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Probe Begins As Nigerian Lady Narrates Robbery, Attempted Rape In Tanzanian Hotel

Published

4 years ago

April 18, 2022

The Zanzibar Commission for Tourism, Tanzania, has commenced investigation into allegations of robbery and attempted rape made by a Nigerian tourist, Zainab Oladehinde.

This was after Nigerians expressed outrage at the incident, which trended on Twitter and affected the reviews of the Warere Beach Hotel, Nungwi, Zanzibar, where the event occured.

Oladehinde had, in a series of tweets on Saturday, said she boarded a plane from Lagos to Tanzania and proceeded to lodge in the hotel to celebrate her 23rd birthday.

The victim said she was to be lodged in the hotel for six days, but a “traumatic experience” in the facility made her undergo therapy for a year.

She stated, “Around 12am, a few friends and family called to wish me a happy birthday and then I went back to my room to sleep. A few hours into my sleep, I started to feel a strange hand touching my breasts.

“Now, this was me sleeping naked on my bed in my hotel room with my doors locked. So, this was definitely a dream. I told myself and went back to sleep. Some few minutes afterwards, I started to feel my hands stroking someone’s pen*s.

“At this moment, I opened my eyes to confirm if it was actually a dream or I was in real danger. Lo and behold, it wasn’t a dream. There was a naked man lying on my bed and touching me at 2am in my hotel room!

“He started calling me baby and then I became scared because the room was dark as I had switched off the lights before I went to bed. Now, I was extremely scared.”

In that moment, Oladehinde said she asked for the man’s identity, adding that he ignored and gagged her mouth to prevent her from calling for help.

She said dreadful thoughts of being raped and killed, among others, occupied her mind, as she never knew how the man entered her room, which was locked.

According to her, the yet-to-be-identified man was about to rape her when she shouted that she had HIV, which made him to stop.

“So, I continued begging and telling him I’d allow him have sex with me but he’d need to get a condom so as not to get HIV. I kept on saying HIV whilst crying profusely at this point. As I struggled to not let him strangle me, he left the room and told me he’d be back with a condom.

“Immediately he left, I switched on the light, tried to call the hotel reception but there was no intercom or phone lines to reach the hotel reception. I couldn’t stay back in the room and wait for the rapist to come back.

“I decided it was very unsafe for me to remain in the room. If I’d die, I’d rather die trying to escape rather than let the man come back to attack me a second time. I quickly put some clothes on and left my room barefooted so as not to make noise when I get out.

“On getting outside the room, I wanted to make my way to the reception, but then I saw two security men standing outside by the pool side having a conversation. I wanted to meet them to tell them I had just been attacked by a stranger in my room.

“But I thought to myself, what if this was the person who actually attacked me? Then I became extremely scared because I’d have to find a way to get to the reception without those men seeing me,” she added.

Oladehinde said she crawled to avoid being noticed and when she got to the rooms at the reception, she knocked on the doors but no one answered.

She said, “I was crying profusely at this point because I thought I wouldn’t survive this night.

“Almost immediately, I remembered the Russian couple I had spent some time with the day before and I could go to their room to seek refuge. I started crawling on my chest till I got to their room.

“Fortunately for me, the room was opened and I ran inside. They woke up almost immediately and I told the guy, Alex, how I was strangled and almost got raped in my room.

“He advised that I stay in his room till we sort out the issue by daybreak. I called my friend to tell him I was in another room where I felt safe and he told me he had called the hotel owner. This was around 4am in the morning.”

Around 6am, the victim said she left Alex’s room and called her taxi driver, one Suley, to convey her to the nearest police station.

While awaiting the driver’s arrival, Oladehinde noted that she realised her phone battery would soon go flat when she summoned the courage to go into her room to pick up her charger.

Upon entering the room, she, however, discovered that she had been robbed of $1,100, adding that it took two hours before the hotel manager, one Mussa, attended to her.

She said, “Mussa claimed to have received a phone call around 4am by the hotel’s owner to check for me in my room after my friend called them. He said he didn’t find me in the room, so he went back to bed.

“I told Mussa to call out all the security personnel that were on duty the night before so we’d get the hang of who the culprit was. They all came out. I couldn’t recognize any of them, but I could smell the man that was in my room that midnight.

“The taxi driver arrived and we all left for the police station. When we got to the police station, I was asked to write my statement, which I did. The policemen advised I go to the hospital to do a check-up if I was raped or not.

“They were all speaking Swahili and were asking me questions instead of interrogating the suspects. When I decided to take a picture of the police station and the statement I had written, the policemen started threatening me to delete the pictures.

“I didn’t delete my pictures and videos. Instead, I took more because this was the only weapon I had against them. I started to Google Nigerian embassies in Tanzania. I called all of them, but no one answered me.”

Oladehinde said when the nurse at a hospital she visited confirmed that there was no penetration, the policemen said they had no reason to press charges on sexual assault, adding that the only issue was the stolen money.

“The policemen at the Nungwi police station in Zanzibar kept on bullying and harassing me. They told me to leave the police station that I wasn’t raped. I was so frustrated, sad and scared. How could the police do this to me? How could the hotel do this to me? The owner and manager said I lied about my experience,” she said.

In a short video clip posted alongside the tweets, Alex was heard confirming that Oladehinde came to seek solace in his room on April 16, 2021, when the incident happened.

A statement by the Executive Secretary, Zanzibar Commission for Tourism, Hafsa Mbamba, condemned the incident, saying an investigation had commenced.

The statement read in part, “The Zanzibar Commission for Tourism is shocked and disappointed to learn of this incident and take these allegations very seriously. An immediate investigation has commenced and we will report on its findings. We condemn any harm or threat to our visitors to the peaceful islands of Zanzibar.”

PUNCH.

Headline

FG Summons S. African Envoy Over Rising Xenophobic Attacks On Nigerians

Published

2 days ago

May 3, 2026

Editor

The Federal Government has summoned the Acting High Commissioner of South Africa in Abuja over renewed concerns about xenophobic attacks and protests targeting foreign nationals, including Nigerians, living in that country.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the envoy is expected at its headquarters on Monday, May 4, 2026, for a high-level engagement aimed at addressing the growing tension and safeguarding bilateral relations between both countries.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the spokesperson for the Ministry, Kimiebi Ebienfa, said Nigeria would formally express its “profound concern” over recent developments in South Africa, particularly reports of harassment, violence, and destruction of property belonging to foreign nationals.

According to the ministry, the meeting will focus on ongoing demonstrations by various groups in South Africa and documented cases of attacks on Nigerians and their businesses in parts of the country.

“The objective of this engagement is to formally convey the Nigerian Government’s profound concern regarding recent events that have the potential to impact the established cordial relations between Nigeria and South Africa,” the statement read.

It added that discussions would also address ongoing demonstrations by various groups within South Africa and documented instances of mistreatment of Nigerian citizens and attacks on their businesses.

The ministry acknowledged growing anger among Nigerians over reports of xenophobic violence but urged restraint, stressing that diplomatic engagement remained the preferred channel for resolution.

It assured Nigerians that the Federal Government was actively engaging South African authorities to ensure the protection of its citizens abroad.

“The Ministry is aware of the growing discontent among Nigerians concerning the treatment of their nationals in South Africa. Nevertheless, it implores the Nigerian public to remain calm and reiterates the Federal Government’s commitment to protecting the rights and well-being of Nigerian citizens residing in South Africa,” the statement added.

The latest diplomatic move comes amid renewed reports of xenophobic tensions in parts of South Africa, where foreign-owned businesses have occasionally been targeted during protests linked to unemployment and economic hardship.

South Africa has a history of xenophobic violence dating back to 2008, with subsequent flare-ups in 2015 and 2019, when mobs attacked migrants, looted shops, and displaced thousands of foreign nationals across several provinces.

In past incidents, Nigerians and other African nationals were among those affected, prompting strong diplomatic reactions from Abuja and calls for stronger protection of foreign communities.

While South African authorities have repeatedly condemned such attacks and deployed security forces to restore order during outbreaks of violence, concerns have persisted over recurring hostility in some communities.

Headline

Mississippi Man ‘Kills Mother, Flushes Her Remains Down Toilet’

Published

3 days ago

May 2, 2026

Editor

A 29-year-old Mississippi man, Zachary Lavel Jackson Jr., has been charged with multiple offences, including first-degree murder, over the death of his mother, Lana Brown Bradley, after deputies responded to her Natchez home on April 4 following a missing person report from relatives.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were called to Bradley’s residence after her oldest son was unable to reach her the previous day.

Jackson was initially identified as a family member before investigators confirmed he was her son.

Sheriff Travis Patten described the case as deeply disturbing.“This is by far the most heinous crime that I’ve ever witnessed in my entire life. We weren’t out there that day; this was one of those things when we walked up.

“This was one of those cases that you will never, ever forget in your life. This is the type of case that follows you home,” Patten told WJTV.

According to the sheriff, deputies noticed signs of a recent cleanup when they arrived at the home.

“As soon as they walked in the house, they could just see where somebody had been cleaning up, and they could smell chemicals all throughout the house.

“Floor was extremely slippery. And the older son said that this is just unusual for the youngest son to be cleaning up the house like that,” Patten explained.

Jackson, the youngest son, was found in a bathroom, where deputies allegedly made a discovery that became central to the investigation.

“I can say what was in the toilet, and it was her flesh. He chopped her up in pieces and dismembered her in a way that whoever came looking for her would have to do their due diligence to find her, and that’s just what we did,” the sheriff said.

Authorities said Jackson allegedly placed parts of his mother’s body in a suitcase and attempted to dispose of other remains.

Jackson faces charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, mayhem and tampering with evidence.

Headline

Iran Says War With US May Resume As Trump Rejects Proposal

Published

3 days ago

May 2, 2026

Editor

Iran’s military has warned that the war with the United States and Israel could resume, declaring that it is fully prepared for any renewed confrontation as tensions between the sides continue to deepen.

In a statement reported by Iranian state-affiliated media, senior military officials said a return to hostilities is “likely”, citing what they described as Washington’s lack of commitment to previous agreements and negotiations.

The warning comes after US President Donald Trump expressed dissatisfaction with Iran’s latest peace proposal, saying the terms presented by Tehran included demands he “can’t agree to”.

According to officials in Tehran, Iran believes it showed flexibility during earlier negotiations, including talks held in Islamabad and during the ceasefire period. However, authorities argue that the United States has instead taken a tougher stance, widening the gap between both sides.

Iranian officials insist that key issues such as sanctions relief and the status of the Strait of Hormuz must be resolved before any broader agreement, including discussions around its nuclear programme, can progress. They also reject what they describe as US demands amounting to “surrender”.

The growing diplomatic deadlock has raised fears that another round of fighting may be imminent, with Iranian authorities indicating that preparations are already underway.

Meanwhile, the prolonged conflict continues to have far-reaching consequences within Iran. Internet monitoring group NetBlocks reports that the country has entered its 64th day of near-total internet disruption, effectively isolating it from global online networks.

The shutdown, which began after renewed anti-government protests earlier in the year and intensified following the outbreak of the war, has significantly disrupted businesses and livelihoods across the country.

Beyond Iran, the conflict is also reshaping global dynamics. Rising oil prices linked to the war have placed pressure on international markets, while geopolitical tensions have strained alliances, including between the United States and European partners.

As both sides remain far apart on key issues, analysts warn that without a breakthrough in negotiations, the fragile pause in fighting could collapse, paving the way for renewed military escalation in the region.