Headline

Drama As Two Suspected Money Ritualists Run Mad, Die In Edo

Published

4 years ago

October 5, 2021

Joseph Kanjo

Two young men suspected to have been involved in money ritual have reportedly died in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of Edo State.

The duo, Ebafor Abiye, 25 years old from Ogbe in Akoko-Edo LGA and mechanic by profession, and 36 years old Alex Benjamin said to be from Otuo in Owan East Local Government Area of the state, and a commercial bike rider mysteriously died in the same hospital few minutes away from Igarra town where they both stay after what is suspected to be ritual activities went sour.

An eyewitness who narrated the incident on phone said Abiye was with his Aunty drinking around 9pm when he suddenly acted funny and started shouting as if he saw plenty money, adding that he was repeatedly shouting ‘Alex you’re a bad friend’ but Alex was not known to anyone so he (Abiye) was rushed to the hospital.

The eyewitness narrated that, as this drama was unfolding at Abiye’s end, it was not known to them that Alex was at the middle of incarnations of his ritual where he was said to have called his wife not to come back home after her daily sales, but it was not clear what her husband meant so she went home after sales of the day where she meant him in his drama too.

She was said to have called neighbours who immediately came to the scene and rushed him to the hospital but fortunately he was rushed to same hospital where his name was repeatedly mentioned by Abiye.

“Ebafo was with his Aunty on Monday night drinking between 9 and 10 pm when he suddenly started shouting as if he see money, plenty money, Alex you are bad friend, bad friend’ and he started behaving hysterically, so they were trying to calm him down but he started vomiting blood and that is how he was rushed to the hospital. They got to the hospital at about 10pm and as the Doctor was doing preliminary checks, he started shouting Alex name in the hospital again so they were wondering whether it was the Alex he was mentioning that gave him something to eat.

“On the hand, Alex was in the middle of his own incantations when he was said to have called his wife who sells fruits by Afekhai junction in Igarra and told her that when she finishes her sales for the day, she should not come home. But his wife did not understand what her husband meant by that and went home after the sales only for her to get home and saw her husband stretching and talking incoherently.

“She summoned neighbours who helped rush him, coincidentally, to the same hospital.

“The wife was crying and shouting the name Alex and then the person brought in by the other people was also shouting the name Alex. The two of them started behaving the same way and in less than five minutes, the two of them were dead,” eyewitness narrated.

It was gathered that it was when his wife went home to bring cloth to cover him that she saw fire and a coffin in the floor of their room and when the people who brought Emafe went to his room, they were also said to have discovered several charms scattered in the floor of his room.

As at the time of filing this report, the police are said to have evacuated the corpses but that the Igarra community insisted that they remove the charms discovered in their houses.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer of Edo State Police Command, Bello Kontongs said he was yet to get a full briefing of the incident.

Headline

Zelensky Rules Out Swapping Territory, Calls For ‘Fair Peace’

Published

2 hours ago

August 13, 2025

Editor

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that Ukraine and its allies must work together to pressure Russia into ending its invasion, ahead of talks in Berlin with European leaders and US President Donald Trump.

“Pressure must be exerted on Russia for the sake of a fair peace. We must learn from the experience of Ukraine and our partners to prevent deception on the part of Russia,” Zelensky wrote on social media.

“There are currently no signs that the Russians are preparing to end the war,” he added.

Zelensky is due in Berlin on Wednesday for talks with European leaders and Trump ahead of the US president’s summit with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

The Ukrainian leader said he and his team had held more than 30 conversations with world leaders and high-ranking officials ahead of the talks.

The flurry of diplomatic engagements have been overshadowed by rapid, but so far limited Russian push in the eastern Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claims is part of Russia.

A member of the Ukrainian delegation travelling with Zelensky to Berlin told AFP that the Russian gains around the mining hub of Dobropillia “did not influence” preparation for Wednesday’s talks.

Zelensky conceded one day earlier that Russian forces had advanced by up to 10 kilometres (six miles), but ruled out swapping territory with Moscow as part of any deal with Russia.

AFP

Headline

S’Africa Offers US New Trade Deal To Avoid 30% Tariff

Published

23 hours ago

August 12, 2025

Editor

South Africa will offer a “generous” new trade deal to the United States to avoid 30 percent tariffs, ministers said Tuesday.

Washington on Friday slapped the huge tariff on some South African exports, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, despite efforts by Pretoria to negotiate a better arrangement to avoid massive job losses.

The ministers did not release details of the new offer but said previously discussed measures to increase imports of US poultry, blueberries, and pork had been finalised.

“When the document is eventually made public, I think you would see it as a very broad, generous and ambitious offer to the United States on trade,” Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen said at a press briefing.

Officials have said the 30 per cent tariff could cost the economy around 30,000 jobs.

“Our goal is to demonstrate that South African exports do not pose a threat to US industries and that our trade relationship is, in fact, complementary,” Trade Minister Parks Tau said.

The United States is South Africa’s third-largest trading partner after the European Union and China.

However, South African exports account for only 0.25 per cent of total US imports and are “therefore not a threat to US production”, Tau said.

Steenhuisen said US diplomats raised issues related to South African domestic policies, which was a “surprise given the fact we thought we were in a trade negotiation”.

The two nations are at odds over a range of policies.

US President Donald Trump has criticised land and employment laws meant to redress racial inequalities that linger 30 years after the end of apartheid.

“Things like expropriation without compensation, things like some of the race laws in the country, are issues that they regard as barriers now to doing trade with South Africa,” he told AFP on the sidelines of the briefing.

“I think we’re seeing some form of a new era now where trade and tariffs are being used to deal with other issues, outside of what would generally be trade concerns,” Steenhuisen said.

Headline

Over 600 Pilgrims Hospitalised After Chlorine Gas Leaked In Iraq

Published

3 days ago

August 10, 2025

Editor

More than 600 pilgrims in Iraq were briefly hospitalised with respiratory problems after inhaling chlorine as the result of a leak at a water treatment station, authorities said on Sunday.

The incident took place overnight on the route between the two Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, located in the centre and south of Iraq, respectively.

This year, several million Shiite Muslim pilgrims are expected to make their way to Karbala, which houses the shrines of the revered Imam Hussein and his brother Abbas.

There, they will mark the Arbaeen — the 40-day period of mourning during which Shiites commemorate the death of Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.

In a brief statement, Iraq’s health ministry said, “621 cases of asphyxia have been recorded following a chlorine gas leak in Karbala”.

“All have received the necessary care and left the hospital in good health,” it said.

Security forces charged with protecting pilgrims, meanwhile, said the incident had been caused by “a chlorine leak from a water station on the Karbala-Najaf road”.

Much of Iraq’s infrastructure is in disrepair due to decades of conflict and corruption, with adherence to safety standards often lax.

In July, a massive fire at a shopping mall in the eastern city of Kut killed more than 60 people, many of whom suffocated in the toilets, according to authorities.

AFP