Monday, November 30, 2020

Pastor, SAN, others move to scuttle defilement case

Juliana Francis and Ebube Eruchalu

 


A pastor with the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) were part of the shocking delegate which went to plead on behalf of a man who inserted a finger into his 11-year-old house maid’s private parts.

Suspect: We beheaded 5 guards to send a signal to others

Juliana Francis

IGP, Mohammed Adamu

A self-acclaimed member of Icelander cult group, identified as Onyekachi Amadi, has revealed why members of his gang killed seven OSPAC vigilante men at Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

POLICE BRUTALITY: ‘Undergraduate beaten to coma, has ‘blood clot in the brain’

 By Juliana Francis


Adaeze after being rushed to the hospital

Mrs. Motolani Samson was sitting on a chair, worriedly watching her sleeping daughter, Adaeze, when our reporter got to her house on October 10. Just as our reporter was completing her interview with Motolani, Adaeze’s eyes fluttered open.

Thursday, November 26, 2020

Quarry: Exploiting children for survival (2)

Teenage girl working in quarry in Osun State

Underage workers

In this second part of the investigation, Juliana Francis reveals that children in different states in Nigeria continue to work in quarries to pay school fees and support their parents notwithstanding heart stopping injuries they sustain at these sites.

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Seven arrested for attacking policemen in Lagos

Juliana Francis

 


The Lagos State Police Command, has declared that it has arrested seven people for allegedly attacking policemen, who were on their lawful duties.

Mother, children jailed for trafficking teenager to Russia

Juliana Francis

 

Okah-Donli

A 54-year-old woman, Mrs. Helen Ehionzee and her children, Endurance and Vivian, have been sentenced to 34 years imprisonment for trafficking 16-year-old girl to Russia for prostitution.

I didn’t know my friend’s suitcase contained cocaine, says traveller

Juliana Francis

 


A 38-year-old man, Okorie Cyprian Raymond, arrested for attempting to smuggle 12.05 kilograms of cocaine into Nigeria has denied knowing that the suitcase his friend gave him contained parcels of cocaine.

NDLEA raids warehouse, makes biggest cannabis seizure in five years

....Seized drugs worth N15 million

Wole Shadare


 Following a tip-off that led to a seven-hour raid on an apartment at Ayobo, a Lagos suburb, the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has made a single highest seizure of cannabis in five years.

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Police image maker pays sick girl’s hospital bill

Juliana Francis

Nwode

A Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Nkiru Nwode, has paid the hospital bill of a 10-year-old sick girl in Anambra State.

Police raid black spots, arrest 720 suspects, recover drugs

Juliana Francis

Odumosu

The Lagos State Police Command has disclosed that it has arrested 720 suspects and recovered substances suspected to be illicit drugs after carrying out raids on some identified black spots in the metropolis.

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Soldiers: Why we oppose rehabilitation of insurgents

Nigerian soldiers

Juliana Francis

As the debate continues to rage over whether it was constitutionally, morally and socially right for the Federal Government to give amnesty to repentant Boko Haram members, some soldiers, who resigned from Nigerian Army, have expressed their worries over the issue.

How quarries exploit children for survival (1)

Child worker with his employer

To access quarries where children work is tough. Entrance, however, shows shocking revelations. The old order, where children were used for exploitative labour by traffickers, has given way to a new order. Parents are now at the top of the system, using their children as supplementary breadwinners, reports JULIANA FRANCIS

Extrajudicial killings: Death in SARS cells (3)


FIRST PUBLISHED IN 2014

Human Rights groups, Police and Police Service Commission, lawyers, tell their stories in this concluding part of the story by JULIANA FRANCIS

Extrajudicial kiliings: SARS and disappearing suspects (2)

 


 FIRST PUBLISHED IN 2014

Why do men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, kill suspects in their custody? That is the big question that is left hanging in the air as more families recount their ordeal in the hands of policemen, over family members, who have vanished from the surface of the earth. JULIANA FRANCIS continues the story from last week.

Extrajudicial killings: Story of SARS and robbery suspects (1)

STORY FIRST PUBLISHED IN 2014


 
The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) are men of an elite police group, whose main responsibility is to combat armed robbery. They are the life blood of any police station and Command. But questions are being asked about the disappearance of citizens arrested and detained in SARS’ custody. In this investigation that spanned states in Nigeria, running into months, JULIANA FRANCIS highlights the agonies of parents, whose wards have disappeared in SARS’ cells. 

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Wole Soyinka award: New Telegraph’s winning entry

 FIRST WRITTEN IN 2014 

Juliana Francis

Juliana Francis’ entry, Extrajudicial killing: The story of SARS and robbery suspects, wins this year’s edition of Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting because it captures the agonies of hopeless, hapless and sometimes innocent suspects in police detentions, writes ABIODUN BELLO

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Trader, cultists accused of gang raping girl, wrote 50K on body

 Juliana Francis

 


A 16-year-old girl, Goodness, has narrated how a trader, Okwudili, and four cult members allegedly raped her after which they used a knife to write N50k on her body.

Monday, November 16, 2020

Cyclist killed as five gunmen attack bullion in Lagos

Juliana Francis



Heavy gunshots rocked the Ado-Road, Ajah area of Lagos, as five suspected robbers, opened fire on a black bullion van, plunging members of the community into panic.


NDLEA gets first DCGN, promotes 98 other commanders

 Juliana Francis

The Governing Board of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has approved the promotion of 99 Command Officers.

First Lady urges police, judiciary to prosecute more sex offenders

 Taiwo Jimoh

 


The First Lady of Ogun State, Mrs Bamidele Abiodun, yesterday, urged the Nigerian Police and the Judiciary to prosecute more sex offenders in the state.

Indiscipline: Lagos Command tries 81 personnel, sacks 10

 Juliana Francis


The Lagos State Police Command, yesterday, announced that it has tried and then sack 10 policemen for various criminal and disciplinary offences committed between October 2019 and October 2020.

Boy, 13, thrown into fire for stealing

By Juliana Francis

The victim

Two men, Mr Paul Ifere Amah and Mr Paul Nweke, have been held for throwing a 13-year-old into a fire for stealing rice in Ebonyi State.

‘We abducted 14 foreign sailors, blew up many soldiers’

Juliana Francis

Dikuro and Captain

The Nigeria Police Force has arrested two men for abducting at least 14 foreign sailors on the high sea and using dynamites to kill many Nigerian soldiers in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

Suspect: I left Port Harcourt to operate in Ibadan because of my fame

Juliana Francis


A suspected gang leader, Gbenga Yinka, alias Infinity, has narrated that he refused to carry out robbery operations in Port Harcourt, Rivers State because of popularity in the state.

Judicial panel: How Kyari recovered my millions, charged case to court

Juliana Francis

Kyari

Following the accusation levelled against Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari, at the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution for SARS Related Abuses, that he extorted money from a suspect, a contractor, Eddy Obinna, who was at the centre of the incident in 2014, has come forward to put the record straight.

Lagos: Days after ethnic violence, Nigerians count losses, weep

Taiwo Jimoh

 

IGP, Mohammed Adamu

Fagba area of Lagos State was a shadow of itself on October 30, 2020, that our reporter visited the scene.

The remains of burnt houses, shops, malls and vehicles were sighted at different areas. The dead bodies, witnesses said, had been moved to mortuaries by government officials.

Madam uses blade, pestle to torture 14 yrs old housemaid

Juliana Francis

 


A 14-year-old old girl, simply identified as Joy, has narrated how her madam, Adekemi, tortured her with a blade, pestle and stick.

EFCC Tasks Law Enforcement Agencies on Collaboration


The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has charged law enforcement agencies in the country to see themselves as partners in progress rather than competitors, noting that this was necessary in achieving the desired goal of bequeathing a better Nigeria to future generations.

Court Adjourns Trial of Turaki, others for Alleged N714.6 Fraud, Till Dec 16


The trial of former minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Tanimu Turaki before Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja was on  November 11, 2020 adjourned till December 16, 2020.

Lawyer Docked For Allegedly Obtaining N4m to Bribe EFCC Officers

 Oreagba

The Lagos Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Thursday, November 12, 2020, arraigned a lawyer, Taiwo Oreagba, before Justice Sherifah Solebo of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos on a two-count charge bordering on alleged corrupt demand and obtaining by false pretence to the tune of N4,000,000.00.

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

#EndSARS: Protesters bloodied by hired thugs

Juliana Francis



End SARS protests, which started peacefully on October 7, gathering momentum and causing everyone, including those in the Diaspora to applaud the movement, suddenly turned violence on Monday, leading to the death of many Nigerians, including policemen.

NAPTIP DG APPOINTED TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF UNODC'S VICTIM OF TRAFFICKING TRUST FUND

 

Okah - Donli

The efforts of the Nigerian Government in the fight against Human Trafficking and ensuring adequate protection for victims, has received  global recognition as the  United Nations General Assembly has appointed the Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) , Dame Julie Okah - Donli, as a member of the Board of trustees for UNODC-managed United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children.

My friend has finished me, says Cyprus bound student

 

…with 13.55 kilograms of Cannabis

Juliana Francis


A 23-year-old, Sunday Solomon Odi, an intending student has been arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle hard drugs to Cyprus.

#EndSARS: Three held for putting on police uniform in Lagos

 Taiwo Jimoh

IGP, Mohammed Adamu

Police in Lagos have arrest a 29-year-old Sodiq Adigun for allegedly looting and wearing a police officer uniform after burning the Orile Police Station recently.

Odumosu: We’ve arrested 520 suspects for mayhem in Lagos, killing policemen

 


The suspects

Juliana Francis

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, has announced that 520 suspects have been arrested for murdering six policemen, inflicting injuries on 38 others, among other crimes.

Burnt police barracks: Protectors become helpless, homeless

 

Burnt Makinde Police Station, barracks

 By Juliana Francis

In the last one week, Nigerians have gone to hell and back, with many now homeless while others may become bankrupt after hoodlums’ attacks on their sources of livelihood. Although there have been tales of woes from different parts of the country, everybody is still shells-hocked over the murders, arson and looting which have characterised the initially peaceful #EndSARS protests, which started on October 7. Following the shootings of #EndSARS protesters by soldiers on October 20, 2020, at the Lekki Tollgate in Lagos, some alleged protesters went on the rampage, burning, killing and looting.