News

Police Arrest, Parade Killers of Ondo Driver

Published

3 years ago

April 18, 2023

Eric

The Ondo State Police Command on Monday said it had arrested no fewer than seven persons in connection with the killing of a man, Tope Olorunfemi, in a mob attack in Akure, the state capital.

This is just as one of the suspects, Victor Amos, admitted that he hit the deceased’s head with a stone.

Olorunfemi, a driver, was killed in a mob attack at the Ijoka Area of Akure on Easter Monday after his Toyota car allegedly crushed one person to death and injured six others.

He was thereafter lynched while his vehicle was set ablaze by some people in the area.

The people had alleged that they found some fetish items in his car, raising suspicion that he was a ‘Yahoo boy.’

Parading the suspects at the police headquarters in Akure, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs Funmilayo Odunlami, confirmed that seven persons were arrested but four of them were paraded before journalists.

The PPRO identified the suspects paraded as Samuel Olatunji, 20, Pelumi Farotimi, 42, Ismaila Durotoye, 32 and Victor Amos, 30.

Odunlami added that an investigation into the incident is ongoing while the suspects would be charged in court for murder and arson. She declared that the command is on the trail of other suspects still at large.

She said, “Last week Monday, we had a case of jungle justice in Akure in which a young man who was driving along Ijoka Road had an accident and unfortunately killed one commercial motorcyclist and injured six others.

“Unfortunately, those who were at the scene resorted to jungle justice. Some of these people have been arrested. Seven people are in custody but four principal suspects are here. Jungle justice is illegal, it is against the law. It is wrong for anybody to kill anybody anyone under the guise that the person had killed someone else.

“We are not through with the arrest of suspects. Some suspects are still at large. After investigation, all suspects involved will be charged with arson and murder.”

The PPRO also disclosed that the victim had been buried on Monday.

One of the suspects, Amos, who spoke during the parade insisted that some fetish items were found in the deceased’s car, admitting that he was involved in the beating of the deceased.

He said, “On getting to the scene of the accident, the deceased had been beaten to a pulp, and he had been soaked in his blood. Commercial motorcyclists beat him mercilessly. I didn’t even know those that stoned him. On getting to the scene, I was moved by the lifeless bodies of those that he crushed and that made me pick up a stone and hit him on the head. I didn’t even know that he was the younger brother of my friend.

“When I gave him some punches, he held on to my leg and to release myself from his grip before he could drag me into the gutter, I tried to choke him on his neck. I indeed saw a small coffin and tortoise inside the car before it was burnt. But I was no longer there when the car was set ablaze.

“I was not arrested by the police. I went to report myself at Ala Police Station when my picture was being circulated as part of those who participated in the beating. I told the police that I beat and stoned him but I did not kill him.”

The Punch

News

El-Rufai’s Son, Bello, Dumps APC, Joins ADC

Published

2 days ago

May 7, 2026

Eric

Bello El-Rufai, the son of former Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

The speaker said Bello El-Rufai joined the ADC alongside two members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Kaduna State — Reps Umar Ajilo and Suleiman Yahaya Richifa.

He also announced the defection of Kamilu Ado, a lawmaker from Kano State, from the ADC to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).

The Speaker also announced the resignation of Rep. Joshua Obika, representing the AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency of the Federal Capital Territory, from the APC to the NDC.

The defected members, however, cited internal crises and uncertainty within their former parties as reasons for their defections.

News

Gunmen Kill Driver, Abduct Passengers on Benin-Ore Expressway

Published

3 weeks ago

April 20, 2026

Eric

Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have attacked a commercial bus operated by GUO Transport along the Benn-Ore expressway, killing the driver and abducting several passengers in what underscores Nigeria’s deepening insecurity on major highways.

Reports indicate that the assailants ambushed the South East-bound vehicle, opened fire on the driver, who died at the scene, and subsequently whisked away passengers to an unknown destination.

The incident is believed to have occurred along a notorious stretch of the highway linking the South-West to the South-South, long plagued by banditry and abductions.

While official confirmation from security agencies is expected, local sources and a circulating video showed that passengers might have forcefully been taken into nearby forests, a tactic commonly employed by kidnapping syndicates operating along the corridor. Similar attacks in the past have involved mass abductions, with victims later released after ransom payments.

News

Police Retirees Block Aso Rock Gate, Demand Action on Pension Scheme

Published

3 weeks ago

April 20, 2026

Eric

Some retirees of the Nigeria Police Force under the aegis of the Police Retired Officers Forum of Nigeria (PROF) have staged a protest at the Presidential Villa in Abuja demanding President Bola Tinubu sign the Police Exit Bill passed by the National Assembly in December 2025.

The bill seeks to withdraw the Nigeria Police Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme.

The protesters, under the scorching sun, walked from the Three Arms Zone in Abuja through the street in front of the Police Headquarters.

They carried placards with various inscriptions, in addition to the Nigerian flag and the flag of the Nigeria Police Force.

Led by its National Coordinator, CSP Raphael Irowainu, the protesters described the retention of the NPF in the Contributory Pension Scheme as fraudulent and illegal.

They also said the CPS is inhumane and obnoxious.

According to them, the protest seeks to prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to give assent to the Police Exit Bill passed by the National Assembly on 4th December 2025 and transmitted to the President on 16th March 2026.

They said that when signed into law, the Act will totally exempt the police from what they called a “slavery and untimely death-inducing pension scheme.”

The protesters, accompanied by some of their spouses and children, also blocked Gate 8 leading into the Presidential Villa, causing obstruction to vehicular movement.

Efforts by Villa security personnel to dissuade them from the protest proved abortive as they insisted on seeing the President.

They laid their mats in front of the gate, singing songs of solidarity, while some of them lay on the floor.

As of the time of filing this report, no one from the Villa had addressed the protesters.

CSP Irowainu said that their main purpose is to prevail on President Tinubu to sign the bill exiting the Nigeria Police Force from the CPS, which he said has been passed and transmitted to him by the National Assembly.

He lamented that while other security agencies in the country such as the Army, Navy, Air Force, SSS and others have all been exited from the scheme, the police remain trapped in it.

“Our major aim here is to prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sign our bill—the bill exiting the police from the Contributory Pension Scheme—passed by the National Assembly on 4th December 2025 and transmitted to him on 16th March, 2026, into law, nothing more than that.

“The soldiers have been exited, the SSS has been exited, the Air Force has been exited, the Navy has been exited, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has been exited. The police, who are the father of them all, are trapped in this obnoxious Contributory Pension Scheme,” CSP Irowainu said.

It is not the first time retired officers are staging a protest over the CPS. In July last year, they demonstrated at the National Assembly to demand their removal from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

The demonstrators, mostly elderly, stood in the rain holding placards and chanting anti-government songs.

Some of the retired police officers also besieged the Force Headquarters in Abuja to protest against the CPS.

Addressing the protesters at the time, the then Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, said the welfare of retired police officers was being addressed, but that the exit of the Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme was not something that could be implemented immediately.

He, however, advised the leaders of the protest to refrain from spreading misinformation, stressing that the Force could not abandon its own.