HENRY UMAHI recounts some gut-wrenching incidents that wreaked trauma on individuals and communities across Nigeria in the dying year
In 48 hours, the death knell will sound for the Year 2023. Not a few people would heave sighs of relief that the year had run its course, hoping that such an agony-filled year would never be experienced again.
•A community razed in the Plateau attacks
Indeed, 2023 has been a year of pain and suffering for many Nigerians. The pain brought about by the naira redesign policy of the immediate past administration and the fuel subsidy removal by the present Tinubu government have unleashed sheer havoc on the people.
And in the course of the year, there were stories that touch the heart, reports that brought caused intense sorrow, wailing and gnashing of teeth.
As the world prepared to celebrate Christmas, evil men from the pit of hell stormed some communities in Plateau State. Their mission was to kill, steal and destroy.
More than 160 persons were killed, hundreds wounded and 221 houses completely burnt down during the attacks by gunmen. They also looted farm produce and destroyed property worth millions.
On Tuesday, December 26, Gov. Caleb Mutfwang narrated the blood-chilling simultaneous attacks by assailants on over 15 communities in Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi local government areas of the state. He said: “Just when we had finished preparations for Christmas, unprovoked attacks were unleashed on our communities.
“As I am talking to you, in Mangu Local Government alone, we buried 15 people. As of this morning, in Bokkos, we are counting over 100 corpses. Not to talk of that of Barkin-Ladi.”
According to the governor, the attacks were “unprecedented and monumental,” adding that though the assailants intended to break the spirit of the people and pull down the two councils, the spirit of the people on the Plateau remains unshaven.
A statement by the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Alfred Alabo, said: “Findings from the assessment of the ugly incidents in Bokkos LGA revealed that the total number of villages attacked is 12; 221 houses were set ablaze, 27 motorcycles were burnt, eight motor vehicles were burnt down.”
This is just one of the attacks on the Plateau. Indeed, scores of people have been killed in the state this year.
On December 25, at least 25 persons lost their lives following an explosion from an illegal oil tapping point in Omoku, Ogba/Egebema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State. A source disclosed that while people were celebrating Christmas, some youths allegedly broke a pipeline belonging to one of the multinational oil firms operating in the area and started using jerry cans and buckets to scoop fuel. Then tragedy struck. Some of the victims were roasted beyond recognition while others sustained varying degrees of injury.
On December 3, Armageddon or its equivalent descended on Tudun Biri in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State. That day, drones operated by the Nigerian Army mistakenly bombed civilians performing religious rites in the area, killing over 120 persons. One particular family lost 32 members.
Expressing concern over the incident, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, Mr Peter Obi, lamented that Nigeria has experienced 16 accidental military bombings resulting in over 500 casualties.
It was indeed a black Independence celebration for Nigeria. During the month, the country harvested many tragedies of immense proportions. And families have been weeping in the valley of tears.
On October 1, a tanker laden with petrol spread anguish and tears at Koko junction on Benin-Sapele Road. The tanker was said to have fallen while meandering through the deplorable portion between Ologbo in Edo State and Koko in Delta State. It immediately exploded, resulting in the razing of about 15 private and commercial vehicles trapped in the usual gridlock on the failed road.
The cause of the explosion is in controversy. A source said that a spark from a malfunctioning vehicle ignited the fuel fire. However, police public relations officer in Delta State, Bright Edafe, a deputy superintendent of police, said when the tanker heading towards Benin fell down upon getting to Ugbenu Koko Junction, desperate youths of the area threw caution to the wind and rushed to scoop the product.
He said: “Its content spilled into the nearby swamp, and the spillage attracted youths who took advantage of the incident and started scooping the fuel into jerry cans and other containers. While they were at it, an explosion erupted and the fire from the explosion engulfed the whole area.
“The fire claimed the lives of five persons amongst the youths who had come to scoop the spilled fuel, and also combusted several property, including the fallen tanker, eight buses of different makes, two tankers, five trailers, two motorcycles, one Sienna space bus, and one ‘C’ Class Mercedes Benz car.”
A witnesses regretted the horrific development, noting that he counted over 20 bodies.
On the same day, 19 persons, including a pregnant woman and a fresh graduate, were burnt beyond recognition in another fire that engulfed an illegal bunkering dump in Ibaa community in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State. Also burnt was a young lady billed to get married next month while 25 injured persons were rescued, including the alleged owner of the illegal site.
At about 11am on Monday, October 2, 2023, a family of four was electrocuted around Dinyavo area of Jalingo, in Taraba State. The cause of the incident that happened was suspected to be a power surge.
Police public relations officer in Taraba State, Abdullahi Usman, who confirmed the electrocution on Monday, identified the victims as Remond Ofonbuk, Mfonbong Remond, Hevean Remond and First Remond.
He said: “At about 11am on Monday, we were reliably informed that a house located at Dinyavoh area of Jalingo was on fire. Detectives from GRA Police Division were quickly deployed to the scene and, on arrival, found the four victims with burns suspected to be from electrocution.
“We have received information indicating that immediately power was restored, the transformer serving the area blew up. We learnt that many houses within the neighbourhood experienced high electric voltage which might have led to the fire outbreak that inflicted burns on the victims.
“The remains of the deceased have been deposited at the Federal Medical Centre, Jalingo for autopsy while investigation is on to ascertain the actual cause of the incident.”
On Tuesday, October 31, 2023, the Niger State Police Command said it had nabbed one Joy Afekafe, 14, ‘of Gbeganu community in Minna, the state capital, as a prime suspect in the gruesome murder of a lecturer with the Department of Biochemistry, Federal University of Technology, (FUT) Minna, Professor Mrs. Funmilola Adefolalu.
Adefolalu, who was also a pastor at Voice of Mercy Ministry, was murdered at her residence in Gbaiko, a suburb of Minna, on Saturday, October 28.
In a statement issued on October 31 in Minna, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Wasiu Abiodun, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said Joy Afekafe, a former housemaid of the deceased, was in police net in connection with the crime. He disclosed that the suspect served as housemaid to the deceased for three weeks, but the latter sacked Joy before her assassination.
The police said after she was laid off, the suspect met her classmates called Walex and Smart and narrated her ordeal with her late boss to them, and they conspired to attack the lecturer at her residence.
“She said they went to the residence on 28/10/2023, at about 1600hrs, with a motorcycle and she surfaced at the gate, while the lecturer opened the gate for her. Walex and Smart later entered, beat the deceased, hit her head with a stud and stabbed her with a knife brought by Walex, while Smart took another knife from the kitchen and stabbed her severally.”
The suspect added that the lecturer’s phone and laptop were taken away, while the battery of the vehicle parked in the compound was removed before they fled the scene.
Wasiu said the suspect would be transferred to SCID for further investigation and diligent prosecution, while effort was ongoing to arrest other fleeing suspects.
A few days before that incident, a gut-wrenching news of man’s inhumanity to woman took over the internet. Justina Otuene, a 21-year-old 300-level undergraduate of the University of Port Harcourt was allegedly butchered by her former boyfriend, Damian Okoligwe, a 400-level Petrochemical Engineering student of the same university.
The suspect had also allegedly harvested Justina’s organs for ritual purposes. The police were called when the stench oozing out of the decomposing body became unbearable in the neighbourhood.
On October 21, a lady was nabbed for allegedly conniving with her mother to sell her baby for N450, 000 in Nkwere, Imo State.
The girl, who was nabbed by a vigilante outfit, was paraded alongside her mother, the nurse involved, the lady who facilitated the deal and the woman who the baby was last seen with.
Indeed, many evil acts were perpetrated in the country in October, from the fringe of the Sahara to the Atlantic coastline. It was as if there was a competition for people to outdo one another in the field of sin and go home with invaluable gifts.
Take these: On October 30, Justice Blessing Egwu of a High Court sitting in Calabar, Cross River State, sentenced one Jide Afolayan Sunday, 33, to life imprisonment for bathing his girlfriend, Glory Sylvester Ita, with acid. Glory’s offence was that she refused to marry the convict.
Sunday’s love with vengeance consumed Glory’s ear, breast and other parts of her body. So, Justice Egwu found him guilty of attempted murder and ordered that he serve his sentence at the Calabar Medium Security Custodial Centre. She also ordered the convict to pay N10 million as compensation for the victim’s surgery.
On Saturday, October 14, 2023, a mother of two allegedly bathed her husband with hot water over the sharing of N15,000 paid to the family at Nchia community, in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The woman, who hails from Akwa-Ibom State, but married to a man from Nchia community, was nabbed by the Nchia Security Council (community vigilantes) while trying to escape after committing the evil act.
It was gathered that the woman had a disagreement with her husband who allegedly seized the N15,000 share of dividend paid to the family as host community to multinational companies.
She alleged that her husband refused to pay her what was due to her and her two children out of the money.
For not surrendering the money to her and her two daughters, the woman poured hot water on her husband’s face and seized his Automated Tell Machine (ATM) card. While the man was writhing in pain, she attempted to escape.
It was the man’s cry of agony that attracted the community’s vigilantes. Realising that she was being pursued, she ran back into her house and hid in the ceiling. There, she was caught and brought down.
Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the incident, saying the woman was being detained.
Few days earlier, a Rivers State woman identified as Hope Nwala allegedly bathed her sleeping husband, Ekelediri Nwankwo Nwala, with hot groundnut oil over a minor disagreement at Okehi community in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Nwankwo said: “I had told my wife’s younger sister to leave my house because of the way she has started dressing, and the way she occupies my matrimonial bed even when I am around. No young guy will tolerate such behaviour, but my wife has prevented the younger sister from leaving the house.
“I also saw my wife alone with one tall black guy in the shop I rented for her. Not that he is in for business, he followed my wife and sister here and there. With all these, I gave her younger sister N2000 transport fare to go home so that I can actually understand what is going on in my house, but my wife got upset. While I went to bed to sleep, she used boiled groundnut oil on me, then start hitting me with harmer.”
Speaking while being paraded by the police, the suspect said: “Nobody will believe my story after seeing the state of the wounds on my husband. I can’t deny my actions because the evidence is there for all to see. But for the sake of our son, I plead for pardon. I now realise my mistake and it is based on anger issues.”
The Gombe State Police Command arrested one Rabilu Adamu over kidnapping and murder of his three-year-old nephew, Ismail Sadi. Adamu, of Gombe Abba, Dukku Local Government Area Gombe State was arrested alongside his accomplice, Ado Yusuf, 28, of Soro in Darazo Local Government Area in Bauchi State, over the alleged offences.
Police Public Relations Officer in the state, ASP Mahid Muazu Abubakar, said that on 20/10/2023, a formal complaint was made by one Malam Sadi Musa of Gombe Abba, Dukku LGA Gombe State to the police in the area.
“He complained that on 18/10/2023 at about 100hrs, he discovered that his three-year-old son, named Ismail Sadi, was kidnapped by an unknown person but later suspected one Rabilu Adamu, his nephew, following his suspicious movement while in search of the missing child.
“On receipt of the complaint, the Officer in charge of Gombe Abba Police Outstation and his team rushed to the area and arrested the said Rabilu and brought him to the station for questioning.
“After diligent investigation, the suspect confessed to having handed over the said Ismail to his accomplice, Ado Yusuf of Zoro village, Darazo LGA Bauchi State, after kidnapping him together at Gombe Abba village.
“A team of police operatives attached to Dukku Division led by the DPO, swung into action and succeeded in arresting the said Ado who denied having the victim in his custody even after arriving at Dukku Divisional Police Headquarters.
“During interrogation, the two suspects confessed to have kidnapped the victim on 18/10/2023 at about 10 am, took him to an unknown destination, tied him with rope, and left him there lying down till 11 pm.
“Further investigation revealed that after picking up the three-year-old boy, the suspects killed him, put him in a sack, and took him to the room of Rabilu who happens to be his cousin.
“The body had already started decomposing before it was recovered by the police and taken to hospital for certification while the suspects have confessed to the crime voluntarily.”
On October 11, the Nigeria Police Force paraded two ladies, Adama Joseph and Oreoluwa Davies, for robbery and the murder of a Kwara socialite, Adeniyi Ojo, son of Chief Emmanuel Ojo, a prominent figure in Ilorin, Kwara State. The suspects, who were said to be students of Kwara Polytechnic, Ilorin, lured the victim into having a threesome and they killed him.
While parading the suspects, the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said: “On October 6, 2023, police operatives were able to track and apprehend these suspects in Mowe Ibafo, Ogun State.
“In a tragic incident, the duo tied the deceased under the guise of having a sex romp and demanded money from him. But when he was not forthcoming, they resorted to drugging and suffocating him, leading to his untimely demise.”
In her narration of the event, Oreoluwa said: “We have finished our ND programme at Kwara Polytechnic before the incident happened. We didn’t plan to kill him. On that particular day, we went with the intention to steal from him, so we told him that we wanted to do BDSM, and he agreed to have a threesome with me and my friend.”
Adama said: “After Oreoluwa tied his hands and legs, I tried to gag his mouth, but he refused, and I stopped. So, when we couldn’t find any money in his pocket, my friend took his phone and showed it to his face to open it with facial lock, but he started shouting, and he loosened one of the ropes on his hands, and started hitting my friend. We put Refnol (Rohypnol) in his mouth. So, in a bid to stop him from making noise, my friend put a pillow over his face, and when he went silent, we told him that we were leaving, because we thought he was pretending, but he didn’t respond, so we left. I touched him with a dead knife used for cutting cake, but he didn’t bleed as I never meant to stab him or hurt him, we only wanted to take his money. We didn’t know he died until when the police arrested us in Ogun State. We only took his phone, the knife, and the ropes with us.”
On October 10, an 18-year-old pregnant housewife, Khadija Adamu, was paraded by the police in Bauchi State for allegedly beating her five-year-old stepdaughter to death for defecating on her body.
The Bauchi State Commissioner of Police, Auwal Muhammad, made the disclosure while parading the suspect before journalists at the command’s headquarters.
He said: “Preliminary Investigation revealed that the suspect beat up the victim as a result of an allegation that she passed stool that spoiled her clothes and she sustained various degrees of injuries on her body. During interrogation, the suspect allegedly confessed to the offence against her without much argument.”
He said that the suspect confessed during interrogation but added that it was not intentional.
Miss Joel Grace Chalya, an NYSC member with call-up number: KD/23A/4386 was brutally murdered in Kaduna on October 18, 2023. After participating in morning devotion with fellow corps members at Barnawa GRA in Kaduna, where she resided, Chalya went out for a jog when she was attacked and fatally stabbed by unidentified hoodlums. The attackers also went away with her phone.
In a press statement on October 22, Chidinma Ikeanyionwu, the media aide to Anambra State Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Ify Obinabo, said a baby was rescued following a report by his mother, Ijeoma Nwosu. The three-month-old baby was allegedly sold by a woman, Oluchukwu Nwosu, who is her grandmother, for N50,000 in Anambra State.
According to Ijeoma, her mother forcefully sold her baby soon after he was born and has since refused to tell her where he is.
“After almost a month of consistent intelligence surveillance by the State Ministry of Women and Social Welfare Awka, the offenders were caught.”
Obinabo lamented that despite the state government’s efforts to put an end to all forms of illegal adoption, some people continued to indulge in it.
“All of the perpetrators of this act have been found and given to the police for additional questioning and investigation as of the time of this report.”
In October, daredevil armed robbers attacked five banks in broad daylight, in Otukpo town, Benue State and killed several persons, including four police officers. While unofficial sources put the number of the deceased at 19, the police said 14 persons were killed. Among those killed was a former youth corps member, Mr. Emmanuel Uche, who just ended his mandatory one-year NYSC service with one of the banks and had just resumed work a week earlier after he was retained by the bank.
A resident, Sunday Ogah, who expressed shock at the incident, said they had never witnessed a thing like that in the past. “The robbers turned themselves into celebrities, rode freely behind a Hilux van unhooded, attacked a police station, disarmed security personnel, went from bank to bank, engaged in a killing spree, robbed five banks successfully and headed out.”
Also, in October 2023, the Lagos State High Court sentenced a police officer attached to Ajiwe police station in Ajah, Lagos, Drambi Vandi, to death by hanging for the fatal shooting of Bolanle Raheem, a Lagos-based lawyer, on Christmas Day in 2022.
The tragic incident occurred at the Ajah roundabout in Lagos when Raheem, an expectant mother, was shot and killed while on her way to church with her family.
In October, about 23 people were killed in a boat mishap in Yauri, Kebbi State. In April, a boat capsized in Bayelsa State and many of the passengers drowned.
On August 17, 2023, eight NYSC members and the driver of the Akwa Ibom Transport Company (AKTC) bus they were travelling in were kidnapped in Zamfara State while on their way to Sokoto State to observe the mandatory national service. Four of them were later freed.
The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) announced that no fewer than 36 officers were killed in battle, including an air mission, on August 14.
In March, a moving train rammed into a Lagos State bus conveying civil servants to work. In the crash, which occurred at the PWD Bus Stop in Ikeja area of Lagos, six persons were confirmed dead while over 82 persons were injured.
Mrs Jennifer Efidi became a viral sensation during the presidential election in February 2023 after she was stabbed in the face but went ahead to cast her vote.
In Benue State armed herdsmen made sorrow, tears and blood their signature. Many people were maimed and slaughtered this year.
And on Wednesday, December 27, Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, died at 67 after a prolonged battle with leukaemia and prostate cancer.