Headlines
How Estate Electrician, Accomplice Attacked Maersk MD, Killed Wife
Two suspects, Ade Akanbi and Olamide Adegoke, have been arrested by men of the Lagos State Police Command for attacking the Managing Director of Maersk Nigeria, Gildas Tohouo, and stabbing his wife, Bernadett, to death at the couple’s residence on No. 1 Luggard Avenue, Ikoyi, Lagos State.
It was learnt that the suspects also stabbed the man and forced him to drink a substance suspected to be acid.
While the corpse of the wife had been evacuated and deposited in the mortuary, the man is battling for his life in hospital.
It was learnt that the deceased was a Hungarian, while her husband is a Cameroonian.
According to findings, the condition of the Cameroonian remains critical.
One of the perpetrators of the crime, Adegoke, was said to be an electrician working with the estate, where the couple’s apartment is located.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the couple had organised a party in their house on Sunday and many invited guests were said to have gathered in the compound to felicitate with them.
Adegoke, who was said to be a familiar face in the estate, was granted access to the party.
He reportedly used his familiarity to smuggle his accomplice, Akanbi, in.
It was gathered that the party ended around 11.30pm and the guests departed for their various homes, but Adegoke and Akanbi were said to have lurked around the couple’s apartment.
Suddenly, there was a power outage in the building and the suspects allegedly offered to assist the couple to restore power.
According to a source, the couple recognised one of them as an electrician in the estate and access the door for them to gain entrance into the main building.
The source stated, “The electrician came with his friend and they were granted access based on the fact that Adegoke was a known face. Immediately the two suspects entered the building, they attacked the couple with knives. They locked the husband and wife in separate rooms and forced the wife to transfer some money to them and also collected her ATM card.
“Afterwards, the suspects stabbed the couple. The husband survived the attack and managed to call his company’s chief security officer, who alerted the police, but his wife was not lucky as she died on the spot after being suffocated with a pillow.”
PUNCH Metro gathered that a team of policemen, led by the state Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, stormed the scene of the crime and arrested the suspects before they could escape.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, who confirmed the incident, said the suspects stabbed the man’s wife and suffocated her, adding that the husband also sustained injuries and had been taken to hospital.
Elkana stated, “The man is a Cameroonian and his wife was Hungarian. They hosted a party earlier on Sunday, and when the guests had left, there was a power outage. The electrician, who was also in attendance with an accomplice, was still in the compound during the outage.
“So, they knocked on the door and volunteered to help the couple fix their power problem. When the door was opened, the two suspects, Ade Akanbi and Olamide Adegoke, attacked the couple and stabbed the man and his wife.
“But the man survived, while his wife died due to the injuries she sustained from the attack.
“The suspects wanted to rob the couple and have been arrested. The knives used in perpetrating the crime have also been recovered.
“The state Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, mobilised personnel to the scene of the crime and arrested the suspects. Homicide detectives from the command have also cordoned off the area. Investigation is ongoing.”
Reacting to the incident, the Regional Managing Director, Africa, A. P. Moller-Maersk, David Williams, while commiserating with the bereaved family, said the couple’s three children were safe, adding that the company was working with relevant the authorities to investigate the incident.
He said, “We are very sorry to confirm that a colleague and his family were attacked in their residence in Lagos, Nigeria, during the evening of Sunday, December 8, 2019.
“Tragically, the wife of our colleague passed away at the scene. Our colleague is in hospital, where his condition is critical but stable. The three children are all safe and accounted for.
“Our thoughts and deepest sympathy go to the family. We will do whatever we can to support them in this tragedy.”
The Punch
The Presidency has dismissed claims that Vice President Kashim Shettima’s recent comments were directed at the political situation in Rivers State or President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s constitutional decisions on the matter.
In a statement on Friday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications (Office of the Vice President), Stanley Nkwocha, the Presidency described the reports as a “gross misrepresentation.”
The statement clarified that Vice President Shettima’s remarks at the public presentation of a book by former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), were misconstrued by some online platforms and individuals.
“These reports have distorted the Vice President’s comments in pursuit of a mischievous agenda,” it stated.
“They twisted his account of how the administration of former President Jonathan considered removing him as Borno Governor during the insurgency to falsely link it with current events in Rivers State.”
The Vice President, who spoke at the launch of OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Oil Block in Abuja on Thursday, was said to have referenced the past solely to commend Adoke’s professionalism while in office, and to reflect on Nigeria’s constitutional evolution regarding federal and state relations.
“For the avoidance of doubt, President Tinubu did not remove Governor Fubara from office. The constitutional measure implemented was a suspension, not an outright removal.
“This action was taken in response to the grave political crisis in Rivers State at the time, with the governor facing a looming impeachment and the State Assembly complex under demolition,” Nkwocha clarified.
The Presidency insisted that the action taken by President Tinubu in declaring a state of emergency and suspending the Governor was fully in line with Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which authorises such measures when there is a breakdown of public order requiring extraordinary intervention.
According to the statement, the President’s proclamation invoking Section 305(2) was subsequently ratified by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the National Assembly, confirming the legitimacy and constitutional propriety of the decision.
“The action of President Tinubu in suspending Mr. Fubara and others from exercising the functions of office averted the governor’s outright removal. To conflate suspension with removal is misleading,” the statement further noted.
Nkwocha also stressed that Vice President Shettima’s comments were delivered extemporaneously and intended to underline the importance of public accountability and historical documentation.
He referenced the Vice President’s mention of past public servants, including Adoke and former Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, to illustrate principled leadership.
“His remarks were not in any way a criticism of President Tinubu’s actions, which the Vice President and the entire administration fully support and stand by without reservation,” the spokesman stated.
The Vice President, the statement added, remains in “loyal concert” with President Tinubu and is committed to implementing all constitutional measures necessary to safeguard democracy and uphold order across the country.
Concluding, the Presidency called on media organisations and political actors to desist from misrepresenting public remarks for sensational or partisan purposes.
“We urge media organisations and political actors to desist from the destructive practice of wrenching statements from context in order to fabricate nonexistent conflicts,” Nkwocha said.
Headlines
Akpabio Relieves Natasha of Committee Chairmanship Position, Appoints Akwa Ibom Senator As Replacement
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has replaced suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Diaspora/Non-Governmental Organisations.
In her place, Akpabio named Senator Bassey Aniekun Etim (Akwa Ibom -East).
The Senate President, who made the announcement on the floor in Abuja on Thursday, did not give any reasons.
The committee position had remained vacant since March when the Senate suspended the Kogi-Central Senatorial District lawmaker for six months for flouting the Senate’s rule on the seating arrangement and seat allocation.
The suspended lawmaker, at a point, chaired the Senate Committee on Local Content before Akpabio reassigned her to the Committee on Diaspora/NGO, shortly before she ran into trouble with the Senate over her conduct on seat allocation.
The Supreme Court has affirmed the 2024 governorship election victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), dismissing the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo.
In a unanimous decision by a five-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba, the apex court ruled that the appeal lacked merit. It upheld the earlier judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had both declared Okpebholo the validly elected governor.
