Symphorosa Otike-Odibi, the 50 year-old lawyer who was allegedly stabbed to death by his wife, Udeme, also a lawyer, was found on his matrimonial bed with his genitals and intestines cut off.

Two siblings of the lawyer and his friend gave the graphic details in testimonies before the court on Monday.

Udeme Otike-Odibi, a 48-year-old lawyer, was on June 13, arraigned by the Lagos State Government on a two-count charge of murder and misconduct with regard to a corpse before an Igbosere High Court in Lagos.

She pleaded not guilty and was remanded in Kirikiri Prison.

At the resumed hearing of the case on Monday, Symphorosas friend and neighbour, Mr Stanley Grange-Koko, was led in evidence by the Attorney-General of Lagos State, Mr Adeniji Kazeem (SAN).

He told the court how the deceaseds younger sister, Dr Anwuli Akwukwuma, called him at 2.00am on May 2, to go to the deceaseds (Symphorosa) house and check what was happening.

Grange-Koko said he rushed out of his car but could not gain access to the compound because no one answered when he knocked the gate and called out the deceaseds name several times.

Grange-Koko said he went back to his house but rushed back to the deceaseds house the second time when Akwukwuma called him back.

Dr Akwukwuma called me back and said I should go back to the deceased house because it seems life is involved.

At this point, I went with my wife, also called the estate security men, we had to climb the fence into the deceased compound.

We also broke down the front door to gain access to the house because no one answered our several knocks, he said.

Grange-Koko said that he ran upstairs and saw blood on the floor, adding that he followed the blood trail to the bathroom and to the deceased room.

He said both he and the security men had to break the door to the deceaseds room.

I saw the deceased lying on his bed with his wife (the defendant) lying beside him and there was blood everywhere.

The deceased intestines were outside, I ran out and met the deceased sister coming up to the room, I tried to stop her from entering the room but she ran past me and entered, Grange-Koko said.

He said the deceased sister ran out of the room shouting that her brother was dead but the defendant was breathing.

Grange-Koko said the defendant was however taken to hospital for further valuation.

After Grange-Kokos evidence, the second witness, Dr Akwukwuma was called.

She narrated exactly what Grange-Koko had told the court but added that she called Grange-Koko because he was living in the same estate with the deceased and was a family friend to the deceased.

Akwukwuma also added that she got the information about the problem through her mother whom the deceased called earlier to complain that his wife was hitting him and had a knife.

She added when I got to the deceased house and saw him lying on his bed with his intestines out, I checked him and saw that he was already cold and stretched out.

I noticed that he had died for hours and he was holding something in his arm but I couldnt see what it was because he was already stiff.

The police told me that it was his genitals that he was holding and asked me if there was another person in the room when I got there, I answered no, Akwukwuma narrated.

The prosecutor also called a third witness, a younger brother to the deceased, Mr Andrew Otike-Odibi, who narrated the same story.

After listening to the three witnesses, Justice Adedayo Akintoye adjourned further hearing until Oct. 10.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the prosecutor had during arraignment told the court that the Udeme committed the offences on May 3, at Diamond Estate, Sangotedo, Lekki, Lagos.

He said that Udeme stabbed her husband and mutilated his corpse by cutting his genitals.

The offences contravened Sections 165 (b) and 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

Section 165 (b) provides five years imprisonment while Section 223 stipulates death penalty for offenders.

Source: NAN

Former President Goodluck Jonathan, using his crystal ball, has predicted that any candidate elected out of the 13 at the Peoples Democratic Party convention will be the next President of Nigeria.

Jonathan who spoke at the convention in Port Harcourt early on Sunday said that all the aspirants are qualified to lead the country, having interacted with them since 1999.

According to him, the greatest problem with Nigeria is that of unity and urged Nigerians to elect a leader that would unite the county.

All the aspirants are eminently qualified to lead the country and urged the delegates to select a person who will bring Nigeria together.

PDP is clearly the party to take over power. If you select one among the aspirants, lm sure the person will make Nigeria proud, he said.

Jonathan said that all the aspirants during their meeting had pledged a commitment to support whoever emerges as the PDP presidential flag bearer.

Source: NAN

The Chief Agent of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, has confirmed that his candidate has won the presidential primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He said even before the count of the votes that , I have not doubt that Atiku Abubakar has worn the primary.

Also Senator Ben Bruce, another agent of Atiku, emerged from the vote sorting platform to say that Atiku has won.

Other aspirants were Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal; Governor of Gombe State, Ibrahim Dankwambo; a former Governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso; a former Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa.

Others are the President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki; a former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark; a former Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Relations, Alhaji Tanimu Turaki (SAN) and a former Governor of Plateau State, Senator Jona Jang.

Also in the race are, a former Governor of Kaduna State, Senator Ahmed Makarfi; a former Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido and Dr. Datti Baba-Ahmed.

72-year-old Atiku Abubakar, a businessman, who served as the second elected vice-president of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), with President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Abubakar worked in the Nigeria Customs Service for twenty years, rising to become the Deputy Director before he retired in April 1989 to go into politics.

He ran for the office of governor in the Gongola State (now Adamawa and Taraba States) in 1991, and for the Presidency in 1993, placing third after MKO Abiola and Babagana Kingibe in the Social Democratic Party (SDP) primaries.

In 1998 he was elected Governor of Adamawa State. While still Governor-Elect he was selected by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential candidate Olusegun Obasanjo as his running mate.

The duo went on to win elections in February 1999, and Abubakar was sworn-in as Nigerias second democratically elected vice president on 29 May 1999.

Abubakars second term as Vice President was marked by a stormy relationship with President Obasanjo.

Abubakar ran for presidency on the platform of the Action Congress, having quit the PDP on account of his issues with President Obasanjo.

Abubakar lost the election, placing third after Umaru YarAdua and Muhammadu Buhari of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

He joined the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and sought the partys ticket in 2014 but lost to President Muhammadu Buhari at the primary held in Lagos.

Abubaker defected again in May to PDP where he on Sunday clinched the ticket to tackle incumbent President Buhari in the 2019 presidential election.

Abubakar is a co-founder of Intels, an oil servicing business with extensive operations in Nigeria and abroad and founder of the American University of Nigeria (AUN).

Source: NAN

Few hours after former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was picked as the presidential candidate of opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has welcomed the candidate into contest.

The 72-year-old Waziri of Adamawa polled 1,532 votes to beat 11 other candidates in primary conducted in Port Harcourt.

The spokesman of President Muhammadu Buharis Campaign Organisation, Mr. Festus Keyamo, formally welcome the Abubakar to the campaign trail.

He said that Nigerians are now left to decide on a candidate with credibility problem and the one with transparency.

In a tweet, Keyamo, @fkeyamo said We welcome H.E, Atiku Abubakar to d 2019 campaign trail.

Nigerians would now decide b/w a candidate with a history full of CREDIBILITY crises, damning reports on CORRUPTION, both home, abroad

By Joseph Edeh

The Nigeria Police Force says Sen. Dino Melaye and Sen. Ben Murray-Bruce are to report to the Police Command in the FCT on Oct. 8 and not to the IGP monitoring unit for investigation as earlier stated.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the force on Oct. 5 had invited the duo to report to the IGP monitoring unit for investigation for public disturbance in Abuja.

NAN also reports that the duo who were members of the PDP that protested the outcome of the Osun governorship election at the force headquarters on Oct. 5, allegedly attacked policemen.

A statement by the Force spokesman, acting DCP Jimoh Moshood on Sunday in Abuja, said that the two Senators were captured on camera for their roles in the disturbance.

Moshood alleged that the duo pushed and hit policemen to forcefully gain entrance into the Force Headquarters to cause damage to Police equipment and Government properties.

He said that further investigation was ongoing to determine the level of involvement and culpability of other individuals during the protest.

The spokesman said that the invitation letters have been sent to them for compliance.

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has the statutory jurisdiction to investigate the matter, he said.

Source: NAN

By Egbogota Clara

The Convener of Save Nigeria Group, Pastor Tunde Bakare, told President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday to proclaim an executive order urgently to facilitate national reconciliation, reintegration and restructuring.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Bakare gave the advice against at a news conference in Ikeja against the backdrop of the persistent call by opinion leaders for Nigeria to be restructured to engender, equity, unity, peace and progress.

Bakare said that the executive order should be proclaimed in consultation with the National Assembly and the council of state, to establish a presidential commission to facilitate the restructuring.

The tele-evangelist and politician was speaking on the state of the nation at his Latter Rain Assembly Church,

Bakare said that restructuring would return Nigeria to the winning formula of the past that facilitated the countrys socio-economic development.

To chair the presidential commission, the president should appoint a wise and discerning Nigerian who must be incorruptible and of unquestionable integrity and highly respected.

The person should be able to build bridges among the diverse interest groups in the country and willing to serve his or her fatherland without remuneration.

The chairperson should evolve the presidential commission into six zonal commissions and appoint for each zone, a zonal commissioner.

The zonal commissioners should be technocrats, mandated to create and implement a master plan for their respective geo-economic zones and coordinate the transition of the economy in their zones.

The presidential commission will launch a nationwide reconciliation and reintegration drive and should creatively communicate the new Nigeria with a compelling national vision and a brand identity.

The commission should institute a social impact bond for the implementation of the zonal economic master plan. The financing scheme should be structured into key sectors, including agriculture which we have neglected.

We should be ready to reject who we are not and reaffirm who we are.

Its time we say no to a defective system that throws up the worst of us for leadership. Its time to say no to a system that only breeds defectors because it is only defective people that defect.

It is time to build systems that will serve the common good; structure that works for every Nigerian and a nation that caters for every citizen. It is time to make the right choices.

Bakare also advised the Federal Government to prioritise the welfare of every Nigerian.

Source: NAN

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday hosted the Xplicit Dancers to a breakfast at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Xplicit Dancers are young boys and girls, who engage in vigorous and scintillating dancing to entertain their audiences.

Mr Femi Adesina, the Presidents Special Adviser on Media and Publicity in a statement in Abuja said the dancers were in Abuja to show their prowess at the National Convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He said their performance at Eagle Square on Saturday night earned them the invitation to breakfast at State House on Sunday.

Adesina quoted the President at the event as saying: I am very impressed with your performance. It must have taken a lot of discipline and training.

To dance with such dexterity is fantastic. I congratulate you.

The father of the home, David Abraham, and a graduate of Business Administration, explained that the young dancers, aged between 11 and 27 years, are mostly orphans.

He said they were taken off the streets, and brought up at Explicit Home of Favour Initiative, Ibadan, Oyo State.

He revealed that the Home of Favour Initiative, which was established in 2004, was funded from takings at dance appearances and freewill contributions.

I love to dance, and I was dancing in church one day, when God told me that dancing is not enough. I was instructed to take orphans off the streets, and empower them, Abraham said.

According to him, his wife, Oluwakemi, serves as mother, and they jointly run the registered welfare home, adding that they have two biological children of their own.

He told President Buhari: I still feel this is a dream, and if it is, I dont want to wake from it.

Thanks sir, for being a father. Because you invited us to have breakfast with you, came down to our level, stood on the line with us to take your own meal, ate with us, favour will not depart from you.

Fourteen members of the dance group were at the breakfast meeting, though the home currently has an enrolment of 56 people.

They had numbered up to 100 at a certain time, but 45 have graduated, 10 got married, and are pursuing their professional and domestic lives.

Source: NAN

President Muhammadu Buhari has disowned a letter in circulation, which alleged that he authorised Gov. Nasir el-Rufai to deal with traitors and disloyal members of APC, especially Senator Shehu Sani.

Malam Garba Shehu, the Presidents Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, made this known in a statement in Abuja on Sunday.

According to the presidential aide, the president is not aware of any such letter, let alone authorising anyone to deal with any party member.

The presidency wishes to distance President Muhammadu Buhari from a letter currently in circulation, which alleges that the President had authorised a governor or anyone else for that matter to deal with traitors and disloyal members of APC, especially Senator Shehu Sani.

We wish to confirm that the president is not aware of any such letter, let alone authorising anyone to deal with any party member.

Given President Buharis record, it is inconceivable that he would usurp the role of the party leaders and instruct anyone to punish a party member.

In the light of above, we would like to appeal to the general public, especially members of the press, to ignore false or unauthorised information intended to attribute to the president any action which is not in line with his character.

Gov. El-Rufai of Kaduna State had last week visited the Presidential Villa twice over political developments in his state.

El-Rufai, who vehemently opposed the decision of the APC National Working Committee (NWC) to clear Sen. Shehu Sani as the sole candidate in the race for APC-Kaduna Central, said the fate of the senator lies in the hands of the party delegates in the state.

The national body of the APC on Sunday reiterated that Sani remains the partys senatorial candidate for Kaduna Central.

The Acting National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Yekini Nabena, confirmed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

The partys stance means the senatorial primary conducted by the Kaduna APC chapter for Kaduna Central, along with other constituencies, on Saturday, was a futile exercise.

According to the result of the primary, Uba Sani, special adviser to El-Rufai won the nomination to contest the election for the central zone in February election.

Shehu Sani boycotted the election.

Source: NAN

Sara Netanyahu, wife of Israeli Prime Minister appeared in court on Sunday for the first hearing in the fraud trial against her, in which she is alleged to have misused state funds in ordering catered meals.

According to the indictment, Sara, along with a government employee, fraudulently obtained from the state more than $100,000 for hundreds of meals supplied by restaurants, bypassing regulations that prohibit the practice if a cook is employed at home.

Sara Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing.

She was charged in June with fraud and breach of trust and of aggravated fraudulent receipt of goods. If convicted, Sara Netanyahu could face up to five years in prison.

Looking tense, Netanyahu made no comment to reporters who had packed the tiny courtroom. She sat on a bench behind her lawyers.

Can we ask them to move the cameras away?, she asked the lawyer for the other defendant, who replied: Youre used to it.

Not like this, Netanyahu answered. She shook her head as the prosecutor described the gravity of her case.

The session, however, dealt mainly with procedural matters. The judge set a meeting with the prosecutors and the defendants lawyers for Nov. 13 in which he said he hoped all sides could narrow their differences or even resolve the case.

But a settlement at this stage appears remote because the prosecutors would likely demand Netanyahu plead guilty, something her lawyer has ruled out. She was not asked at the hearing to enter a plea.

Netanyahus lawyers contend the indictment does not hold up because the regulations for ordering meals were legally invalid and a household employee had requisitioned the food despite Netanyahus protestations.

The prime minister, who himself is embroiled in corruption investigations, has called the allegations against his wife absurd and unfounded.

Sara Netanyahu, 59, has inspired a multitude of headlines in the past over what family spokesmen call an undeserved reputation for imperiousness.

In 2017 the Netanyahus won a libel suit against an Israeli journalist who said Sara once kicked her husband out of their car during an argument. In 2016, a Jerusalem labour court ruled that she had insulted and raged at household staff in the prime ministers official residence.

So far, Saras present legal woes have not politically damaged her husband, now in his fourth term as Israels leader and riding high in opinion polls despite the allegations against him.

Accusations he has made against the Israeli media of orchestrating a politically motivated witch-hunt against him and his wife appear to have struck a chord with his right-wing voter base, which has rallied in support of the 68-year-old leader.

Source: NAN

Attahiru Bafarawa, former Governor of Sokoto State and presidential aspirant on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday charged delegates on electoral decency in their quest over who will fly the party’s flag.

Bafarawa gave the charge at a news conference in Port Harcourt, ahead of the party’s presidential primaries scheduled for Oct. 6 in the port town.

He urged delegates not to allow themselves to be bought over with money but to use their positions to ensure that the most credible aspirant emerged winner.

He said “ahead of the convention that will see the emergence of the Presidential flag bearer of our great party the PDP tomorrow, I urge delegates to vote for aspirants of their choice without any pressure.”

The aspirant said delegates had important role to play in the choice of who would emerge as the flag bearer of the party and so should uphold the trust built in them by their various constituencies.

Bafarawa, who expressed confidence in the National Convention Committee to conduct peaceful and credible presidential primary, added that “I am hopeful to emerge as Presidential flag bearer of PDP.”

He said he had demonstrated good leadership qualities that would help him to achieve his mission of transforming the country, noting, however, that he was ready to support whoever emerged winner in the primary election.