EXCITING NEWS: TNG WhatsApp Channel is LIVE…
Subscribe for FREE to get LIVE NEWS UPDATE. Click here to subscribe!
With just five days into the new year, at least 38 persons have died from bizarre, tragic and unclear circumstances across Nigeria, setting off a range of murder puzzles that the police are already working to figure out.
No fewer than seven persons were confirmed dead after an accident involving a Toyota Hiace bus and Mack tanker occurred along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway on Sunday 1 January.
The Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Ogun Ahmed Umar, said the accident was caused by the excessive speed by the bus driver who lost control and hit the Mack tanker from the rear.
“A total of 16 persons sustained varying degrees of injuries (10 male adults and six female adults) while seven persons were recorded dead from the crash (six male adults and one female adults), and two others were unhurt,” Umar said.
Earlier on Sunday, in a suspected case of murder and arson, a former staffer of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Kehinde Fatinoye and his wife Bukola were killed and set on fire by yet-to-be-identified assassins who invaded their residence in the Ibara area of Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Sunday.
The couple was murdered after returning from a crossover service, while their son, Oreoluwa Fatinoye, was whisked away by the assailants. Oreoluwa’s corpse was recovered two days later from a river in Adigbe-Obada area of the state and buried by the family.
In a bizarre incident that occurred in Oyo state on Sunday, an angry driver drove into the dancefloor of a new year party, killing five persons, before fleeing the scene. The Police have now launched an investigation into the matter.
Other tragic killings which occurred on the first, second and third day of the New Year in Anambra state claimed seven lives. Four youths were killed in Okpuno community on 1 January in what appears to be a cult-related clash, while the President General of Obosi town, Ike Okolo, was shot dead at a petrol station on 2 January and two other persons in a tricycle where reportedly killed by gunmen on Tuesday 3 January.
In Koko, Kebbi state, 10 other rice farmers, including six males and four females lost their lives in a boat mishap that occurred on 2 January on the way to Samanaji, a riverine community in the area. 80 persons onboard the boat at the time of the accident were rescued, while 10 persons are reportedly still missing.
Also in northwest Nigeria, a couple identified as Sulaiman Idris and Maimuna Haliru, were found dead in their home in Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area of Kano state on Tuesday, after the police were alerted that the couple had not been seen since Monday.
Police spokesperson Abdullahi Haruna-Kiyawa, said preliminary investigation revealed that the couple died of suffocation from the fumes of a charcoal firepot lit to warm their room from cold.
“On receipt of the report, the Kano State Commissioner of Police, Mr Mamman Dauda, directed a team of detectives led by CSP Ahmed Hamza, DPO Dawakin Tofa Division to proceed to the scene.
“The bodies of the victims were removed from the scene and rushed to Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital, Kano, where a medical doctor confirmed them dead,” Haruna-Kiyawa said.
Elsewhere in Sapele town, Delta state, suspected cultists shot dead the deputy leader of Warri North council Bigha Grikpa, and three others in the early hours of Wednesday, 4 January.
Other victims include Mathew Ekiopa, who ran a thriving boutique at Lexi Junction, and his sales girl simply identified as Blessing. They were hit at point-blank range in the head and arm in front of the shop.
The fourth victim identified as Alhaji Bello, a businessman, was said to be making a purchase at the boutique when the gunmen struck.