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Uganda’s main opposition leader Bobi Wine, who has emerged as the most formidable opponent of veteran President Yoweri Museveni, has been shot in the leg by security agents in a northern suburb of the capital, Kampala, his party said.

Bobi Wine, a singer-turned-politician whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, finished runner-up in the 2021 presidential election behind Museveni, who has ruled the East African country for nearly 40 years.Bobi Wine’s party, the National Unity Platform, said in a post on the X platform on Tuesday that “Security operatives have made an attempt [on his life].”

They added: “He was shot in the leg and seriously injured.”

The police said officers had attempted to block Bobi Wine and his team from marching down a road, resulting in an altercation in which he was injured. An investigation would be conducted to clarify the facts, the police said in a statement on X.

“Police officers on site claim he stumbled while getting into his vehicle, causing the injury, whereas Hon. Kyagulanyi and his team assert that he was shot,” the police said.Incident prompts condemnation

A video shared widely on social media showed NUP party officials helping Bobi Wine hobble out of the Najeem Medical Centre in the Bulindo neighbourhood. He appeared to have a bleeding wound on the shin of his left leg and was grimacing in pain.

“We condemn this cowardly action; yet another attempt on his life. The continuing violence meted out on those opposed to the Museveni regime must be condemned by all people of good conscience,” NUP party Secretary-General David Lewis Rubongoya wrote on X.Museveni’s government has been accused by opponents and human rights activists of stifling the opposition, something Museveni denies.

A US State Department spokesperson told reporters on Tuesday that Washington was “concerned that violence against oppositi: on voices means the democratic space continues to shrink in Uganda”.

Bobi Wine has amassed huge support among the youth in Uganda, a nation of 46 million people, with many wooed initially by his rags-to-riches story as a pop star from the ghetto, and in recent years by his bold criticism of Museveni’s government.

Source: Aljazeera

A mother and her three daughters were among seven people killed in Ukraine’s western city of Lviv, during a fresh wave of Russian attacks. A baby and another girl were also killed, officials said. Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy said Russia had attacked with drones and hypersonic missiles early on Wednesday.

The attack came as Ukraine reeled from Russia’s deadliest single bombardment this year – a strike on a military institute in the central city of Poltava that left 53 people dead.

Explosions were also heard on Wednesday over the capital Kyiv as air defences targeted Russian missiles. Five people were wounded in Kryvyy Rih when a hotel was hit and nearby blocks of flats were damaged.The attack on Lviv in the far west of Ukraine came as all of Ukraine was under air raid alert. Witnesses said the city was targeted at about 05:40 (02:40 GMT).

Russia’s defence ministry said it had fired Kinzhal hypersonic weapons at Ukrainian defence industry facilities in Lviv and that all designated targets had been hit.

However, Mr Sadovy said Russia’s attack had damaged more than 50 buildings in the historic heart of Lviv, including homes, schools and clinics.

He posted a picture on social media of a local family, saying that only the father had survived. His wife, Yevgenia, and their three daughters – Darina, Emilia and 21-year-old Yaryna – all died in their own home, he said.The Ukrainian air force said Russia had fired 13 missiles and 29 attack drones and that seven cruise missiles and 22 drones were shot down.

Mr Sadovy said some buildings were struck near the railway station and Lviv regional administration head Maksym Kozytskyi said residential buildings had been damaged in the attack.

Lviv has largely been spared the worst of the fighting over the two and a half years of war, but last week, Russian strikes targeted its energy infrastructure causing outages, according to officials.

President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed his calls for Ukraine’s Western allies to all their long-range weapons to be fired further into Russia.

In Poltava, rescue workers continued to search through the rubble of the military communications institute for survivors of the attack. Mykyta Petrov, a 26-year-old cadet who only started there two weeks ago, said two missiles hit shortly after 09:00 (06:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the second detonating just three seconds after the first.

“I ran outside, there was smoke and dust everywhere…lots of people were outside having a cigarette, and many were killed.” The cadet said there was “too much blood, too many dead bodies”, and what he had seen had affected him psychologically.

An air raid siren had gone off two minutes earlier, but had not given people enough time to reach bomb shelters.”You just imagine you’re on the sixth floor of some building and you need to run away downstairs. Is it realistic that you can do this in two minutes?” Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko told the BBC.

Officials said 271 people had been wounded in the Russian strikes on Poltava, and by Wednesday afternoon, 400 people had already given blood at the main regional hospital.

Among them was Oleksandr Moskvich, 38, who was badly wounded on the frontline last year in the fierce battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut.He pointed to scars on his neck and back where he had been shot by Russian troops while he was on patrol. “At the moment I can only give people my blood, my support. I can talk to them and try to understand, because I passed through this.”

Poltava is observing three days of mourning and there was an eerie quiet throughout the hospital. A Ukrainian flag flew outside the building with a black ribbon attached, while inside, the corridors of the blood donation ward were filled as people waited their turn.

The doctor in charge of blood donation, Volodymyr Rudikov, said the people of Poltava had joined together at an unimaginably difficult time: “This is something I’ve never seen in my 16 years as a chief doctor.”President Zelensky promised that what he called “Russian scum” would pay for the attack, and repeated calls for more air defences so Ukraine could protect itself by carrying out its own long-range missile attacks.

In a statement confirming the deaths of military personnel, Ukraine’s land forces said an investigation was under way to establish whether enough was done to protect those in the facility the missile hit.

Poltava regional governor Philip Pronin called the attack a “cunning and cynical Russian strike,” and later said 15 people were still thought to be trapped under the rubble.

Mr Zelensky was due to meet the Irish premier on Wednesday as Ireland prepared to announce new funding for Ukraine’s war effort. The Irish government said the package would provide essential humanitarian assistance, support rehabilitation and eventual reconstruction, and contribute to Ukraine’s longer-term goals.

Source: BBC

No fewer than 34 Yobe villagers, killed in a Sunday attack by Boko Haram terrorists in Mafa village, were given a mass burial on Tuesday. The victims were buried at Babangida, the headquarters of the Tarmuwa Local Government of Yobe State.

Though villagers said over 100 persons were killed, the state government said the casualty figure was 34.

The dead bodies were recovered in a search-and-rescue operation led by the Nigerian Army and supported by local vigilantes.Villagers claimed that  86 dead bodies were recovered in the surrounding communities of the Mafa village, following the terror attack, during which several houses were razed by the insurgents.

The dead bodies were prepared for burial by the volunteers of the Nigerian Red Cross Society, Babangida Division under the supervision of the Divisional Secretary, Garba Bulama Kachallah.

The spokesman for the Yobe State Police Command,  Dungus Abdulkarim, had on Monday, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, confirmed the terror attack on the Mafa village in the Tarmuwa Local Government Area of Yobe State.Abdulkarim said though the police had not ascertained the casualty figure, the attackers killed many villagers and razed many houses in the community.

“We have yet to ascertain the number of lives lost in the incident, which occurred at about 4 pm on Sunday in the remote village. “The incident was reported to the Tarmuwa Divisional Police Station by Babagana Goni and Bako Ibrahim, both residents of Mafa.”

The police spokesman added that the insurgents dropped some fliers with Arabic inscriptions. The armed assailants were said to have invaded the community on Sunday, riding over  50 motorcycles.

The Yobe State Deputy Governor, Idi Gubana, led a state government delegation on a visit to the community, where he donated N30m to the families of the victims on Tuesday.

The deputy governor, however, said the casualty figure was 34.He condoled with the Emir of Jajere, Mai Mashio, and the people of the area over the dastardly act.Gubana directed the State Emergency Management Agency to provide shelter and food items for the displaced persons who lost all their belongings as a result of the attack.

He stated that the state Governor, Mai Mala Buni, who was utterly devastated by the killings, had visited the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, over sustainable security in Mafa.

The deputy governor noted that the deployment of sufficient troops in Mafa – located at the border of Borno and Yobe- would prevent future attacks in the trade hub.

Commenting on the attack, Buni’s Special Adviser on Security Matters, Brig.- Gen. Dahiru Abdulsalam, debunked claims that more than 34 people died in the attack.

“The figure is 34 people that were found dead, while five persons sustained injuries. Four are in critical condition, while the other, sustained a minor injury and he is in stable condition.

“Any information apart from this is just a rumour. Nobody has gone to Mafa yesterday other than the troops, who brought these bodies.“The insurgents are not confronting the military; they are confronting innocent civilians who are soft targets,” he said.

The incident threw the Mafa village and those living in the local government headquarters into mourning.

In a statement on Tuesday,  former Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, condemned the attacked and condoled with the state government and the families of the victims.

“I condole with the families of the victims who lost their lives in the recent insurgent attack on Mafa village in the Tarmuwa Local Government Area of Yobe State.

“I strongly condemn the heinous act of violence and extend my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families. “Similarly, I condole with His Excellency, the Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, the Yobe State Government and the entire people of Yobe State.

“I call on the security agencies to intensify efforts in tracking down the perpetrators of this heinous and dastardly act and bringing them to justice.“I call on the National Emergency Management Agency and the North East Development Commission to dispatch medical personnel and relief materials to the affected community to provide necessary assistance and support to the injured and displaced residents.

“I urge the people of Tarmuwa Local Government Area to remain calm and vigilant, and enjoin them to report any suspicious activities to the security agencies for prompt response,” Lawan said in the statement.

Source: Punch

Hundreds of tricycle operators yesterday took to the streets of Kano State, protesting the hike in the pump price of Petrol.This came as the price of Premium Motor  Spirit, PMS, otherwise known as petrol has been adjusted to as high as N1, 200 across some filling stations, as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, sells for N904 per litre in the state.

The protesting tricycle operators who gathered around the Dangi Bridge in Kano halted free flow of traffic during the duration of the protest that lasted for hours.

Commuters and motorists were stranded as the tricycle operators deserted the road to join long queues while other passengers complained about the price hike.

Speaking, an operator, Abdulazeez Ibrahim, said, “I can recall when I used to buy petrol for N95. One day during the late President Shehu Musa Yar’adua regime, we went to buy fuel and they halted the process.

“We all thought it was going to be increased but they adjusted the litre to N65. It was something that I would never forget in my life. When things go up, they never come down in Nigeria and since then it has been like that.

“Where are we heading to in this country? How do we survive now? It is very unfortunate that we are witnessing this in this country.”

A passenger, Ramatu Aminu was seen lamenting, saying “I usually board tricycle from Gyadi-Gyadi to Hotoro junction between N150 and N200 before but today the tricycle charged me N300. The price is high and the tricycle operator attributed it to the petrol hike. Infact, a lot of passengers were stranded on the road as there were no tricycles plying the road,”The situation is not different in Jigawa State as petrol price has been jerked up to N1, 350 in Dutse, Jigawa State.

A motorist in Dutse, Aliyu Katsina said he had earlier bought the fuel at N1, 150 per litre only to be told the price has increased to N1, 350.

“I bought the fuel for N1, 150 this morning but my colleague who went to the same filing station in the afternoon told me he got the fuel for N1, 350. That was an increment of N300. It is unfortunate,” Katsina stated.

Source: Vanguard

At least eight persons were confirmed dead on Wednesday after two separate attacks carried out by gunmen in Congo and Zarap communities in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State.

It was learnt that among the victims was a member of the Community Peace Service in Bokkos LG identified simply as Kenneth Kadish It was further gathered that one of the attacks, which occurred around 7 p.m. near the Congo community’s market, took place shortly after the market had closed for the day.

While six persons died instantly in the Congo community, in the neighbouring Zarap community two persons were killed.The Chairman of the Community Peace Service in Bokkos LGA, Kefas Mallai, confirmed the two attacks to The PUNCH in Jos on Wednesday

The chairman said, “Some armed men just came to the Angwa community and Zarap community and attacked the people on Tuesday night around 7 pm. Nobody expected that there would be any attack on the people who are struggling to put behind them the ugly experiences of previous attacks“In Angwa Congo, the people were just relaxing and enjoying themselves because that Tuesday was their market day when some armed persons appeared and opened fire on those standing. Six persons died instantly while some persons were injured. Among the six persons who died was my member of peace Ambassador, Kenneth Kadish, who is a member of the Community Peace Service in Bokkos LGA.“Then in the Zarap community, some gunmen on motorbikes just shot at two persons standing in front of their houses and killed two of them. All the attacks and killings happened on Tuesday night and took the same pattern ”

The chairman, who condemned the attacks, said that the matter had been reported to the security agents.

“We have reported the attacks to the security agents because the place where the attack on the Angwa Congo community took place was not far from the security checkpoint. They have come to check the place and I think they have started their investigation to know those who carried out the attack and possibly apprehend them,” the chairman said.

The Spokesman for the Plateau Police Command, Alabo Alfred, was not readily available when contacted as his mobile phone indicated that it was switched off

The latest attack adds to the growing insecurity in Bokkos LGA, where various communities have been repeatedly targeted, leaving residents in a constant state of fear and uncertainty.

Source: Punch

A juju priestess on Tuesday night apprehended two suspected kidnappers in her shrine at Ewherhe-Agbarho community in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State.

The juju priestess reportedly inflicted machete cuts on the suspects and tied them up, DAILY POST learnt.

It was also gathered that she called leaders of the community to come and evacuate the suspects from her shrine.It was learnt that the suspects who are from the northern part of Nigeria, burgled the shrine and attacked the daughter of the juju priestess.

The daughter however raised alarm which attracted her mother, the juju priestess, who came to her rescue with a cutlass.

DAILY POST gathered that the community leaders handed the suspects over to the Agbarho Police Division.

Efforts to get the comments of the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Bright Edafe, were not successful as at the time of filing this report.

Source: Daily Post

Operatives of the Ibadan Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have arrested 39 suspected internet fraudsters in Oyo State. The EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday in Ibadan, the state capital.

The suspects were prosecuted by Justices O.S. Adeyemi, Bayo Taiwo and Ladiran Akintola, all of the Oyo State High Court, sitting in Ibadan.Oyewale said they were prosecuted on a separate one-count charge each, bordering on impersonation, cheating, possession of fraudulent documents and obtaining by false pretence.

The convicts were Fasanya Gbolahan; Nkiri Destiny; Fakoya Samuel; Owolabi Damilare; Isiaka Adebayo; Olawoyin Olasunkanmi; Olawale Abideen; Olayiwola Waheed; Kehinde Abdulrauf; Okunlola Abidoun; Okunlola Mujeeb; Ademeso Olamide; Lawal Ridwan; Femi Oluremi; Ehinmowo Damilola; Joseph Justice; Enitan John; Kolawole Josaiah; Alo Emmanuel; Adetola Idris and Joshua Shiyanbola.Others include Idowu David; Salau Ayomide; Adeyemi Adeleke; Philip Olatunde; Fasanya Tunde; Seun Babatunde; Ogoayo Sijuola; Akanji Bidoun; Quadri Oyindamola; Samuel Oluwatobi; Ogunyemi Opemiposi; Olabanjo Olatunbosun; Paul Uche; Ayomiposi Akinyimika; Abdullahi Adisa; Ajetunmobi Olashile; Oluwaseun Adeniran and Onah Ayomide.The charge against Austine Ayomide reads, “That you, Ayomide ‘M’ on or about March 28, 2024, at Ibadan, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, fraudulently impersonated by representing yourself to be a white woman by the name Linda Mary from United States of America, through your Facebook account (Linda Mary) to one Clifton Deininger, from United States of America, with intent to gain advantage for yourself and thereby committed an offence of personation contrary to Section 484 of the Criminal Code Law Cap 38, Laws of Oyo State, 2000.”

They all pleaded “guilty” to the charges when they were read to them, following which prosecution counsel reviewed the facts of the cases, tendered incriminating documents and prayed the courts to convict and sentence them accordingly.Justice Adeyemi convicted and sentenced Ayomide to one year of community service or to pay a fine of N200,000; Tunde got a month jail term or to pay a fine of N250,000 while Abeeb Ayomide, Adeleke, Babatunde, Biodun, Oyindamola, Oluwatobi, Olatunbosun, Uche, Akinyimika, Adisa, Olashile and Adeniran bagged six months community service each and to pay N50, 000.00 each in addition to their sentence, besides Abeeb Ayomide who was slammed with N500, 000.00 in addition to his sentence.

He slammed Sijuola with one month of community service or to pay a fine of N100,000. Olatunde and Opemiposi were handed three months of community service without an option of a fine.Justice Taiwo on his part convicted and sentenced Taoreed Abidoun to three months imprisonment and Mujeeb to four months jail term while Olasunkanmi and Abideen bagged six months community service each and were further ordered to pay a fine of N150,000.00 each in addition their sentences.

He convicted and sentenced Gbolahan, Damilare, Adebayo and Abdulrauf to five months of community service each and gave the latter a fine option of N100,000. Waheed and Samuel got four months of community service, and a fine of N100,000.00, while Destiny bagged two months of community service.Justice Akintola convicted and sentenced Olamide, Oluremi, Damilola, Justice, Josaiah, Emmanuel and Shiyanbola to bag a one-year jail term each or to pay a fine of N30, 000.00, N50, 000.00, N75, 000.00, N75, 000.00, N50, 000.00, N120, 000.00 and N100, 000.00 respectively.

Damilola forfeited a green-coloured Nissan Micra car with registration number: LSD – 464 – GU with Chassis Number: SJNFBAK11U3001751; Emmanuel forfeited a black-coloured Lexus IS 250 car with registration number: MUS–158–JHS and Justice forfeited a black-coloured Toyota Corolla car with registration number: FST-607–GN.Justice Akintola convicted and sentenced Idris and David to six months of community service each or to pay fines of N60,000.00 and N150, 000.00 respectively. Ridwan and John bagged three months of community service each or to pay fines of N25, 000.00 and N30, 000.00 respectively.

The convicts forfeited all items recovered from them to the Federal Government. All the convicts began their journey to prison when they were arrested in a sting operation for fraudulent internet activities.

Source: Punch

The family of Police Inspector Charity Agwu has petitioned the National Agency for the Protection of Trafficking in Persons to investigate the disappearance of a baby boy she helped rescue from his mentally challenged mother.

Inspector Agwu found the baby on December 2, 2022, and reported the incident to the Ebonyi State Police Command, which then contacted the state Ministry of Women Affairs. The ministry took the baby to a motherless babies’ home in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.

However, the baby’s whereabouts became unknown, and Inspector Agwu is being suspected of involvement in his disappearance. Her family denies these allegations and seeks NAPTIP’s assistance in tracing and retrieving the baby.

In a petition dated July 21, 2024, addressed to NAPTIP’s Director General, Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi, the family narrated the events leading to the baby’s disappearance.They explained that Inspector Agwu had been denied access to the baby after he was transferred to the motherless home and that his current location remains unknown.

The family is seeking NAPTIP’s help in investigating the circumstances surrounding the baby’s disappearance and ensuring his safety. The petition with reference number RCAA/DG/Vol.our 06/21/2024 and titled ‘A Case of a Child  (Baby Boy) Rescued from a Mentally Challenged Woman by Insp. Charity Agwu Along Centenary City Road, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State On 2nd day of December 2022: A Call for Thorough and Discrete Investigation to Unravel the Whereabouts of the Child and his Custody,’ obtained on Monday by our correspondent, which was written at the instance of Mrs Janet Alex and Chinyere Nwele, elder sisters of Inspector Charity Agwu on behalf of themselves and their family, narrated how Charity rescued the said baby on December 2, 2022, reported the case to the Central Police Station covering the area the child was rescued from, but the circumstances were neither recorded nor the matter incidented.The petition reads in part, “We are solicitors to Mrs Janet Alex and Chinyere Nwele for themselves and on behalf of an unknown mentally challenged woman with her baby boy whose whereabouts and custody are unknown, hereinafter referred to as our client.

“Under their firm instruction, we write as hereunder clearly stated: That Mrs. Janet Alex, the senior sister of Insp. Charity Agwu informed us that she visited her younger sister, detained on Monday, the 10th day of June 2024 at the SWAT Office of the Ebonyi State Command and whose orderly trial commenced on Wednesday 12th day of June 2024 on the knowledge of an allegation against her of stealing the child of mental.”

“That on the 2nd day of December 2022, her younger sister, Inspector Charity Agwu, then a Sergeant, went out to eat from her duty beat at the Central Bank of Nigeria, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State on a bike she boarded heading for Covenant Road around 4:00 pm where she saw a mentally challenged woman carrying something wrapped with a black waterproof.

“That she curiously and reasonably suspected, being a professionally intelligent officer and responsible mother, that what the mentally challenged woman was carrying wrapped in a black waterproof bag during that harmattan period could be a baby…

“Our client informed us that the mentally challenged woman seeing her younger sister Charity Agwu in uniform as a police officer out of fear pleaded with Charity not to hurt her and she promised not to and then requested her to release the baby to her.

“Our client informed us that her sister on inquiry from the mentally challenged woman where she hails from she burst into laughter and continued pleading with our client’ sister not to hurt her.“That conversation between her and our client’s sister attracted the attention of passersby who were curious and very anxious to know what was going on between the mentally challenged woman carrying a baby wrapped in a waterproof bag and Sgt. Charity Agwu in police uniform gathered around them.“She was pleading with the mentally challenged woman to release the baby to her to take care of while concerted efforts would be made to find out where she hails from to enable her to contact her relatives to come and identify her and take custody of the baby.

“That arrangement was also made to take her to a psychiatric hospital for medical intervention as she sounds a little bit sane. “On leaving the scene, our client’s sister moved straight away to the Central Police Station, Abakaliki, covering the area to incident the matter officially for proper documentation and records, where she met some of her colleagues and narrated her story and encounter with the said mentally challenged woman, the biological mother of the child she was carrying.

“She met the DCO, Kenneth Owo (now retired) at the CPS, who drew the attention of DSP Ngozi Ugbala O/C Juvenile Welfare Centre and asked Charity to narrate her story in respect of her encounter with a mentally challenged woman, the biological mother of the child she was carrying which she did.

“After narrating the entire episode to them in the presence of some of her other colleagues, our client’s sister met a brick wall, as DSP Ngozi Ugbala refused to incident and document the matter and record her statement, but rather directed her to take the child to the Ebonyi State Police Command to her greatest chagrin, embarrassment and disappointment.

“Thereafter, they said she rushed to the Ebonyi State Police Command at her expense where she fortunately saw the DPO, CSP Adeyemi Mutala in charge of the CPS, Abakaliki and narrated her story, again the matter was recorded.Instead, the DPO took them to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP Robert Clement in charge of the State Criminal Investigation Department before she narrated the story of her encounter with the mentally challenged woman, the mother of the child she was carrying.“After commending her sister for her compassion, empathy, kindness and effort in trying to save the life of the baby whose health was not quite sound, having been exposed to the vagaries of harmattan made precarious by the dirty water from the gutter he has been fed with by her mother, the DCP sent his orderly to call the O/C Juvenile Welfare Centre, DSP Loveth Uche Ogboya, who she asked to take them to the Police Clinic for immediate medical attention to the child.”

The petition noted that at the clinic, Charity met CSP Bridget Onuoha and other staff in charge of the Police Clinic as directed, who prescribed medication for the child and asked her to go and purchase them to be administered to the baby and avoid deterioration of his health condition.

It added, “That DSP Loveth Uche Ogboya told her sister not to bother about purchasing the medication but rather sent one of his aides by name W/Inspr. Maureen Ezeogo is to purchase the same as prescribed to be administered to the baby.

“That after administration of the medication (injection) to the child, DSP Loveth Uche Ogboya ordered her sister to hand over the child to her aide, W/Inspr. Maureen Ezeogo, but she refused. Her refusal to hand over the child as ordered by DSP Loveth Uche Ogboya irked her leading to an altercation…

“After his circumcision, the petitioner noted that on Sunday the 4th day of December 2022, Charity got a phone call from an unknown and unidentifiable number informing her that he was calling on behalf of DSP Loveth Uche Ogboya, O/c JWC.

“The caller located her sister in the company of a woman suspected to be his wife but refused to disclose their identity and informed her that Loveth Uche Ogboya sent them to see her in respect of the said child and to inform her of the interest of Loveth Uche Ogboya, since her sister has children already and requested her to give the baby to Loveth Uche, which request our client’s sister turned down and they left feeling disappointed.“Our client’s sister also informed us that on Monday the 5th day of December 2022 Loveth Uche Ogboya met her at the State Police Command and asked her to go with her to see the Deputy Commissioner of Police then, to determine the fate of the baby, but her sister wondered aloud why Loveth Uche Ogboya was hell-bent on taking the baby away from her by all means fair or foul using intimidation.“It is also the information of our client’s sister that Loveth Uche Ogboya got infuriated arguing that her sister would not dare tell her what to do about the child, being her superior officer and the person in charge who has the final say, which did not go well with her sister who had been in the custody of taking care of the child and so went back to her office.

“Our client further informed us that no sooner had her sister entered her office, one ASP Grace Ogbusua came to her demanding the child from her and his whereabouts and asked her why she left the child in her house, a child her sister signed an undertaking to have custody and take care of.

“Our client’s sister simply asked ASP Grace Ogbusua what was her stake in the child she rescued from his mother. ASP Ogbusua became visibly aggressively angry with her and threatened to twist the matter against her in favour of Loveth Uche Ogboya which her sister would consequently regret when the chips would be down and which is playing out now.

“To make good her threat for reasons best known to her, ASP Grace Ogbusua immediately went to the Deputy Commissioner of Police Robert Clement and after a lengthy discussion which lasted a couple of hours, her sister was invited to interview the Deputy Commissioner of Police.”

The petition stated further that unfortunately, the DCP became aggressive with her and ordered her detention for insubordination.

However, when the Commissioner of Police came into the picture and asked her why she refused to take and obey lawful instruction from her superior officer whereupon she narrated the story comprehensively with “lurid details of her encounter with the said mentally challenged woman, the biological mother of the child in question, which she signed an undertaking to have custody of the child at Police clinic.”The CP later directed that she should take the child to the Ministry of Women Affairs for proper documentation.

Source: Punch

Three foreign workers trapped inside a collapsed train tunnel have died despite rescue efforts that lasted over five days, Thai authorities have said. The men, two from China and one from Myanmar, were still thought to be alive as recently as Thursday.

They were trapped when part of the tunnel they were building collapsed on Saturday in Pak Chong district, about 200km (124 mi) north-east of the capital Bangkok.

On Friday, authorities announced all three had died, with initial investigations suggesting this was due to a lack of air.The tunnel, which was under construction and is part of the Thailand-China high-speed railway project, had collapsed due to a landslide at around 23:40 local time (16:40 GMT) last Saturday.

Rescuers, comprising officials from the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) and a Chinese disaster response team, had been working round-the-clock over the past week with the hope of rescuing the victims. They had tried to pump oxygen into the tunnel to keep the workers alive, but it is unclear whether the tubes they used reached the workers at all.

On Thursday, rescuers found the body of a Burmese truck driver buried under a pile of soil and rocks. The bodies of the two Chinese workers, a supervisor and an excavator operator, were found at about 06:00 local time (00:00 GMT) on Friday, the SRT said. All three bodies were found about 25 metres from the point of the tunnel collapse, officials had said.

Local reports claim rescuers had got within just one metre of one of the men on Wednesday. On the same day, they had purportedly heard faint sounds which they believed were coming from the men.

Scanners and sniffer dogs had also detected vital signs, offering hope that the workers could still be alive. However rescue efforts progressed slowly due to the ongoing landslide – falling dirt continually blocked the holes made by rescuers to move deeper into the tunnel.Thailand’s caretaker Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said rescuers were hindered by “the limitation of engineering”.

They had to be careful that their digging would not cause other parts of the tunnel to collapse, he said, adding that the rescuers had to build 3m (9.8ft) high supporting structures for their own safety.

“Nobody wanted [this incident] to happen,” he said at a press conference on Friday. “We did not only try to save the lives of the victims, we also had to [ensure the safety] of the rescuers and workers,” he said.

The bodies of the three men were brought out of the tunnel on Friday. Thai police have opened an investigation into the incident, while construction works around the tunnel have been suspended for the time being.

Source: BBC