Mother of five arrested over death of lover

A 48-year-old mother of five, Mrs. Ebere Dike, has been arrested in connection with the death of one of her lovers, Mr. Otti-Oriekpa Mike, at her apartment in Morogbo area of Ikorodu, Lagos State.

Tragedy struck after the deceased, a businessman, stumbled on the woman with another man, identified simply as Samuel, in the apartment he rented for her. An argument between Mike and his woman friend ensued, during which he was said to have angrily left the apartment.

Confusion however sets in moments later, following the discovery of his lifeless body by the side of his vehicle, which was parked downstairs.
Policemen at Morogbo who were contacted, subsequently arrested the mother of five, from where she was transferred to the Homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau, (SCIID), Yaba.

A relative of the deceased, who gave his name simply as Imokwe, said: “My late brother was not living with her.

They only had a baby girl together aside the five children she had for her former husband.

On that fateful day, he visited her without prior notice, only to find another man with her.”
 
However, during interrogation, the suspect denied being engaged in physical combat with the deceased.

Rather, she explained that he slumped while arguing with his rival.

According to her, “he accused me of cheating on him when he saw Samuel, my business partner with me. He became angry and left the house. When he got downstairs, he ignited his vehicle but it did not start.
 
“Samuel also became angry with me and charged out of the room. On getting downstairs, he met Mike still battling to fix the car.

They started quarreling and in the process, Mike slumped on the spot. Nobody fought with him”.
 
The Guardian gathered that in her earlier statement at Morogbo division, she did not mention Samuel’s name, until she got to the SCIID.

As at the time of writing this report, Samuel’s whereabouts was unknown. His phone was also switched off.

To further complicate the issue, the suspect claimed she did not know where Samuel lives.

There were also no marks of violence on the body. The case was yesterday sent to the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) for advice.

Meanwhile, a 25-year old woman, Uchenna Onyeama, was allegedly shot dead by her boyfriend in Oranto village, Ukpo in Dunukofia local government area of Anambra State yesterday.

A witness, who spoke to newsmen on condition of anonymity, said the suspect, Chika Modili, and his accomplice quickly locked the room and fled the area at about 6:30p.m. before the arrival of the police.

He also said the deceased, Uchenna Onyeama, a native of Orofia village, Abagana, was reportedly shot dead with a pistol inside the room of a friend to the suspect, identified as Nonso Nwabueze.

According to him, the police broke through the door before gaining entrance to the room and later retrieved the body of the deceased. However, the reason behind the act could not be ascertained before filing in the report.

Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Haruna Mohammed, said the suspects escaped to an unknown destination after committing the murder.

In another development, a 42-year-old man, Adewale Adegoroye, who killed his boss, Akin Akinmulero, for owing him 10 months salaries in Ondo town, has been nabbed by the police.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Femi Joseph, paraded him alongside other suspects that were arrested for armed robbery, burglary and murder cases.

Joseph said the command got the information that the deceased, a sexagenarian and manager of Ondo Multi-purpose Cooperative Union, was stabbed to death on Tuesday by one of his staff, Adegoroye.

He added that the suspect attacked the deceased by stabbing him with a knife and snatched the sum of N700,000 from the victim.

“As a result of the attack, the victim sustained injury. He was rushed to State Specialist Hospital Ondo but gave up the ghost.

The suspect was apprehended by the members of the public and handed over to the police,” he said.

Meanwhile, drama ensued when Adegoroye was brought out by the police and he protested hilariously that he should not be arraigned among other suspects who were charged with armed robbery and murder cases.

“My case is different, I am not among them; I only had a minor case with my boss: I fought my boss. I am not a thief like these ones. Please don’t put me among them,” he said.

But when the news was re-laid to him that his boss had died, he broke down in tears and said he didn’t intend to kill him.

He narrated that the deceased employed him as his assistant and store keeper in his cocoa warehouse last year September but refused to pay him salary since then though he always saw money in the possession of the deceased.

He said: “I was very hungry and went to his house to demand for my money, but he said there was no money.

His wife pleaded with me and offered me N500 to buy food and eat but I refused.

I told her that it was my money I wanted because I saw money in his hand. I entered his room and we started dragging it; I picked cutlass that we use to harvest cocoa and stabbed him.

I saw the N200,000 on the table and ran away with it. I didn’t know he was dead,” he said.

Meanwhile, a father of two, Mr. Joe Blankson, aged 36, from Bakana community in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State, died at the weekend after rescuing fellow victims of a boat accident on Saturday.

According to a source, who does not want to be mentioned, Blankson despite not using life jacket, went on searching and saving other victims and after about 13 persons were rescued, he died in the process of saving the 14th person.

It was learnt that Blankson had good knowledge of sea diving having grown up in the riverine area.

Until his death, he was a contractor with some oil and gas companies in Trans Amadi area of Port Harcourt where he supplied diesel.

A visit to his residence in Port Harcourt showed that his family was totally devastated about his sudden demise, especially his young wife, who was mute through the visit. She could not say a word to the reporter.

His mother was seen muttering words to herself her while his two kids, a boy and a girl were playing around.

One of the survivors who does not want his name mentioned in print said the boat driver was on high speed at a bend in Iboroma, when the incident occurred.

Also, it was gathered that the waterways was very dirty to a level that any object can capsize a boat if it finds its way into the propeller were floating around.
The spokesman of the state police command, Nnamdi Omoni, confirmed the incident, saying Blankson died after rescuing 13 passengers.

The lawmaker representing Degema Constituency in the Rivers State House of Assembly, Farah Dagogo, has condoled with the families of those who lost loved ones in Saturday’s ill-fated boat mishap in Bakana Community.

In a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Ibrahim Lawal, Dagogo expressed ‘deep sadness’ over the unfortunate incident, which he termed a huge tragedy.

In Lagos, a human rights group, the Know Your Right Initiative, has called on the Inspector-General of Police and Commissioner of Police in Lagos to remove the Divisional Police Officer of Isheri-Oshun, Ijegun, Lagos and Area “M” Assistant Commissioner of Police, Akika for what the group termed unprofessional and unethical conduct of apprehending innocent citizens on trumped-up charges, which according to the group contravenes Section 340 and 341 of Police Regulation Act.

This is following an alleged extra-judicial killing of Mr. Jude Okoronta by the Divisional Police Officer at Isheri.

The group maintained that the killing of Jude provoked his friends who went on rampage to avenge the extra judicial killing of their friend.

When contacted, ACP Asika said that Divisional Headquarters in Isheri brought the case to him, and as matter of urgency he sent his men to the hotel to restore law and order when ‘hoodlums’ vandalize the hotel and made away with property worth millions and even attempted to set ablaze the hotel.

The next morning, some of the boys were seen around the hotel. They where arrested and charged to court.

When asked about bailing some with huge sums of money, ACP Akika said it is false.

“Nobody was released on bail. You know when such a thing happens you arrest everybody at the scene and the case was transferred to my command.”