Metro

5 Injured As Shootings, Protests Trail Ejection Of Anambra Land Owners From Motor Parks

Published

2 years ago

August 23, 2023

There was a pandemonium on Wednesday at a mini motor part close to both the New Auto Spare Parts Market, Nkpor and the Flyover along the Enugu/Onitsha at Nkpor in Idemili Northern Local Government Area of Anambra state arising from heavy shootings.

The shootings which ended up in inflicting injuries on about five persons, according to eyewitnesses started at about 1 p.m. when some security operatives on masks stormed the area and attempted to forcefully eject the people of Amafor Community who claim to be bonafide owners of the land where the motor parks were cited and who are generating revenues for both the community and Anambra state government.

The shooting, injuries and forceful ejection of the land owners and their revenue agents later gave rise to a peaceful protest by the villagers who carried placards with various inscriptions.

Chairman of Amafor Village, Nkpor, Sir Emmanuel Idemili who confirmed the incident to newsmen, said the federal ministry of works gave the community an authority to manage the two parks and collect revenues for the community and the state government which they have been found perfectly until yesterday when the masked security operatives stormed the parks at the instigation of the former Chairman of Idemili North Local Government Transition Committee, Chief Raphael Asha Nnabuife who he said is also an indigene of Nkpor but not from Amafor village which owns the land where the parks are located.

Idemili who contended that the security operatives succeeded in chasing away his men from the duty posts with their heavy shootings, added: “We have been in charge of the parks, we got our permissions from the state government to generate revenue from the parks for the state government but what we saw today is very strange to us”.

“Just this morning, I was at Awka on official assignment, when our men who are working at the parks called me and told me that masked security operatives stormed the parks under the flyover bridge and started shooting indiscriminately, ordering them to vacate the place immediately, and they took to their heels”.

“The shootings and attack from these security men may have come from the former transition chairman of Idemili North Local Government Area Caretaker Committee Chairman, Chief Raphael Nnabife Ashia because when he was the transition Committee chairman, he sacked us from the parks, telling us that the parks were owned and controlled by the State government and not the Amafor community.

“The men have been working under the cover of ANSIPPA to ensure that we are not working and collecting the revenue on behalf of the state government because he claimed to have taken ownership of collection of revenue from the parks on behalf of the state government through his company Pugaty Investment.

“I was told that over 5 people got injured during the stampede as a result of the heavy shootings of which I am yet to know if my men were involved as the shootings resulted in traders at Nkpor New Auto Spare Parks and Nkpor Relief Markets immediately shut their shops and fled for their safety,” he further added.

“In a swift reaction when contacted, Chief Asha Nnabuufe who Idemili accused of instigating their forceful ejection, denied involvement in the attack and sack of Amafor officials at the parks, saying that the sack may have come from the State government in collaboration with ANSIPPA as the parks are owned and controlled by the state government.”

However, when contacted also, the Executive Director of Anambra Investment Promotion and Protection Agency, ANSIPPA, Chief Mark Okoye confirmed that it was the State government that sacked them not ANSIPPA.

Also when contacted, the State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, said that he was not yet aware of the incident.
VANGUARD

Metro

Edo: How Pastor Hypnotised My Daughter, Made Her Abandoned NNPCL- Mother

Published

9 hours ago

December 5, 2025

Editor

A 56-year-old woman, Mrs. Florence Igbiti, has appealed to relevant authorities to help free her 27 years old daughter who, according to her, has been hypnotised by a Benin-based Pastor, Craig Omorotiomwan of the Helpline International Ministries.

According to her, her daughter, Miss Treasure Ose Omonlumhen, abandoned her National Youth Service Scheme to go and stay with the Pastor, an act she described as strange and beyond her comprehension.

Mrs. Igbiti, who spoke to journalists at the Press Centre, Benin, amidst tears, said her daughter has since the incident become ‘high headed, stubborn and highly rebellious, pleading to relevant authorities to help free her daughter from the grip of the Pastor.

According to her, her daughter started attending the Helpline International Ministries 10 years ago, and that when she graduated from the University, she refused to go for the compulsory one year youth service but after pressure and persuasion for over 2 years after graduation she reluctantly obliged to go for the youth service.

The mother added that when her daughter went for the youth service, she was posted to Abuja, and that because of environment related course she studied in the university, she was deployed to the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

She lamented that despite deploying her daughter to a juicy organisation like the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), the pastor who is the General Overseer called her daughter, spoke with her, and paid her flight ticket back to Benin, which made her daughter to abandon the NNPCL job to come to Benin to stay with the Pastor, crying out that it was not ordinary.

She narrated amidst tears: “The Pastor took her out of youth service and kept her in his house. She started the church 10 years ago. I didn’t notice her character started deteriorating. She used to a very calm, quiet, caring girl. As time goes on, she became high headed, stubborn and highly rebellious.

“The Pastor’s words are very smooth. He has very sweet words. He preaches very exciting messages.

“I think that what he preaches in the pulpit is different from what he preaches to his sect like my daughter. And to my uttermost surprise, my daughter is not the only victim. Many girls are with him in his house, some are even pregnant. Meanwhile, his wife is abroad.

“What he preaches publicly is different from what he preaches to these sects. They are youths that have natural love for the things of God and those that are actually hungry for the things of God.

“I pleaded with him to encourage her to go back to complete her Youth service but he refused. Instead, he now systematically cut me off from the church and refused picking my calls. Then he just cut me off.

“Even when I lost my father, my daughter and himself did not even come. My daughter has been staying with him for about a year, six months now. She didn’t even tell me she was going to stay with the pastor.

“The first year she stayed back because the pastor did not release her. She missed that year.

“I persisted and she enrolled again for the NYSC. She was deployed to Benue State from the where she was redeployed to Abuja where she was posted to NNPCL. But the pastor bought a ticket for her to come back. He just withdrew her like that. Since then, I have pleading with the pastor to let her go back and complete her
youth service, knowing the importance of it to her CV.

“The pastor now refused and systematically cut us off. I want to get my daughter back. But another thing I noticed is that my daughter is now acting very unusual. I’m suspecting he did something to her that I cannot understand.

“Her behavior is clearly different from the person she used to be. I’m sad about that. He has wasted the child several years.”

But the daughter who spoke on the phone said she was not hypnotized.

She claimed she completed her NYSC Scheme but was silent on concerns of her mother.

Pastor Omorotiomwan did not pick calls to his phone but checks showed he has sued Mrs. Igbiti and the police for N50m as damages for unlawful violation and threatened violation of his rights.

He is asking the court for injunction to restrain Mrs. Igbiti and the police from raiding his residence.

Pastor Omorotiomwan is also asking fot a declaration that continued threats of his arrest was unconstitutional, unlawful, null and void.

Metro

Gunmen Kill Three In Zamfara Community Over N3,500 Yoghurt

Published

1 day ago

December 4, 2025

Editor

At least three people were killed on Wednesday in Danjibga village, Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State, after armed bandits attacked the community.

The incident was reported on Thursday, December 4, 2025, by security analyst Bakatsine on X.

Bakatsine explained that the attack began when a group of gunmen entered a local shop and attempted to take Rufaida yoghurt worth ₦3,500 without payment. The shop owner insisted on payment, prompting the men to become angry, drop the goods, and leave.

According to Bakatsine, the gunmen returned less than an hour later, heavily armed, and opened fire, killing three people. The attack also forced residents to flee and resulted in the looting of the shop.

He said, “Yesterday evening in the Danjibga community of Tsafe LGA, Zamfara State, a group of bandits entered a local shop and attempted to take Rufaida yoghurt worth ₦3,500 without payment.

“When the shop owner insisted on payment, the gunmen became angry, abandoned the yoghurt, and left. They returned less than an hour later and started shooting sporadically, which killed three people, forced residents to flee, and looted the shop.”

As of the time of filing this report, authorities have not issued an official statement regarding the incident.

Metro

Patient Accuses Ekiti Teaching Hospital Of Organ Harvesting

Published

1 day ago

December 4, 2025

Editor

Management of the Ekiti State Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH) has commenced an investigation into an alleged organ harvesting levelled against it by a patient, Mr Joshua Afolayan, who had surgery recently in the facility.

Joshua had accused the Teaching Hospital of an alleged harvest of his kidney by medical doctors in the hospital.

Addressing a press conference in Ado Ekiti, Afolayan explained that he had an accident in August 2025, and after visiting the hospital, he was told that one of his kidneys was affected.

According to him, the results of multiple scans carried out, including at UCH, Ibadan, Oyo State, confirmed that the right kidney had been damaged but the left kidney was very fine.

However, during surgery to remove the faulty kidney so as to protect other organs, Afolayan confirmed that he still urinated five minutes before the surgery, but since the procedure in October, he has not been able to pass urine.
He noted that all efforts to get explanations from the hospital proved abortive, as they continued to play him around.

Afolayan added that on second thought, he decided to visit another facility for scanning, only to discover that he had been living without a kidney since the operation.

He called on the government to carry out a thorough investigation and save his life, as he has continued to live in pain.

However, disturbed by the development, the Chairman, Board of Management of the Teaching Hospital, Dr Adedamola Dada, constituted a seven-man panel of enquiry to look into the alleged case of kidney removal in the hospital.
A statement by Rolake Adewumi, Head, Corporate Affairs, EKSUTH, disclosed that the members of the panel included Prof. Francis Faduyile, an Anatomic Pathologist from the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, who will serve as the Chairman of the panel.

Other members included Prof. Patrick Temi Adegun of the Federal University, Oye Ekiti; Dr Henry Abiyere from Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido–Ekiti; Dr Adebola Adeniyi–Agbaje, General Manager, Progress F.M, Ado-Ekiti.
Others are Reverend Emmanuel Aribasoye, Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, Ekiti State branch; High Chief (Prof) Babatunde Akindele, the Elemo of Ado–Ekiti, a community leader; and Barr. Adebayo Titilayo, the Legal Adviser to Ekiti State Ministry of Health, who will serve as Secretary to the panel.

She said that the panel has ten days to submit its report, adding that the hospital management reassured the public that no stone would be left unturned to determine the issues involved in the matter.

“The Management noted that members of the panel are independent and responsible members of the community who would exhibit fairness and justice.

“All the affected parties and the general public were urged to cooperate with the panel as the findings are being awaited.”