Headline

Mummified Corpses: Edo Police Command Reveals Details Of Investigation

Published

3 years ago

August 29, 2022

The Edo State Police Command has said that the building where mummified bodies were found can not pass for a morgue, as the principal suspect, Gabriel Otu, has no approval to operate such, noting that a severed body at the facility showed there was more happening at the place than claimed.

At a press conference on Monday, the officer in charge of the Criminal Investigative Department at the Command, Olawore Oluwole, said in the course of the investigation, there was an interface with medical personnel, lawyers, members of the public, representatives of the Benin Traditional Council, families of those who deposited corpses, as well as a pathologist.

Oluwole said, “Following investigations by the command’s team and health personnel led by the commissioner for health, some documents were recovered portraying an approved location from the ministry of environment and sustainability.

However, the principal suspect, Gabriel Otu, later reported and made statements, and some other hospitals and mortuaries were equally visited and the following facts emerged.

“The principal suspect didn’t acquire formal training but only worked at different mortuaries as a mortuary attendant. He doesn’t have the certificate to practice as a mortician or any certification from the traditional board, ministry of health, ministry of environment, or any other appropriate certification.

“The building utilised by him was not certified nor approved by the ministry of health or environment. Other facts revealed is that the mortuary is not a layout for trado-medical institution.”

He added, “Twenty three corpses, as well as a dismembered without a skull, were found, and it depicts an unlawful possession and violates section 329 of the criminal code.

“There were also sacrilegious effigies found at the scene; some were inside while others were outside. These depict criminal elements in his possession and against section 213 of the criminal code. Some specimens were extracted and have been sent to experts for forensic analysis”.

Also speaking, the Edo State Commissioner for Health, Obehi Akoria, said the state government had given September 9 as the deadline for mortuary operators who are yet to obtain operational licenses to get approval from the ministry of health.

Akoria urged owners of registered mortuary homes to present their proof of registration to the state ministry of health by Friday, September 30.

She said, “The Edo State Ministry of Health is using this opportunity to reach out to all persons who own or operate mortuaries or embalmment homes to come to the ministry of health, directorate of regulation and monitoring, with evidence of due registration if they are duly registered latest by September 30.

“However, for those who are not duly registered, we are giving till the close of business on September 9 for them to present themselves to the ministry of health, where we will give them the basic requirements for the operation of mortuaries or embalmment homes in the state”.

Headline

UK Police Arrest Asylum Seeker Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed

Published

1 day ago

October 26, 2025

Editor

The UK police on Sunday arrested an Ethiopian asylum seeker and convicted sex offender, whose crimes had sparked anti-immigration protests, after he was accidentally released from prison in an embarrassing blunder by British authorities.

London’s Metropolitan Police said officers arrested Hadush Kebatu in the north of the capital on Sunday morning, nearly 48 hours after he was mistakenly freed around 30 miles (48 kilometres) away.

Kebatu, 38, had served the first month of a one-year sentence for sexually assaulting a teenage girl and a woman, but was reportedly due to be deported when the Prison Service error occurred on Friday.

His high-profile case earlier this year in Epping, northeast of London, sparked demonstrations in various English towns and cities where asylum seekers were believed to be housed, as well as counter-protests.

Commander James Conway, who oversaw the manhunt for him, said “information from the public” led officers to the Finsbury Park neighbourhood of London, where he was found.

“He was detained by police but will be returned to the custody of the Prison Service,” he added.

Kebatu is now expected to be deported.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Friday he was “appalled” by the “totally unacceptable” mistake that saw him freed rather than sent to an immigration detention centre.

The Telegraph newspaper said he was wrongly categorised for release on licence and handed a £76 ($101) discharge grant.

Police had appealed Saturday for Kebatu to turn himself in, after reports emerged that he had appeared confused and reluctant to leave the prison in Chelmsford, eastern England.

A delivery driver described seeing Kebatu return several times in a “very confused” state, only to be turned away by staff and directed to the railway station.

The driver told Sky News he saw Kebatu outside the jail, asking, “Where am I going? What am I doing?”

“He was starting to get upset, he was getting stressed,” the driver said.

The father of Kebatu’s anonymous teenage victim told the broadcaster that “the justice system has let us down.”

Police arrested the asylum seeker in July after he repeatedly tried to kiss a 14-year-old girl and touch her legs, and made sexually explicit comments to her.

He also sexually assaulted an adult woman, placing a hand on her thigh, when she intervened to stop his interactions with the girl.

He was staying at the time at Epping’s Bell Hotel, where scores of other asylum seekers have been accommodated, and which became the target of repeated protests.

AFP

Headline

Madagascar Revokes Ousted President’s Nationality

Published

1 day ago

October 26, 2025

Editor

Madagascar’s new government has stripped ousted president Andry Rajoelina of his Malagasy nationality in a decree published Friday, 10 days after he was removed in a military takeover.

According to AFP, the decree means that Rajoelina, who was impeached on October 14 after fleeing the island nation in the wake of weeks of protests, would not be able to contest future election.

The decree published in the official gazette said Rajoelina’s Malagasy nationality was revoked because he had acquired French nationality in 2014, local media reported, as photographs of the document were shared online.

French broadcaster RFI said it had confirmed the decree with the entourage of the new prime minister, Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo, who signed the order.

The decree cited laws stipulating that a Malagasy who voluntarily acquires a foreign nationality loses their Malagasy nationality.

Rajoelina’s French nationality caused a scandal when it was revealed ahead of the November 2023 elections, nearly 10 years after it was granted.

It triggered calls for him to be disqualified but he went on to win the contested polls, which were boycotted by opposition parties.

The 51-year-old politician fled Madagascar after army Colonel Michael Randrianirina said on October 11 his CAPSAT unit would refuse orders to put down the youth-led protest movement, which security forces had attempted to suppress with violence.

Rajoelina said later he was in hiding for his safety, but did not say where.

Randrianirina was sworn in as president on October 14, pledging elections within two years.

Headline

Kamala Harris Hints At Running For President Again

Published

1 day ago

October 26, 2025

Editor

Former US vice president Kamala Harris said in a British television interview previewed in Saturday that she may “possibly” run again to be president.

Harris, who replaced Joe Biden as the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate but lost to Donald Trump, told the BBC that she had not yet decided whether to make another White House bid.

But the 61-year-old insisted she was “not done” in American politics and that her young grandnieces would see a female president in the Oval Office “in their lifetime, for sure”.

“I have lived my entire career a life of service, and it’s in my bones, and there are many ways to serve.

“I’ve not decided yet what I will do in the future, beyond what I am doing right now,” Harris told the British broadcaster in an interview set to air in full on Sunday.

The comments are the strongest hint yet that Harris could attempt to be the Democratic Party nominee for the 2028 election.

The interview follows the release of her memoir last month, in which she argued it had been “recklessness” to let Biden run for a second term as president.

She also accused his White House team of failing to support her while she was his deputy, and at times of actively hindering her.

AFP