A driver of the Lagos State Bus Rapid Transport, Andrew Nice Omininikoron, standing trial over the alleged murder of his passenger, Oluwabamise Ayanwola, has opened his defence in the state high court at Tafawa Balewa Square annex.

The defendant, who was led in his testimony by his counsel, Abayomi Omotubora, told Justice Sherifat Shonaike that he didn’t rape or kill Miss Ayanwola, as accused.

He said it was three male passengers, who boarded his bus after official hours, that raped her and threw her off the vehicle.

Omininikoron was arraigned in March 2022 on four counts bordering on alleged rape, conspiracy and murder of the 22-year-old lady on February 26, 2022, on the Lekki-Ajah Expressway.

He was said to have conspired with others now at large and forcefully had sexual intercourse with the fashion designer after which they murdered her.

But while giving his testimony, he told the court that he illegally picked up Bamise at the Chevron bus stop on a return trip to Oshodi after he had off-loaded passengers on the Oshodi-Ajah route at around 8pm that day.

“I resumed at our Oshodi office that day on the afternoon shift. I loaded my bus with passengers going to Ajah. On getting to Ajah, I offloaded the passengers and took a return trip with another set of passengers to Oshodi, offloaded them and then loaded another round to Ajah. It was around 8pm, by then, I am not permitted to load any more passengers to Oshodi. But we normally pick passengers after 8pm and tell them the cowry machine is not working, so that they can pay the bus fare in cash and we will keep the money for ourselves.

“Our salary is not enough, they promised us N120,000 monthly, but we are paid N71,000. Whenever we load passengers after official hours, we usually have them sit at the back and dim the bright lights in the bus so that the surveillance cameras on our routes cannot spot them.”

He added that shortly after Bamise boarded his bus, he picked up three more passengers—all males—at Agungi bus stop.

The driver said around Osbourne under bridge, one of the men walked up to him at the driver’s seat and pointed a gun at him, ordering him to cooperate with them. He said he had never seen them before and could only recognise the man who pointed a gun at him.

“The driver’s seat usually has a glass around the driver, like a room to one’s self, but the bus I drove that day had no door. I was heading towards Third Mainland Bridge but they ordered me to drive to Carter bridge.

“The three men dragged her down, she was shouting for help and they raped her. They pushed her off the bus and alighted afterwards while I continued on my trip. On getting to Oshodi, I parked the bus and went home. That day was a Saturday, I was off duty the next day.

“On Monday, I was going to work when my MD called me to see my depot manager (Mr Ola) at Oshodi. When I got there, I was told not to drive any bus but to wait. While waiting, a colleague asked me why I picked up a passenger illegally, as she has now gone missing. When I heard that, I was afraid and fled because I know my employers will not take it easy with me. My MD used to say that he will spend N1 million to deal with anyone who stole N100 from him. Picking passengers illegally amounts to stealing from the company.”

The defendant told the court further that he fled to Ososa in Ogun State to stay with his friend (Hope), adding that he was arrested there by DSS officials arrested.

When he was asked if he was aware the deceased was sending voice notes to her friend that night expressing her misgivings about the other passengers on the bus, he said he didn’t know.

During police interrogation at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, the defendant alleged that he was tortured by the officers and that they refused to give him water when he told them he was thirsty.

He added that he couldn’t write his statements because he was weak from the beatings he received.

The defendant also denied sexually assaulting two other women (names withheld) on his bus at different intervals before the alleged incident with Bamise and that he wasn’t questioned about the women.

He however said he dated one of them, but broke up with her because she was always asking him for money.

While adjourning at the request of his counsel for further examination-in-chief of the defendant till Monday, October 21, Justice Sonaike strongly expressed displeasure at the slow pace of the case.

The court said the frequent adjournment in the trial had been at the instance of the defence counsel and that the last hearing was on February 15, 2024.

The Director of Public Prosecutions at the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, Babajide Martins, in his response to Omotubora’s request for adjournment, said he had received a query by the Attorney General of the state over the case, as the Prosecution had closed its case since November 2023.

Three, out of the eight corps members from Akwa Ibom State, who were kidnapped in Zamfara State on their way for the mandatory one year national service have recounted their harrowing experiences in their kidnappers’ den.

The victims, before regaining their freedom, stayed between two months and one year in captivity.

Speaking with our correspondent in Akwa Ibom in an interview facilitated by the Founder, Open Forum Care for Humanity Foundation, Matthew Koffi Okono on Thursday, the freed corps members (one female and two males) narrated how they were tortured, fed with grasses and drank flood water.

They thanked governments (Federal and Akwa Ibom State) and the NYSC for interventions and pleaded to be employed in the civil service or have any other rewarding establishments.

How it all happened

“The incident happened on August 17, 2023. It was along Gusau road, Zamfara State. You can’t move at speed because of bad spots on the road. They mounted a road block with logs of wood and we thought it was a checkpoint, our driver slowed down waiting for them to remove the blockade.

“Unfortunately, the guys came out, some were wearing kaftans, some put on military camouflage and insignia. They were well armed and they marshalled us out into the bush, including the driver. They carried some of our luggages, stripped us of our belongings, but in the process of taking us into the bush, about three persons escaped.

Our ‘place of abode’

The place is a forest, it was an open place and there was no shelter, there were only rice sacs which we put on the ground to sleep.

Anytime it rained, we would go under the tree shades for cover until the rains stopped.

All of us, including the kidnappers, stayed there together, they never left us; the only difference is that they held us in captivity and were expecting ransom or money at the end of the day, while we were only expecting our freedom. They are used to that kind of lifestyle while we are not. It was a traumatic experience

The most traumatic experience in the forest

There are so many that I don’t know the one that is most traumatic, is it staying in that bush without the sound of anything other than wild animals? I never knew that I would survive it, let alone staying there for several months. We saw snakes, scorpions, even bush dogs. The only thing is that if those bush dogs come, our captors will shoot in the air and they will run and never come back. We’ve killed scorpions, snakes. It was just God that was protecting us there.

How they singled me out and took me to Kaduna

Yes they singled me (Solomon) out and said I’m the most stubborn of us all. This could be because I told them there was no money to pay for my ransom and when they contacted my parents, they also told them that there was no money. They threatened to kill one of us so that we would know that they were serious. I was beaten, tortured and forced to eat grass and drink flood water. Before the grass incident, we stayed for three weeks without food and water. I was later chained and transported from Zamfara to Kaduna on motorcycle through bush tracks.

That was around December, I was very sick; for three months, I couldn’t urinate or defecate, I thought I would die. From the torture and beatings, I had a tear on my head and arms. All these marks on my body (showing off the marks) were from there.

There was nothing like medical care. If you complain, they’ll ask you to sit down. I was just there. I wore the same clothes for the one year I stayed with them and bathed like three times.

Our routine in the forest

Nothing, when I wake up, I’ll just start my own prayer and be sitting down, nowhere to go to, no one to talk to because I was separated from others. Sometimes they asked me to fetch water and I will go with like three armed guards to get it for them.

At some point, I lost hope of coming out alive but I still believed in God. I believed that one day I’ll be released and God did it for me.

How the rescue came

As I said I was separated from my colleagues and taken to Kaduna, so on August 22, 2024, about one year and five days, the military came and I was rescued alive. I want to use this opportunity to deeply thank the Army for their gallantry, President Bola Tinubu, Director-General of NYSC, General Yusha’u Dogara Ahmed, Governor Umo Eno, other security operatives, and well-meaning Nigerians for their efforts in securing our freedom.

Lady shares experience while in captivity

For me, I stayed there for two months, I gained freedom in October 2023. I never believed that I could survive a day in the forest. As my colleague said, for three weeks, there was nothing like food or water until it rained, we were drinking the flood water. So many of us fell sick. it was horrible, we were kept in a small place and you can’t go anywhere.

The issue is that the people you were facing don’t even understand your dialect or English language, even pidgin. We were trying as much as possible to use sign language to communicate. Also, there’s a way you will behave, they would think you wanted to escape and that would even earn us severe beating. Even as a lady. I wore only one piece of clothing for two months. Even when you are in your period, you are just there, not moving anywhere to clean up. I can’t remember bathing up to three times before I was rescued.

Response from the government and the NYSC

Government facilitated our freedom and when we were eventually released, though different months and dates, NYSC paid us arrears of our monthly allowances and presented us with two options of either to continue with our service year or to start afresh. We chose to continue and not to start afresh having suffered so much in the kidnappers’ den. We all have received our discharge certificates.

Our expectations

We want to passionately appeal to both the federal and the Akwa Ibom state government to grant us employment to assuage our trauma. They should have compassion on us having suffered so much for months in captivity; it won’t be nice that we will be staying idle at home, we want to be employed and have something to care for our families.”

[DailyPost]

Kenyan President William Ruto on Friday nominated his interior minister as deputy to replace Rigathi Gachagua who was sacked in a historic impeachment.

Kithuri Kindiki, a 52-year-old academic turned political heavyweight, was among front-runners for the post floated by Kenyan media after the Senate voted to remove Gachagua late Thursday after a day of high drama.

The impeachment of Ruto’s 2022 election running mate Gachagua had transfixed the East African country, generally regarded as a stable democracy in a turbulent region.

The fast-moving drama continued apace on Friday as National Assembly speaker Moses Wetangula announced Ruto’s choice of Kindiki, asking parliamentarians to move ahead with the vote to confirm the appointment.

Kindiki has served as interior minister in Ruto’s government for more than two years, but came under fire over alleged police brutality during the sometimes deadly anti-government protests that rocked Kenya earlier this year.

The upper house Senate had pushed ahead with Gachagua’s impeachment on Thursday — finding him guilty of five of the 11 charges against him — despite the absence of the embattled 59-year-old.

He is the first deputy president to be impeached since the process was introduced in Kenya’s revised 2010 constitution.

Gachagua failed to testify in his defence after being rushed to hospital in a Nairobi suburb, plunging the session into disarray.

The Senate rejected an appeal by Gachagua’s legal team to delay the hearings, prompting the lawyers to walk out in protest.

Kenyan newspapers led with the news Friday, with The Standard newspaper running an image of Gachagua with the headline “Fired”.

“The night of long knives that sealed Gachagua’s fate,” The Nation wrote on its website.

His downfall is the culmination of a bitter falling out with Ruto, who he helped win a closely fought election in 2022 by rallying support from the crucial Mount Kenya region.

The National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, had overwhelmingly also voted for impeachment in an October 8 vote.

Gachagua was admitted to Karen Hospital with chest pains and would remain there for tests and observation for 48-72 hours, chief cardiologiest Dan Gikonyo told reporters Thursday, describing his condition as stable.

– ‘Gross violation’ –

Gachagua was found guilty on charges of “gross violation” of the constitution, including threatening judges and practising ethnically divisive politics, but cleared of others including corruption and money-laundering.

He has denied all the charges and no criminal proceedings have been launched against him.

He can however fight the impeachment in the courts — although previous attempts to halt the process in the run-up to the Senate vote all failed.

A powerful businessman from Kenya’s biggest tribe, the Kikuyu, Gachagua — also known as “Riggy G”,  weathered previous corruption scandals to become deputy leader as Ruto’s running mate in the 2022 poll.

But in recent weeks, he has complained of being sidelined by the president, while also being accused of supporting youth-led anti-government protests that broke out in June.

Ruto has not given any public comment on the impeachment, but Gachagua has said the process could not have gone ahead without his boss’s blessing.

[Vanguard]