Family Loses Three Children To Candle Fire

Three children of the same parents have been burnt to death after a candle light caused an inferno in their family house.

 

The electricity situation in the country has claimed the lives of three innocent children of the same parents when an inferno ignited by a candle light engulfed their apartment in the Jakande Estate, Mile 2 area of Lagos State on Tuesday night. The young victims were identified as Darasimi Ilori (eight months old), Temiloluwa (7), and Daniel (10).

Punch Metro reports that Temilololuwa and Daniel were pupils of Sabis Nursery and Primary School and were in primary three and five respectively.

It was gathered from residents that the fire started after the mother of the children lit a candle, shortly after returning from a church service.

She was said to have locked the children in the room and then went out to pick clothes she had washed and spread out to dry earlier in the day. Few minutes later, while the kids were asleep, the room was said to have been engulfed in smoke, before fire gutted the flat and burnt the children to death.

A resident, Ejiro Omamogho, told our Punch Newspaper that the fire started at 10pm.

When I was locking up my shop around 10pm, I saw their mother coming back from church. The children were feeling sleepy, so she went upstairs to drop them and shut the room. She lit a candle to illuminate the house before coming downstairs to pack their clothes she spread on the line.

Within a few minutes, I heard a neighbour shouting, ‘Fire! Fire! Fire!’ There was pandemonium everywhere. By the time we came out, I asked Iya Daniel (Daniel’s mother) where her children were, and she told me they were inside the house.

Another resident, Esther Esiorho, reported that the father of the children, who had just returned from Victoria Island where he worked as a chef in an eatery, began to make rescue efforts.

Their father ran back because the fire was too intense. What I, however, saw was that the seven-year-old girl, Temiloluwa, had woken up and carried her eight-month-old sister, wanting to run out with her.

But as she got into the parlour, the ceiling collapsed on them and they fell. Both of them were burnt to death. When we were removing their bodies, we saw the skeleton of Temiloluwa and the baby, clutching to each other.

It was learnt that immediately the incident happened, the victims’ parents were overcome by grief. While Mrs. Ilori reportedly began speaking incoherently, her husband passed out and were rushed to the Amuwo Medical Centre and their conditions were critical.

Meanwhile, reports have it that while the fire raged, the state fire service did not come on time to help with the rescue operations despite desperate calls for them.

One of the youths who spearheaded the rescue operation, Gabriel Omamogho, decried the attitude of the firefighters, whom he accused of arriving late at the scene and without the right equipment.

The fire service officials came around past 11pm. When they arrived, they were not with a sledgehammer, ladder or even a fire extinguisher. The youths in the estate climbed up and drew the hose upstairs. We put out the fire at 12am and I took the corpse to the mortuary.

But the Director of the Lagos State Fire Service, Rasak Fadipe, said his men did not get the alert on time.

When we got there, we met the fire well alight. The Isolo fire truck was the first to respond with 10,000 litres of water and when I received a signal that the fire was serious, I had to deploy another fire truck from the Sari-Iganmu fire station, with additional 10,000 litres of water.

However, some of the youths on ground tried to take over the fire equipment from us and out of overzealousness, damaged some of them.

They delayed in calling us and that was why we were not able to rescue the children. Two flats of three bedrooms each were destroyed by the fire, while we prevented the fire from getting to the ground and first floors.

Police Arrest 26 Men For Murder In Lagos

Police have arrested 26 men for the killing of Skiru Ogboye who died during a clash between political groups on Sunday, November 9. 

Police in Lagos have arrested 26 suspects connected to the murder of a certain Sikiru Ogboye.

25-year-old Sikiru Ogboye died on Sunday, November 9, during a suspected clash between supporters of different political groups in the Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos.

The Lagos State Police Command Spokesman, Kenneth Nwosu told newsmen on Monday, November 10 that the 25-year-old Sikiru was killed while reportedly monitoring the collection of the Permanent Voters Card in the area. The deceased was said to be monitoring the process in the area on behalf of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP.

During a raid, police arrested 26 men connected to the killing and Kenneth Nwosu has assured that the political parties involved will be known after investigations have been concluded.

“One pump action gun and a live cartridge were recovered during the arrest,” Mr. Nwosu also said.

This Young Soldier Was Killed By Boko Haram

Lt. Mayowa Areago lost his life three days ago after graduating from the Nigerian Defence Academy in 2012 and being immediately deployed to the North.

Nigeria has lost yet another brave young soldier to Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East.

Lt. Mayowa Areago lost his life three days ago after graduating from the Nigerian Defence Academy in 2012 and being immediately deployed to the North.

One of his friends said:

“Please help us appeal to the government to give our military the right weapons to defend this nation. A lot of innocent people have died to defend you and I. I really want all Nigerians to celebrate this young, gallant, combatant Nigerian Army officer.”

Lt. Areago was killed in Borno State. May his soul rest in peace.

Room Service Caught Snooping Through Hotel Guest’s Luggage

The room service was caught by a secret camera hidden by a hotel guest. 

A hotel room service has been caught in the act of going through a guest’s luggage by a secret camera hidden by the lodger.

The suspecting holidaymaker Vince Stravix decided to leave his laptop camera recording after he left his room at an unnamed hotel in the United States of America. 

The laptop's camera caught the hotel room service rifling through his suitcase and trying to access his laptop computer.

Vince Stravix posted the video on Youtube and advised others never to leave their items open in any hotel. “This happened on the 5th of November, 2014. 

I was staying at a ... hotel and I kept all of my items laid out in my room. Not anymore though. Keep your items hidden in the trunk of a car or at least hidden from view!" he wrote as he posted the video on Youtube.

In the video footage posted on YouTube by Vince, an African-American housekeeper can be seen entering the room and going into the bathroom to collect dirty towels. She later dusted the TV, entered the bathroom again and changed the bed sheets before digging through the guest's personal belongings.

The woman had a close look at a package that Vince had delivered before moving on to examine his games console, a PS3, and the games with it. Apparently unaware that she was being filmed, the housekeeper then takes a close look at the laptop, and then tried accessing a tablet device.

The video has gotten more than one million views. Watch the video below.

Indian Fraudster Dupes Nigerian Banks Of N32bn

The Economic and Financial crimes Commission, EFCC, has dragged an Indian business man, Patrick Fernandez, to court for duping several banks in Nigeria to the tune of N32bn.

An Indian business man based in Nigeria, Patrick Fernandez, has entered into troubled waters with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), over allegations of duping some Nigerian banks to the tune of N32 billion by way of loans collection, a witness, Adeniyi Adebayo, told a Federal High Court in Lagos, presided by Justice John Tsoho.

Mr Adebayo who is an Investigator with the EFCC, told the court that the commission’s investigation into the case revealed that the banks involved in the scam did not follow due process when granting the accused person loan.

Fernandez, alongside his three companies, Joseann Lobal Resources Limited, Pet Prime Impex Limited and Pet Ferns Nig. Limited, were arraigned before the court by the EFCC on 56-count charge of fraud.

In a statement released by the anti-graft agency, the accused persons were alleged to have, between the 21st and 25th of January 2008, fraudulently, presented to the banks, various manager’s cheques for various sum.

The accused was also alleged to have procured Joseann Global Resources Limited to retain in its account, on his behalf, the sum of N6 billion which represented the proceeds of his illegal act.

Fernandez was also said to have transferred the sum of N1.9 billion and another N1.2 billion which formed part of his illegall act wih the aim of concealing the illicit orgin of the funds.

All offences, the EFCC said, is punishable under section 1(2)(a)of the Miscellaneous Offences Act cap M17 Laws of Nigeria and under section 14(1) of the money laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004.

Nigerian Drug Dealer Ordered To Return N24M Made From Drug Smuggling In UK

After being sentenced to seven years in prison in 2012, Unaka was last week ordered to return almost £90,000 from profits he made while he was selling drugs. 

A jailed Nigerian drug dealer in the UK, Afamdi Maduabuch Unaka, has been ordered to pay back almost £900,000 of his profits from the sales of cocaine and money laundering. 

Unaka was arrested in June 2012 in central Croydon in the UK after police got a tip-off that he was involved in money laundering. £10, 000 cash was found with him while a further search at his residence exposed 86 packets of cocaine in a wardrobe in his bedroom. The cocaine weighed 1.3kg and was worth the estimated sum of £260,000.

After being charged to court with possession with intent to supply class A drugs, Unaka pleaded guilty to the offence, but claimed that he had found the drugs in a park and was not further involved in the drugs trade or dealing.

A Newton hearing was held in October 2012 and the judge concluded Unaka played a leading role in the drug trade, but that he was essentially working on his own behalf and not for an organised criminal network and sentenced him to seven years imprisonment.

Following his conviction, officers from the Met’s Criminal Finance Team began to investigate Unaka’s finances under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, with a view to confiscating any assets gained through his criminal activity. 

They seized statements and evidence at his home address and discovered that he held various off-shore bank accounts in Jersey, as well as evidence of overseas balance transfers to the USA, Nigeria and Peru.

The financial investigation, which lasted several months, found in the six years leading up to his arrest Unaka had made just over £1,000,000 from criminal activity. 

At the end of the confiscation hearing Unaka was ordered to repay just under £900,000, due to be retrieved from his accounts based in the UK or abroad. The £10,000 that was seized by police has also been confiscated as part of this.

Unaka has six months to pay the money back or face five years further imprisonment.

Junior Student Kills Senior Prefect With Mystery Ring In Onitsha

A junior student has reportedly murdered his school's senior prefect with a mysterious ring.

The senior prefect of the Modebe Secondary School, Onitsha, Chukwuebuka Okanume, has been reported dead after he was struck by a Senior Secondary School 1 student after he was struck by a magic ring worn by the junior student.

The 17-year-old  Senior Secondary School 3 student, according to the Anambra State Police Command, had queried the assailant for dressing shabbily and the argument later degenerated into fisticuffs which led to the angry junior punching his senior prefect with the mysterious ring.

According to eyewitnesses, the junior student reportedly told the prefect that he was no longer a student of the school and that he came for his transfer certificate to a school in Asaba, the Delta State capital, where he and his parents had relocated, but not convinced, the prefect wanted to punish the offender and a heated argument was said to have ensued between them, resulting in the late senior prefect slapping the junior student believed to be wearing a charmed ring, who was said to have retaliated.

The prefect reportedly slumped and was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was confirmed dead.

It was gathered that the suspect, who was arrested by the police, is believed to be a member of an occult group that used rings as charms, called Etiada (hit and fall) to defend themselves when attacked.

It was learned that all pleas made by the mother of the deceased to the detained junior student to revive her son proved abortive.

The junior student is however being interrogated by men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, to ascertain the source of the ring.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Uche Ezeh, who also confirmed the incident, said investigation was ongoing.