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A man, Taofik Adara, arrested in Badagry on Sunday with female body parts, yesterday said he was paid N4000 by a herbalist to kill the woman. Adara, alias Kie-Kie, was paraded at the Lagos State Police Command Headquarters, Ikeja. He said he chopped off the woman’s head with a cutlass, while two alfas (Islamic clerics) and a herbalist held her hands. The victim, he added, had been hypnotised by a native doctor before he killed her. Adara, 61, said the cutlass used was given to him by the herbalist who hired him. He said the woman, whose identity was still unknown, was brought to him from Sango Ota, Ogun State by the two alfas who needed fresh human parts to prepare a concoction for their client. Adara said: “I live at Itoga-Zeba area of Badagry. I am a woodcutter by profession and at times I assist owners of coconut plantation to help pluck coconut. “The whole drama started on Saturday evening when one of my herbalist friends known as Manase came to me to say that he wa...

An expectant mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Orefuwa, was the centre of attraction at the 21st convocation of the Lagos State University (LASU) yesterday. She is the best graduating student with a Cumulative Grade Point Average of 4.74 in Accounting Education. Besides Shobowale Olumide Adekunle, the best graduating student in the Faculty of Engineering, others were women. Lawal Amidat Abiola topped the Faculty of Law; Oshikomaya Christy Kemi led the School of Transport. Oduntan Saidat Abimbola and Bello Adebola Oluwadamilola topped the School of Communications and College of Medicine. Herietta Ugwoma led the Faculty of Social Sciences; Oyerinde Faith Temilola shone at the Faculty of Science. The Vice Chancellor, Prof Lanre Adigun Fagbohun, said there were 36,481 graduating students. Delivering her convocation speech, Orefuwa recalled how she sat for JAMB six times before she secured admission in 2012. Orefuwa, who is also a chartered accountant, said but for her father’s insis...

Plateau State Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development Samuel Galadima has  slumped and died during an early morning exercise at Rwang Pam Township Stadium, Jos. Governor Simon Lalong mandated his exco to hold such exercises every fortnight, to ensure members remained active, fit and healthy for governance. He allegedly made the exercise compulsory for his commissioners. The late Galadima allegedly slumped in the middle of the exercise and went into coma; he was rushed to Plateau Specialist Hospital but died as doctors battled to revive him. Secretary to the State Government Rufus Bature, who confirmed the death in a statement yesterday, described it as a huge loss. The statement reads: “Governor Simon Lalong, on behalf of the government and people of Plateau State, announce the sudden death of Samuel Galadima, Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development, who died this morning (yesterday). He was 64. “The late Galadima was part of the state executive council ...

ABA—A policeman, identified as Ibe Uchenna, has been arrested by the Abia State Police Command for allegedly killing a man in Aba. Uchenna, who is attached to the Central Police Station, Aba, was said to have shot the victim identified as Chinedu Peters, while on routine patrol with his team in front of Christ the King Cathedral Catholic Church, CKC, along Asa Road, Aba. Nigerian Police Vanguard gathered that a police team had accosted Peter and other passengers in a bus at the CKC area and ordered them to come out of their car and lie down. The victim obeyed, but later protested when another passenger in the bus was released by the police team. It was gathered that the deceased urged the police to release other passengers too, but in the ensuing argument, Ibe reportedly shot the victim. A family source told Vanguard that the police team later dumped the body in a secret location, unaware that the girlfriend was monitoring their movement. When the matter was reported at the Aba Central...

JALONGO—AGGRIEVED primary pupils and their teachers yesterday shut down Jalingo, Taraba State capital, barricading major streets and the gate of Taraba State Government House, over unpaid teachers’ salaries and other benefits. The pupils at the government house The protesting pupils gave the government 24 hours  to pay their teachers or they would shut the government house. The pupils who trooped into the streets  very early in the morning, from different locations, barricaded major roads, including Hamarua road, the main road that leads into the town and Donga Road Round About hindering motorists from accessing Taraba State government secretariats. They equally blocked Jalingo Bye Pass preventing students from going to the state University and converged at the gate of the Taraba State Government House. The protesters were led by a human rights activist, Bello Mustapha, who said the pupils were demanding that the primary school teachers in the state were paid immediately. M...

Four people, including an armed police officer and a man believed to be the attacker, died yesterday in a terrorist incident near the United Kingdom’s (UK’s) Houses of Parliament, Scotland Yard confirmed last night. One of the victims was among several pedestrians hit by a car on Westminster Bridge, before it crashed. An officer protecting the Parliament was stabbed by an attacker, who was shot by the police. At least 20 people were injured, including three other officers. Acting Deputy Commissioner and head of counter terrorism at the Metropolitan Police, Mark Rowley, said a major terrorist investigation was under way. He said the attack started shortly before 15:00 GMT when the four-wheel vehicle was driven over Westminster Bridge, hitting and injuring a number of members of the public and the three police officers, who were on their way back from a commendation ceremony. Mr. Rowley said after the car crashed an ‘Asian’ knifeman “continued the attack and tried to en...

Senators yesterday told Customs chief Col. Hameed Ali to resign. The upper chamber declared the Customs Comptroller-General unfit to hold public office. The lawmakers resolved to ask Col. Ali to immediately throw in the towel in the interest of good governance and rule of law. The Senate also came down hard on the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, for allegedly advising Col. Ali to shun its invitation. The resolutions were made after about one hour 30 minutes closed session where issues concerning Col. Ali’s appearance in uniform were discussed. It was a charged session where senators took turns to criticise Col. Ali for not honouring the Senate’s invitation. The lawmakers concluded that Col. Ali deliberately refused to honour the invitation to appear at the Senate using an “orchestrated pending suit as a cover”. Briefing by the Comptroller General of Customs and Excise in line with Senate resolution was listed in ...

Germany will be without Mesut Ozil, Julian Draxler and Mario Gomez for Wednesday’s friendly match with England, Joachim Low has confirmed. Arsenal star Ozil has failed to recover from the hamstring problem that kept him out of the Gunners’ last Premier League match against West Brom. Paris Saint-Germain attacking midfielder Draxler and Wolfsburg striker Gomez will also sit out the match with minor injuries. Head coach Low, who has already seen Manuel Neuer return to Bayern Munich for treatment on a calf problem, would not say whether the attacking trio will be available for Sunday’s World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan. “Neuer is injured, Ozil has muscular problems, Draxler has a slight muscular problem. Gomez also has a slight injury,” he told a news conference. “They won’t play.” Germany surrendered a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 to England when they last met in a pre-Euro 2016 friendly in Berlin last March. Low believes England are going through a transiti...

Academic activities have resumed at public and private schools in Ile-Ife, two weeks after a deadly clash between indigenes and Hausa-Fulani people. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Osun government had declared a two-week curfew after the clashes which had reportedly, claimed many lives. The curfew led to the closure of schools and restriction of movement in the ancient town. The clashes started at Sabo in the Ife heartland on March 8, leaving a throw of blood and sorrow in the ancient city. Source said the trouble started over a misunderstanding between an Ile-Ife indigene and a man described as Hausa-Fulani, residing in the town. Mrs. Titilayo Osotimehin, the Coordinating Director of the Osun-East Education District Office at Ile-Ife, commended the State Government for shutting down schools during the crisis. She appealed to students, especially those in public schools to keep calm and to desist from roaming the streets. “I want to urge all our stud...

The European Union’s 27 leaders will meet on April 29 to agree their negotiating lines for Brexit talks after London sends in a formal notification that it wants to leave the bloc, the chairman of the summit, Donald Tusk, said on Tuesday. The meeting is a necessary step before the negotiations between Britain and the 27 remaining EU states can start formally. London said on Monday it would send in its exit notification on March 29. “In view of what was announced in London yesterday, I’d like to inform you that I will call a European Council on Saturday,  April 29, to adopt the guidelines for the Brexit talks,” Tusk told reporters. “You know I personally wish the UK hadn’t chosen to leave the EU, but the majority of British voters decided otherwise. Therefore we must do everything we can to make the process of divorce the least painful for the EU.” The unprecedented talks are due to run for two years, though many diplomats and officials admit it would probably t...

Leicester striker Jamie Vardy has said that he received death threats after last month’s sacking of manager Claudio Ranieri. The England forward said he had been targeted after rumours he had played a part in the Italian losing his job, nine months after leading them to their first ever English title. Vardy denied any involvement in the decision to sack Ranieri but said the threats had been real and added that his wife had been subjected to road rage. “The story is out there, then people pick it up and jump on it and you’re getting death threats about your family, kids, everything,” Vardy told British newspaper reporters on Monday. James Vardy “I try to get on with it but when people are trying to cut your missus up while she’s driving along with the kids in the back of the car, it’s not the best. It’s happened plenty of times. It is terrifying.” Some of the threats had even been made in person on the street, Vardy said, as well as on social media.  The striker also said repo...

Gov. Seriake Dickson, the Chairman of the PDP Reconciliation Committee,  has called on the Sen. Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee  to step down in the interest of  the party. The Bayelsa governor made the call while speaking with newsmen on Sunday in Abuja.  Dickson said the stage was now set for all the chieftains and elders of the party to  impress it on the caretaker committee to cede its authority to the Modu Sheriff-led  leadership. “When the idea of making Sheriff the National Chairman of our party was hatched, I personally kicked against it. “ I also turned down all the overtures from Sheriff because I did not believe in him and what he did. “So now, my position is that we have to move forward. I am a politician of conviction, I am not a politician of convenience and I am not a typical Nigerian politician,’’ Dickson said. Gov Dickson He said the party had come to a threshold when the right political decision should be taken to end the prol...

THE Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, said the Treasury Single Account alone has successfully transformed governance and eradicated ghost workers which had militated against socio-economic development of the country. Besides, he said the policy has promoted efficiency and accountability. He said this at a lecture organised by the University of Ibadan school of business. Other benefits of TSA, which he said, was developed by a local company, was transformation of government spending and plugging financial leakages. The minister also said, at the lecture entitled, “Maximizing the Potentials of the Telecommunications Industry for Reversing Recession and the Economic Growth of Nigeria,” that the current administration was working relentlessly at achieving increased ICT penetration in both mobile telephony and broadband services to all the nooks and crannies of the country.” Shittu added that ICT “would automatically affect the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), improve th...

The Borno Police Command on Sunday confirmed the death of four persons after an attempt by some suspected suicide bombers to infiltrate Maiduguri in Borno. Mr Victor Isuku, the spokesman of the command said in a statement in Maiduguri that three bombers had attempted to infiltrate Maiduguri at about 9.00 p.m. on Saturday. “At about 2100hrs of Saturday, three suicide bombers, a male and two female, attempted to infiltrate Maiduguri town through Umarari village in Molai general area. “They were sighted and challenged by civilian Joint Task Force (JTF) member, a government-approved militia group,’’ Isuku stated. He the bombers detonated the improvised explosive device strapped to their bodies while running in different directions and four persons died in the process. “Four people, including a civilian JTF, a woman and her two children died while eight others sustained injuries’’, Isuku said. The Boko Haram insurgency has killed more than 15,000 people since 2009 and forced ...

The Naira is set to appreciate further in the week as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) plans to inject more Foreign Exchange (Forex) into the market to meet the requests of genuine customers. The spokesman of CBN, Mr Isaac Okorafor, gave the assurance in a statement on Sunday in Lagos. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the apex bank had so far kept to its promise of continuing to supply enough forex to guarantee liquidity in the market. The statement said the bank was committed to ensuring that authorised dealers got sufficient supply to meet the demands of authentic customers of banks. It disclosed that the bank had since February offered over one billion dollars to the interbank market. The bank expressed optimism that stability had been restored to the forex market. According to the statement, individuals can easily access forex to address personal and business allowances. NAN reports that a summary of the CBN intervention in the interbank market over t...

The Police in Lagos have arrested a man for allegedly parading himself as a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP). Lagos State Police spokesman, ASP Olarinde Famous-Cole, who confirmed the arrest, said the suspect was arrested on Thursday for terrorising the public in a CSP uniform in Surulere area. “At about 4pm on March 16, the command operatives attached to Area ‘C’ Command, Surulere, arrested the suspect following reliable information. “The suspect over the years has been parading himself as a police officer and extorting money and other valuables from unsuspecting public. “The suspect was intercepted under the National Stadium Bridge, Surulere where he was about to resume his criminal activities. “On sighting the patrol team, the suspect took to his heels, but was given a hot chase that resulted to his arrest at Shitta Area of Surulere. “A walkie-talkie, a Lagos State Ministry of Transportation identity card bearing the name, Olayiwola Animashaun and his passport p...