Metro
How Freshly Employed Maid Stole N1.6m from Employer, Arrested
A 26-year-old housemaid, Franker Amaha, has stunned her boss after she fled with foreign currencies estimated at N1.6m six hours into her employment.
The woman identified simply as Mrs Taiye of Masha area, Surulere, Lagos State, had engaged Amaha, whom she knew as Esther, on July 25, 2019 through an agent in Ikorodu.
City Round learnt that two hours after they arrived home, they left for the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, to pick up Taiye’s sister, who just returned from abroad.
On getting home, Amaha reportedly sneaked into where her boss’ sister put her luggage, stole the hard currencies – $2800, £1,000 and 2000 Dutch Guilder – and fled.
It was gathered that efforts by the woman to locate Amaha proved abortive as she switched off her phones.
Taiye realised she was in for a complex matter when checks at the form she submitted with the agent revealed her home address and her guarantor’s as fake.
The case, initially reported at the Surulere Police Station, was later referred to the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team and a manhunt was launched for the suspect.
The detectives eventually trailed Amaha to her friend’s house in the Ajah area of Lagos State and apprehended her.
A police source said investigation revealed that the suspect carefully planned the crime.
He said, “The suspect went to the agent on July 24 and the agent asked that she should fill a form and get a guarantor. Because she has a plan, she filled the form with a fake name and attached a fake passport photograph to the form.
“She identified herself as Esther whereas she is Franker (Amaha). On July 25, she was taken to the house of one Mrs Taiye, at Masha, Surulere, to work as a home help and offered to be paid N20,000.
“Incidentally, a sister of her new boss returned from abroad on that same day. She followed her new boss to the airport to pick up her sister. When they got home, she entered into the room where her boss’ sister’s bags were kept.
“She opened one of the bags and stole all the foreign currencies therein, including $2,800, £1,000 and 200 Dutch Guilder. She left the house instantly. While the security man at the gate tried to stop her, she told him that she had problems with the madam. While the guard was trying to confirm from the woman, she took a motorcycle. She ran to Ajah to meet one of her friends and threw away her SIM cards.”
In an interview with City Round during the week, Amaha said she stole the money to treat her sick mother.
The indigene of Cross River State said she approached one Mr Frank, a job agent, and Frank in turn led her to one Ade who linked her to Taiye.
She explained, “I gave her a fake name and address because I have the intention of stealing from her. I got to her house around noon and we went to the airport around 3:30pm to pick her sister. I opened her (sister’s) bag and took money from it.
“I stole six $100 notes, five pieces of £20, five pieces of $20 and £100. I changed $100 and made my hair with it and bought a pair of sleepers. I changed the remaining money to naira and deposited it into my account. I stole her money because I got a call from my village that my mother was sick. Please help me beg her to forgive me.”
The Punch
The Senate has brought forward the screening of newly appointed Service Chiefs to Wednesday, October 29, reversing its earlier decision to conduct the exercise next week.
The announcement came shortly after Senate President, Godwill Akpabio, read a separate correspondence from President Bola Tinubu, seeking the confirmation of appointment of Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede.
Akpabio said the change was necessary to enable the military chiefs to assume their duties immediately.
President Bola Tinubu had urged the Senate to give expeditious consideration to the confirmation process to ensure continuity and effective coordination of the nation’s security architecture.
Following the new schedule, the Committee of the Whole is expected to conduct the screening exercise during plenary on Wednesday.
A few days ago, Tinubu reshuffled the military hierarchy. Tinubu removed General Christopher Musa, with Oluyede (a former Chief of Army Staff) replacing him as the Chief of Defence Staff.
He, however, retained Major-General E.A.P. Undiendeye as the Chief of Defence Intelligence.
The rejigging, according to presidential aide Sunday Dare, was due to “the efforts of the Federal Government of Nigeria to strengthen the national security architecture”.
“All appointments take immediate effect,” he wrote.
But critics have faulted the rejig of the military hierarchy, with the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC “as an opposition political party, our interest remains the stability of our country and our democracy. In the light of developments in our neighbourhood of Chad and the Sahel States, we are gravely concerned”) asking President Tinubu to come out clean on the reason for the move.
“Our position remains, therefore, that the Federal Government owes Nigerians a categorical explanation about what truly happened,” the ADC wrote in a statement by its spokesman, Bolaji Abdullahi.
Senator Ned Nwoko on Sunday said he feels sorry for men with one wife, insisting that polygamy provides men greater stability and balance.
The lawmaker representing Delta North, who made the comment while featuring on Channels Television’s Politics Today, also addressed recent allegations of domestic violence against him by his actress wife, Regina Daniels.
When asked how he copes with managing four wives—something many men find nearly impossible- Nwoko hesitated for a while before reacting.
“That is a different topic for discussion on another day. Yes, every man should do that. The example I give is this: just imagine telling you to stand on one foot or leg. You know how difficult it is.
“But to stand on two, three, four is much more balanced. That’s just the example I give. So I feel sorry for those who have one wife because it’s difficult to stand on one leg,” he stated.
When reminded that the Holy Bible does not endorse polygamy, Nwoko countered, “The Old Testament does. I am a man of faith. But that’s not what we are here for.”
Asked whether he had any regrets about his marital choices, the senator shook his head.
“No, I don’t have any regret. I will do the same thing again. Of course, that’s the way it should be. You should marry who you want to marry,” he defended stoutly.
On the domestic violence allegations trailing him, Nwoko dismissed them outright, saying, “No, come on. You know I am not a violent person. I respect my wives. I love them and my kids.”
His comments came just hours after Nollywood actress Regina Daniels, his estranged wife, flaunted a newly acquired mansion on social media amid reports of a marital crisis.
In a post on her Instagram page, Daniels shared photos and videos of the property with the caption, “In my house, I am a Queen! I needed a roof over my head, so I got this for me and my family.”
The post followed a viral video from October 18 showing the actress in tears outside her Abuja residence, lamenting alleged abuse.
“In Ned Nwoko’s house, I am nothing, but in my own house, I am a Queen. Not again. I can’t stand the violence, it’s too much,” she said in the footage.
The couple’s six-year marriage, once the subject of public fascination due to their wide age gap, has recently degenerated into a full-blown crisis now playing out before millions of Nigerians on social media.
The Punch
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), in the early hours of Sunday, October 26, raided Proxy Night club at 7, Akin Adesola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, where a drug party was going on, and arrested over 100 suspects.
Spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, while making this known, said the suspects arrested include the owner of the club, Mike Eze Nwalie Nwogu, alias Pretty Mike, who was taken into custody for interrogation.
“Cartons of illicit substances, including Loud and laughing gas, were recovered from suspects at the party and the club’s store.
“The raid followed intelligence about the drug party. NDLEA operatives who were embedded in the party between 11 pm on Saturday, 25th October, however, disrupted the gathering at 3 am on Sunday, 26th October, in line with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
