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There won’t be coverup, police assures over death of lady who died in Anambra hotel

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The family of Miss Chinyere Awuda, 27, who was found dead inside an abandoned swimming pool at a Hotel in Awka on July 16, has continued to claim that their daughter was a victim of conspiracy and intentional murder, rather than a thief, who drowned in a pool while trying to escape.

The news of the young girl, who was said to have gone clubbing on July 16 but was found dead in an abandoned swimming pool in the Hotel premises the next morning, has remained in the public domain, since it broke a fortnight ago, with the family in their petition through their lawyer, Eziafa Enwedo, maintaining that she was murdered by her killers without resistance by the hotel management.

The petition was titled Call for Thorough Investigation of Conspiracy, Murder With Intent to Commit Rituals; Accessory After the Fact to Murder Miss Chinyere Awuda, Attempt to Compound Felony by Coaxing the Deceased Family into Accepting Settlement Before Conclusion of Investigation, named Chinemere Hope Gabriel (aka Bullion Van), Steven Junior (aka Exclusive), management of the hotel, and others at large, as the main suspects.

Alleging that the deceased was gang-beaten to death by the suspects under the watch of bouncers and security of the nightclub and hotel, the family revealed it was under pressure to close the matter but insisted that the fact behind the death of their daughter should be investigated, made public and the culprits made to face the law.

The petition, said: “The deceased was said to have joined other girls to pick money in the club that was sprayed as music and dancing were going on, the tradition in the club and there was a rush during the process.

“The prime suspect singled out the deceased (not being one of his invitees) and began to beat her, which instigated the rest of his gang to join him in the beating. While the fracas was going on inside the clubhouse, the Manager of the club allegedly instructed the bouncers to stand down and not interfere, thereby stopping the security from rescuing the deceased.

“The deceased managed to escape from their grip inside the club but Gabriel allegedly assembled his gang, pursued the deceased to the abandoned swimming pool corner wherein they waylaid and trapped her. At some point, while the deceased was screaming as they were maiming and mutilating her, the prime suspect, Gabriel, knocked her off with what seemed like a metal that broke her forehead and silenced her.

“We further gathered that the manager instructed that the power generating set be put off, and the power supply to the entire hotel was suddenly put out, throwing the entire hotel into darkness,” it said.

The petitioners asked the hotel management to provide a comprehensive CCTV video of what happened both inside the club where the beating started and outside where the actual murder occurred.

The family described the footage in circulation as blurred and disjointed which left more questions unanswered.

“We refer to the authentic video clip from the CCTV (already collected by the police), showing details of the murder and the subsequent dumping of the deceased lifeless body into the abandoned swimming pool.

“We were reliably informed by an insider that there has been moves to change the initial confessional statements of the prime suspect, and others,” it said.

The family said It was insensitive to the plight of the bereaved and a mark of disrespect for the deceased that the Hotel was sealed and reopened to the public within 24 hours.

“We call on the Police to seal the crime scene, pending the outcome of investigation for the sake of public conscience and also arrest, detain and prosecute all other suspects, as shown by the CCTV clip already in the police custody,” it said.

Cosmila Hotel, where the murder happened, though claiming it regretted the sad incident, maintained its innocence, absolving itself of complicity, in a statement Stanley Akuneziri, the Awka Branch Manager, which denied any physical assault on the deceased and claimed that at no time was she beaten to death and her body dumped in the swimming pool.

Though acknowledging that Gabriel held a party where money was sprayed and the deceased was singled out and attacked by the party organisers, the statement added: “Contrary to what has been said, Chinyere was never beaten to death or dragged to the pool. We cannot for any reason hurt anybody or do things that are inimical to our goals and objectives.”

While commiserating with the family of the deceased, the hotel said it would act in public interest at all times and that it was open to a thorough investigation of the matter, adding that evidence from the CCTV footage of the incident, vindicated them.

“We do not condone any actions that may affect our customers or jeopardise the integrity we have suffered to build over the years. An Autopsy is being conducted and the result will be made public, anybody fingered in her death must surely face the full weight of the Law. May her soul rest in perfect peace.” Tochukwu Ikenga, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and spokesman of the command who confirmed the incident, assured that the matter would be fully investigated to get to the roots, stating that already four suspects had been arrested in relation to it.

Also confirming that an autopsy would be conducted on the deceased to determine the root cause of her death, he assured that the Police would investigate the case thoroughly while urging the parties and members of the public to remain calm.

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Imo massacre: Armoured vehicles procured for police used to rig elections – LP

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Labour Party, palpably in anguish at the slaughter of eight soldiers in Imo State on Tuesday by some rampaging gunmen, has raised questions over the whereabouts of the nine Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) Athan Achonu, it claimed its governorship candidate for the November 11 election, repaired and donated to the authorities in the state.

The party, all but called out the leadership of the Imo State Police Command, to whom they claimed the equipment were handed over, alleging that the last time they APCs were seen was during the last general elections, where they were used by members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the party in power in the state to snatch ballot boxes for candidates in the national and state assemblies.

The claim, was made when Nick Opara-Ndudu  and Nnaemeka Onyeka Obiareri , chieftains of the party appeared as guests on The Morning Show, a breakfast programme on Arise Television to sell the candidacy of Achonu, whom they said would never have allowed the type of insecurity in the state to endure under his watch.

Both men, who said that Achonu, whose highest political office so far, was his short stint in the Senate, where he served via the 2015 election before he was removed through the courts, remained the only solution not to the insecurity, in the state and even the South East,  but the one to rescue the people from years of underdevelopment from poor leadership.

Obiareri, spokesman of the LP in the state, argued that if the APCs had been in place, Tuesday’s incident in which the military men were killed alongside some policemen and officials of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), would probably not have happened, said a check on the social media would reveal how they were used by party men of the APC for rigging the 2023 general elections.

He said: “The military men that were killed if they had armoured vehicles patrolling, they wouldn’t have been shot by those criminals. Athan Achonu, go and confirm from Innoson, paid hundreds of millions of naira to Innoson, Innoson is still alive, you people can still go and interview him, to repair nine armoured vehicles for the police. Five were supposed to be in Okigwe zone. Till today, we don’t know where those nine armoured cars are.

“If you go to Youtube, you’ll see Youtube record of members of the House of Assembly in Imo State using those APCs to carry ballot boxes. It’s there on Youtube, you can search it out. What Athan Achonu will do is very simple. Every local government area will have one humvy vehicle for the police. Police stations had been totally burnt in Imo State and Athan repaired most of those police stations.

“Then, there will be community vigilante. We’ll train those 50 youths per community – train them, equip them and arm them. They should guard their communities. When you have over 50,000 hectres of land, reclaimed from the bandits, and you have youths who are not only just farming, but who are trained to protect their communities, they’ll do the job.

“Then, we have to set up a security trust fund. Ndi-Imo are not scared. As at today, there are some communities in Imo State, where bandits – unknown gunmen, are ransacking and collecting levies from the communities. Basically, Athan Achonu will provide training, recruitment for people donated by the communities. Communities know those who are the terrible ones in their midst. And I tell you, in six months, they will flush them out.”

Opara-Ndudu, who dismissed the claim by the state governor, Hope Uzodimma that the carnage and other killings in the state were politically-motivated, blamed the governor for misplacing his priorities and failing to provide jobs for the teeming youth population in the state, questioning why nobody had been arrested and prosecuted fully in the courts if the insecurity in the state was all about politics.

Hear him: “The security problem has to do with objective conditions in the state. The young people are frustrated. The government is not making any investments in the areas that are required. We’re busy pursuing projects that are designs in deception. Look at the roads that are being done in Imo State, you know for you to deal with the problem of poverty and other economic challenges, you have to deal with the problem of infrastructure.

“In Imo State, the government has dedicated all of its time and half of its time to reconstructing federal roads without any attention – little or no attention paid to the rural areas. If you go to length and breadth of Imo State – Ngor Okpala, Ezinifte Mbaise, even in the governor’s local government – everywhere in Imo State, you find that the rural areas are looking desolate and abandoned.”

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Police find body of missing female student dumped in the bush, vow to get killers

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Operatives of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), command, have vowed to fish out the killers of a university student, Blessing Karami, whose body was said to have been picked up from the bush days after she was declared missing on September 11.

The FCT police, which released the painful news on Thursday, said in a statement by its spokesman, Josephine Adeh that the remains were found in the woods in the Karimu area of the city.

The police spokesman acknowledged that her disappearance was reported to the police authorities last,  Thursday, September 14 added that 26-year-old Blessing, a student of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), was declared missing after leaving her place of work in Garki, Abuja.

She said in the statement: “The body of Blessing Karami Moses, a 26-year-old woman who had been missing since September 11, 2023, was tragically discovered in a wooded area in Karimo. Her disappearance was reported to the authorities on September 14, 2023,” the statement read.

She said Commissioner of Police, FCT, Haruna Garba, had directed that command should conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident, adding: “While we are working closely with the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) to facilitate the respectful retrieval of the decomposed remains acknowledging the sensitive nature of this task, we will continue to provide updates to the public as our investigation progresses.”

Adeh, a Superintendent of Police (SP), also commiserated with Blessing’s family and loved ones over the incident.

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Ogun cult massacre: DSS raid home, pick up PDP lawmaker, five others

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Damilare Bello Mohammed, a serving member of the Ogun State House of Assembly (OGHA), is currently telling operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) his side of the story, after he was picked up over his alleged involvement in the rival secret cult clashes that occurred in Sagamu town.

Mohammed, recently elected on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to represent Sagamu State Constituency 1, was picked up on Wednesday by the agency over the incident in which at least eight persons were killed last weekend during the violent clash in the town, alongside five other suspected cultists allegedly involved in the cult violence.

The five other suspects; Debbo Animashaun, Bamidele Saheed, Ismaila Onitire, Adewale Otesanya and Tobi Owoade, were arrested by the DSS operatives during a sting operation after a tip-off at the early hours of Thursday within the residence of the lawmaker.

Lekan Adeniran, spokesman to Dapo Abiodun, the Ogun State governor, announced the development in a statement on Wednesday, saying the secret police tracked the six suspected cultists to the official residence of the lawmaker.

Accusing the lawmaker of providing shelter to the cultists, Adeniran, said in the statement, that the suspects were presently undergoing interrogation in DSS custody after many dangerous weapons, including guns, were recovered from them.

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