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A mother of four children , Mrs Chinasa Okereke, has revealed how a 15-year-old boy collected N500 from an Alfa to abduct her three-year-old son for ritual at Ijegun, Lagos State.

Chinasa, who spoke with newsmen on Sunday, alleged that the teenager, who is also a neighbour stole her son, Chiagozie.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports the teenager identified as Simon had earlier confessed to the police that an unidentified Alfa, now in police custody, asked him to supply a three-year-old child.

Simon said after he brought Chiagozie to the Alfa, he was given N500 for his efforts.

When the three-year-old was finally located by detectives from Isheri Police Station, he was already dead.

Chinasa, who broke down in tears, said that she was not only grieving for her murdered son, but also scared about strange men on motorbikes coming to threaten her and her husband, Augustine Okereke.

The woman who lives in a multi-room building, has three other children, apart from Chiagozie. The eldest is 10years old, the second child is eight years old. Chiagozie was her third child. Her fourth child is just nine months old.

She explained that on the fateful day, she wanted to give three of her children a bath outside the house when the three year-old child was abducted.

According to her account, she had briefly stepped into the house to get a wrapper to strap the nine-month-old to her back. But when she returned Chiagozie was nowhere to be found.

When she asked her eight-year-old daughter the whereabouts of her little brother, the girl said that Simon, the 15-year-old living in the building next door had taken him away.

“When my daughter told me that Simon took Chiagozie, I immediately rushed to his house, but his guardians said they had been looking for him too. When it was getting late, we went to the police station to report that Simon took our son and that we couldn’t find him.

“Police took over the case and soon located and arrested Simon. He was taken to the station. Singing like a bird, he revealed how the Alfa came to pick him and Chiagozie with a car.

“When detectives asked questions from residents of the community, they were told that they saw the Alfa driving off with Simon and Chiagozie.

“The suspect led police to the scene where the Alfa took him and Chiagozie. The corpse of Chiagozie was found laid out on the ground. A big stone was beside his head and a red cloth tied round his neck.

“Asked how Chiagozie was killed, Simon said that he saw when the Alfa lifted Chiagozie mid-air and made some incantations before dropping him to the ground,” the woman recalled in tears.

Reacting to the incident the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Owoseni, alleged that the Alfa used the deceased for ritual.

He further said that the Alfa and Simon had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, for further investigations.

“Parents should be proactive and know the kind of people they leave their kids with.

“Parents and guardians shouldn’t allow the economic situation in the country to affect their vigilance and care towards their kids,”Owoseni stated.

BIG STORY

Avoid Panic Buying, We’re Not Changing Petrol Prices — NNPCL To Nigerians

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says there is no place to change the prices of petroleum products.

In a statement on Thursday by Femi Soneye, its spokesperson, the NNPC asked Nigerians to avoid panic buying.

The national oil firm said the limited availability of petrol in certain regions of the nation is a result of logistical problems.

However, the company said the challenge has been fixed.

“The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) wishes to clarify that the tightness in the supply of Premium Motor Spirit currently being experienced in some areas across the country is as a result of logistics issues and that they have been resolved,” the statement reads.

“It also wishes to reiterate that the prices of petroleum products are not changing.

“It urges Nigerians to avoid panic buying as there is a sufficiency of products in the country.”

On March 24, the NNPC denied adjusting the pump price of petrol across its retail outlets.

This came after the organisation had promised Nigerians that there would not be any increase in the cost of petrol on February 9.

The NNPC also reaffirmed its commitment to sustaining the current sufficiency in the supply of petroleum products across all its retail stations in the country.

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BIG STORY

Former Senate Spokesperson Ayogu Eze Dies At 66

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Ayogu Eze, a former spokesperson for the Senate, passed away at the age of 66.

Eze, the senator from Enugu North Senatorial District from 2007 to 2015, died on Thursday in a hospital in Abuja following an undisclosed illness.

In May 2023, the Senate confirmed Eze as a federal Commissioner for Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission. Eze is also among the founding members of the Peoples Democratic Party.

In his years at the Senate, he also served as the chairman of the Senate Committee of Works and a member of committees on Constitutional Amendment, Police Affairs, National Planning, Marine Transport and Federal Character & Inter-Government Affairs.

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BIG STORY

Lagos Workers Now Earn N70,000 As Minimum Wage Since January — Sanwo-Olu

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The executive Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has disclosed that workers have been enjoying an additional N35,000 wage allowance since January.

He also disclosed that a new minimum wage programme will shortly be implemented by the state administration.

According to the governor, since the start of the year, people who were previously making the minimum wage of N35,000 or more now receive salaries of N70,000 or more.

“The civil servant and all public officers in Lagos know that since January, we have continued to pay the wage allowance of a minimum of N35,000 over and above what they were earning before.

“What this means is that people that are earning a minimum of N35,000 or more before are now earning over N70,00. That is what they have been enjoying since January.

“So it is important for people to know that we make these things very clear that this government has doubled up to ensure that at this difficult time, it has not left the citizens on their own,” Sanwo-Olu said at a state function on Thursday.

The governor while giving an update on the intervention the state embarked on to ameliorate the current economic hardship,  said his administration will distribute food items to 500,000 households in the state through unions and local governments.

Speaking on the ‘Ounje Eko’ initiative, where food items are sold at discounted prices, the governor said, “We created 59 makeshift markets outside of the regular markets out of our 57 local government and local council development areas and made it Sunday-Sunday market.”

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