see the value of having children. I will specialize in genealogy and obstetrics. I barely made it beyond the cut off mark. God helped me. I am going to try my best and make everyone proud. I am studying medicine because I want to be a doctor. I want to study it because I want God to use me to help families who suffered what my parents went through,” she said

A man and a young boy were pulled out alive from a large pile of rubble following a barrel bomb attack in Syria yesterday August 30th. More photos after the cut...

Mother of two, Hassana Usman was one of the seven persons who lost their lives in yesterday's air-force helicopter crash. Her friends says she was free spirited and the most amazing human being anyone will meet. RIP, Hassana.

The body of a man identified as Christian Isha from Ndubia village, Igbeagu Community in Izzi local government area of Ebonyi State, who was kidnapped a week ago by unknown gunmen, was found with his private part mutilated and face skinned in a swamp in Igbeagbu community in Ebonyi state yesterday August 29th.

According to reports, Christian who is said to be in his 40s had gone out to buy some things for his family when he was whisked away inside a hilux bus and taken to an unknown destination.



A relative of the deceased who spoke on how he was found said

‘One of us went to his farm. While in the farm, he said he perceived bad odour and that the odour was so offensive that no one could stand it. So, when the man was searching for the source of the odour, he saw the dead body of our brother who have been missing for the past one week,” he said

Widow of the deceased, Isha Ada described her husband as a peaceful man and wondered why he was killed in such a manner.

‘I never believed my husband could be killed in this manner because he doesn’t look for anyone’s trouble. And those who killed him will never know peace in life. He was good to me, caring and tolerant. Today I have lost a companion, a loving man and a true husband,” she said

The Ebonyi police command has launched a full scaled investigation into the matter.

There are indications that President Muhammadu Buhari and his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan may be set for another clash regarding the recovery of stolen funds from the nation’s coffers.

The reason for this may not be unconnected with what a source described as “the seemingly uncooperative disposition of some of those who are believed have siphoned funds from government coffers”.

The source added: “While some of those believed to have been involved have had their accounts frozen, some have lawfully been interrogated while confessions are being extracted. There are enough grounds to believe that the nature of discourse in the political sphere is creating an air of audacity such that the recovery of looted funds is not going at an encouraging pace in the face of overwhelming evidence.”

Vanguard has been able to establish, through individuals saddled with the responsibility of ascertaining and verifying some expenditure activities, that there were some contracts merely awarded on paper and for which payments were quickly made without corresponding jobs to show for the contracts.

It was learnt that high levels of fraud were discovered in the Ministry of Petroleum, Works, Nigerian Maritime and Safety Authority, NIMASA and in the procurement of arms and ammunitions for the prosecution of the war against Boko Haram, just to mention a few.

Indeed, members of some of the committees that Buhari has set up to ascertain the level of loss to the nation pointed out that the scale of the stealing of public funds, especially in the last days of the Jonathan administration, was so monumental that those asking for a soft-landing for the former president and his aides would be flabbergasted when confronted with the scale of looting that took place.

Karlyn Serane Ramirez, 24, a female soldier stationed at Fort Mead was shot dead in her home in Maryland this week. She was discovered around 8 a.m. on Tuesday, August 25 by police responding to reports of a stray dog entering the unlocked Severn house, about 15 miles south of Baltimore, Anne Arundel. Her 5 months old daughter was found unharmed next to her and appeared to be in good health but was transported to the hospital as a precaution.


The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s autopsy revealed the cause of death was gunshot wounds. Police said they are still investigating a motive. They have conducted several interviews with the deceased's husband who wasn't home when she was found dead.

The Nigerian Air Force on Saturday said all passengers and crew on board the Dornier-228 aircraft were killed in the crash that occurred Saturday morning.

NAF spokesperson, Dele Alonge, told PZB Team that while the number of passengers and pilot on board are yet to be ascertained, there were no survivors.

Mr. Alonge in a statement said the aircraft, with call sign NAF030, crashed into a house at Ribadu Cantonment, Kaduna.

“Though no casualty was recorded on ground, there were no survivors among the passengers onboard the aircraft,” Mr. Alonge, an air commodore, said.

He said the aircraft was Abuja bound and had taken off at about 6:45am from the Kaduna Military Airfield before the mishap.

“Bodies of the passengers have been recovered and fire fighters are already at the crash site to curtail fire from spreading to other buildings within the vicinity,” the spokesperson said.

Also, the Chief of the Air Staff, Sadique Abubakar, an air marshal has aborted his official trip to Port Harcourt, Mr. Alonge said in the statement.

Mr. Abubakar is now set to visit the site of the crash and families of the deceased personnel in company of the Air Officer Commanding, Training Command, Alikali Mamu, an air vice marshal.

In addition, Mr. Abubakar has set up an investigation panel headed by an Air Vice Marshal to unravel the cause of the accident with immediate effect.