Headline

Alleged Murder: Former Delta PDP LG Chairman Narrates Ordeal Two Years After Release From Police Den

Published

4 years ago

October 18, 2021

The immediate past Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ethiope East Local Government Area, Delta State, Chief (Dr.) Kings Okpako popularly known as Kuti, who hails from Erho-Abraka, was arrested two years ago in connection with the murder of an indigene of Abraka.

Recently, he spoke with journalists two years and four months after he was set free by the police, just as he celebrated the anniversary of his freedom.

According to him, he was found innocent and released by the Nigerian police that held him in detention for four months.

The politician who stormed Ebenezer Church, Erho Abraka for the oath-taking said he was set-up.

His words: “I came this day to take an oath before the Lord Almighty as Samuel and Abraham did in the scripture. I come before the altar of God. If I deceive the whole world can I deceive my God?”

“There is the insinuation that I tied someone in the bush that I wanted to use to bury my mother; that I belong to a secret society.”

According to him, he took the oath because he is bitter.

Recounting some of his ordeal as a politician, he recalled how he was kidnapped on the 29th of January, 2013.

In his words, “I was kidnapped in Asaba on my way from Benizia Hotel where I went for Okowa’s first tenure as the Chairman of the party in Ethiope East. For 6 days I was in the forest. Friends and some political allies paid the ransom which led to my release. Some said “Kuti went to hide himself in bush so government can give him money.

“April 14, 2007, my house was burnt during the gubernatorial election that brought Uduaghan in. My cousin and his pregnant wife were murdered in my house. The insinuation was that “Kingsley Okpako used them for money ritual”. It’s laughable. Thank God the fresh bodies were met instantly right there.

“Then January 28, 2019, when a young illustrious female of this soil was killed, an agreement was dubbed against me. It was insinuated that Kings knows about it and I was arrested to Abraka Police Station. I was beaten up like an armed robber, like a dog left, right and center. I was taken to Obiaruku, then the next day to Asaba. An interview was conducted by the Commissioner; he came to see that I was innocent. In a bid to release me, SARS and IRT said no to the CP. They drew me back again, slapped me and smuggled me to Abuja where I was incarcerated for 4 months. At the end, I was taken to court and vindicated.

“I was not even in town that day and I knew nothing about it. Thank God for today that the mother of that sane girl is now confessing that she is the one that manipulated her daughter to join the secret cult in Abraka for ladies called Jezebel. She was tortured during her initiation and she died and was dumped at the Isoko park. That vindication is not yet known. I’m not here to speak on that alone. Four months of incarceration for a man that lives in an air conditioned house and car? I was made to sleep on the bare floor for four good months from on the 28th of June to the 28th day of October.”

He continued: “As the then Chairman of my party in the local government, I was in Abuja in Transcorp Hotel after we went to the field where we were voting in Jonathan’s second tenure which he won in grandstyle. I began to receive phone calls from different quarters. Those that don’t even know me began to call me. Where you dey? I said I’m in Abuja and I dey field dey vote. Some said the situation is this, some say he done die, some say they cut my hand. What happened?

“Some said I dey come from witch for night, nai I fall for Ogboru compound, I kon dey confess witch say na me nor dey make Ogboru win elections for Ethiope East and Delta State so that I’m a witch and that anywhere they see me, they should mob me.

“There have been stories of people wanting me to be murdered in this place for reasons I don’t know. Is it jealousy, blackmail, envy, I don’t know. What have I really achieved in life? I’m the only child, one seed of corn does not get lost in fire.

“Right now they are confessing with their mouth one after the other. Those involved in this blackmail in Abraka and beyond, if they don’t repent from their act, they will die in penury one after the other. I thank God for the oath I have taken this morning.

“I make bold to say that nobody has assisted Great Ogboru in Delta State than me. You can ask those working with him. I sponsored his rally in Benbo Game Village with my 4 Lexus car in 2003… there was no blackmail then. Because I left them and said enough is enough, then I became an enemy of them all. But I thank God for my confidant who has been there for me…for those who stood by me in thick and thin. If I lie before the whole world, I won’t lie in the temple of God.

Speaking further, he disclosed that he has taken an oath before God and expressed pains over the insinuations about him by his kinsmen, saying he is innocent of all the allegations.

“People were responsible to tag this person on Facebook and Google that I’m a ritualist and I kill people to make money in my community. I have offices in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Aba, Warri, Onitsha. I have never been a ritualist there. It’s only in my community that this tag is on me.”

During his oath-taking at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, Erho which he was instrumental to building, his prayer was thus: “Sir my Lord, this egg will stand as a witness, vengeance to fight that cause. The battle is not of me but of you my creator. If I know about all these, may my life shatter like these raw eggs. If I know nothing about all these Lord, then call them to question and they won’t confess, the rest is left to you my Lord. This is my witness.

“I’m not here this day to exhibit my academic know how or financial prosperity but I’m here to prove to God why he should put an end to this cause. More than 15 years ago, I singlehandedly built this church. I started the building of this church… then tell me why God won’t be with in my life? The plan of the devil against my life will not stand. When this mayhem started on the 28th of June 2019, my political friends and family abandoned me. My friends from the palace where I’m a Chief abandoned me. My Elite members in Lagos where I was the President abandoned me. In fact till this day they suspended because of what they saw online on Google. Thank God for technology.

“But I’m here today to take an oath that if I knew anything about all these, may I die like these raw eggs. May I be shattered in my life. But if I’m not, anybody that typed that message on Google to ruin me down politically, socially, mentally God will answer them. If I can roof a house before God, why can’t God roof my life? He will always roof my life and I present it today as a challenge to him that God, go and fight this battle. As you stood for me, from the beginning of this case to the ending, fight this battle with anyone connected with this blackmail about me. I give them two weeks and fourteen days, Father go and fight this battle. Let them confess and die. Majority of them sat in the canteen to type what will ruin me but thank God. You are not just my creator, but you rescued me. You took me to the promised land. You know the purpose why You brought me to this community. I have been a philanthropist here for the less privileged and the widows. So long as I am, that is the cause they are fighting. They will never stand. God this battle is of You and not me. You said many are the afflictions of the righteous but you God, you stand for us in time of need. You make an edge and that edge is what I’m asking of you today. Among the fruits of the spirit, I like one indicated there- Long Suffering.

“Lord I have suffered enough. You said you will not give us temptation that we will be unable to bear. Lord I have bared enough. Lord if I am guilty may I pay with my blood and may I die in penury. May my dreams be shattered! But if I’m not, Father go and fight this cause. My God, Jehovah Shammah, Jireh, Nissi go and fight this battle because the battle is of you and not of me. Let them drink of their own blood. I rest my case.”

Headline

Israel-Iran War: Stranded Nigerians Cry For Help From Underground Shelters

Published

10 hours ago

June 21, 2025

Editor

Nigerians caught in the hostilities between Israel and Iran have called for help from underground shelters amid heavy exchange of missiles between the two countries.

Those who spoke to Saturday PUNCH slammed the Nigerian government for not doing enough, adding that other countries had started evacuating their citizens.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government said it was awaiting border clearance to rescue over 1,000 Nigerians in the warring countries.

Rising casualties

According to reports, no fewer than 264 people, including 70 women and children, have died in the two countries since the war started.

The war began last Friday when Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, with guided missiles and air raids pounding suspected Iranian nuclear and military sites, including air-defence installations, as well as residential areas in eastern Tehran, notably the Shahrak-e-Mahallati neighbourhood, home to senior IRGC commanders, and targets in Tabriz and other cities.

High-ranking Iranian military figures, including General Mohammad Bagheri and IRGC commander Hossein Salami, were among those killed in the Israeli offensive.

In a statement, Tehran described the strikes from Israel as “the most direct act of war” in decades of covert hostilities.

In a retaliatory response on June 13, 2025, Iran launched a large-scale missile barrage, firing over 100 ballistic missiles at Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv, where the Nigerian embassy is located.

Checks by The PUNCH revealed that most Nigerians living in Israel are based in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Sources confirmed that nearly all economic, social, and religious activities have been suspended in major Israeli cities.

Nigerians recount ordeal

In separate interviews with our correspondents, some Nigerians living in major Israeli cities recounted their ordeals.

A Nigerian in Tel Aviv, Ekene Abaka, said since the onslaught began, members of the Nigerian community in the city had joined other foreigners to take cover in underground shelters provided by the Israeli military, pending an opportunity to escape the country.

“We are in an Israeli bomb shelter and I can’t answer calls right now,” Abaka said in a hasty Facebook message to The PUNCH.

A software engineer living in Jerusalem, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Nigerians in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem had been scrambling for the past few days since the face-off between the two nations started.

The source, who also claimed to be speaking from a bomb shelter, said though many Israelis had died, no casualties had been recorded among Nigerians so far.

He, however, lamented that the Nigerian embassy had closed all official and diplomatic activities without supporting distressed Nigerians in the country.

“Most of the areas where Nigerians live in Israel are in Tel Aviv. As a matter of fact, that is the main area where most of the missiles are going. I live in Jerusalem.

“There are about three families in Jerusalem from Nigeria, but the majority of Nigerians live in Tel Aviv. We are on the run.

“The Nigerian embassy is situated in Tel Aviv. It has shut down. It’s not doing anything about the issue at the moment. We ran into a bomb shelter to protect ourselves from missiles coming from Iran,” he added.

Meanwhile, in a video shared on Tuesday by Travels Vlog, a Facebook page documenting the daily experiences of Nigerians in Israel and other parts of the Middle East, some Nigerians were seen scrambling into a bomb shelter after the Israeli government sounded the security alarm, warning of incoming Iranian missiles.

“Everybody is running helter-skelter now. I didn’t grab my water. Oh! Those are the missiles there. They have fallen now,” one of them cried out in fear.

But as they approached one of the shelters, they found it locked.

“Oh! It’s closed. Why did they lock this place? Let’s go, there is another one over there. We can’t stay here. This place is not safe,” another voice urged as the group rushed off in search of an open shelter under the night sky.

When they finally reached a covered spot, they sat on the ground, visibly shaken, waiting as the blaring alarm slowly faded and the missiles vanished from sight.

The Travels Vlog host, identified as one Solomon, explained in a live video on Wednesday that people were informed about incoming Iranian missiles through a text message from the government.

“There are missiles coming in, but 10 minutes before they hit, the Israeli government detects them and sends us a direct message to immediately leave our homes and run to the shelter. A few minutes afterwards, the security siren starts blaring, and that’s when panic sets in,” he said.

Countries move to evacuate citizens

The situation in the Middle East has prompted governments around the world to evacuate their nationals from both Iran and Israel, where airspace closures and missile fire have made civilian travel dangerous or impossible.

No fewer than 12 countries, including the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Greece, and Bulgaria, have contacted their citizens in the warring nations and repatriated hundreds by air, sea, and road.

Many evacuees crossed land borders on foot before boarding repatriation flights from neighbouring countries.

Agence France-Presse reported on Thursday that the Czech Republic and Slovakia flew home 181 people on government planes, while Greece returned home 105 of its citizens plus a number of foreign nationals via Egypt.

The United States announced plans on Wednesday to evacuate Americans by air and sea, while China evacuated more than 1,600 citizens from Iran and several hundred more from Israel.

The Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement issued on Tuesday night, revealed that the Nigerian Embassies in Israel and Tehran (Iran) were actively reaching out to affected citizens and coordinating efforts to ensure their safe return.

However, as of Thursday night, the Federal Government had yet to evacuate any Nigerian trapped in the countries.

A woman, identified as Hope Omobeauty, during Solomon’s Vlog podcast, said some of her people had been trying to leave Israel but had found no way.

“I have people in Israel who are trying to leave, but there is no way,” she said.

Collapse of businesses

The Israeli government has shut down all activities until at least Sunday at 8pm, further worsening conditions for Nigerians in the country.

Israel announced that all educational institutions, including kindergartens, daycare centres, schools, special education programmes, summer camps, youth organisations, and higher education facilities, had been closed.

Speaking about this, the engineer told The PUNCH that the closures had negatively affected the livelihoods of Nigerians.

He lamented the “indifference and insensitivity” of the Nigerian embassy to their predicament.

“In Israel, rent is paid every month. At workplaces, you’re paid per hour. But all business activities have been shut down, so there is no income for anyone at the moment. We are scared because we don’t even know how we will pay our next rent or feed our children,” he said.

“There is an announcement that everything will reopen on Sunday, schools, markets, and places of worship, but it is not guaranteed. It all depends on how Iran continues the war, whether they will carry on with the bombardment or not. We don’t sleep at night because that’s when the missiles fall.

“What the officials at the Nigerian embassy do is perform their formal obligations, grant visas and handle diplomatic or travel assignments. They don’t engage in the welfare of Nigerians. If anything happens, you are on your own. They don’t do anything to help Nigerian citizens here.”

FG awaits border clearance

Meanwhile, nearly 1,000 Nigerians stranded in Iran have remained in limbo, as the Federal Government awaits final border clearance from Armenia to begin their evacuation.

According to the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, the Nigerian Embassy in Tehran has completed logistical arrangements to move citizens to Armenia, the nearest border country, where they are to be airlifted home from the capital, Yerevan.

He told The PUNCH that embassy officials were in close talks with Armenian authorities to finalise the movement of evacuees across the Iran-Armenia border.

While bus transport has been secured, approval from Armenia to allow Nigerians to cross the border is still pending.

“The Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy met officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Armenia, which is the nearest border, to discuss modalities of moving stranded Nigerians via buses to Yerevan, while waiting to be airlifted to Nigeria.

“The Embassy has also advised Nigerians to stay away from demonstrations, remain in safe areas, and stay glued to their phones for evacuation messages once arrangements are concluded.

“At the moment, the Embassy has concluded arrangements with bus companies to hire buses that will convey us all to the transit country, Yerevan, Armenia. However, we are awaiting permission from the transit country before moving from locations already earmarked for evacuation,” Ebienfa said.

He said to prevent complications at the crossing, the embassy was coordinating with Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs by submitting updated lists of evacuees, including personal details.

“This is to ensure a smooth passage through the border and avoid any bottlenecks.

“All hands are on deck to get permission, including for transit and final airlifting to Abuja from Yerevan, Armenia,” he stated.

Headline

Egypt, South Africa Universities Beat Nigeria At Global QS Rankings

Published

10 hours ago

June 21, 2025

Editor

For the third year in a row, no Nigerian university has made it into the top 1,000 of the Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings, with the 2026 edition released on June 19, 2025, once again excluding all 297 Nigerian universities from the global elite list.

Only three Nigerian institutions were ranked at all, University of Ibadan, University of Lagos, and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

UI and UNILAG were ranked in the 1,001–1,200 band for both the 2025 and 2026 editions, while ABU appeared for the first time in the 1,201–1,400 range.

The QS World University Rankings are compiled annually by Quacquarelli Symonds and assess institutions based on eight key performance indicators: academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty ratio, international student ratio, international research network, employment outcomes, and sustainability.

Despite longstanding reputations and a high number of graduates annually, Nigerian universities continue to underperform in areas such as research output, international collaboration, and employability metrics, factors that heavily influence global rankings.

Across Africa, Egypt led the continent with 20 universities on the 2026 list, followed by South Africa with 11, and Tunisia with four.

Ghana and Morocco each had two universities listed, while Kenya, Libya, Sudan, Uganda, and Ethiopia had one each.

Notably, the only African universities to break into the top 300 are from South Africa with University of Cape Town ranking 150th and University of Witwatersrand ranking 291st

QS World University Rankings 2026: Global Top 10

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology – United States
2. Imperial College London – United Kingdom
3. Stanford University – United States
4. University of Oxford – United Kingdom
5. Harvard University – United States
6. University of Cambridge – United Kingdom
7. ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology – Switzerland
8. National University of Singapore – Singapore
9. University College London – United Kingdom
10. California Institute of Technology – United States

These institutions not only lead in research output and faculty reputation but also boast substantial international partnerships and high graduate employability scores.

Headline

Iran Nabs 22 Suspected Israeli Spies Amidst Escalating Conflict

Published

11 hours ago

June 21, 2025

Editor

Police in Iran’s Qom province said Saturday that 22 people “linked to Israeli spy services” had been arrested since June 13, Fars news agency reported.

“22 people were identified and arrested on charges of being linked to the Zionist regime’s spy services, disturbing public opinion and supporting the criminal regime,” the agency said, citing the head of police intelligence in Iran’s Qom province.

It came after Iranian police announced the arrest on Thursday of 24 people accused of spying for Israel and of seeking to tarnish the country’s image, according to a statement carried by Tasnim news agency.

A European national was also arrested for spying, Tasnim reported on Friday, without giving their nationality or the date of the arrest.

Anambra CP seeks community cooperation to nab Oko attack hoodlums
Iran regularly announces arrests of suspected spies. Several have been executed in recent weeks.

Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights said at least 223 people have been arrested nationwide on charges related to collaboration with Israel, cautioning that the actual figure was likely higher.

AFP