Crime
Abia Govt shut down hotel over death, disappearance of customers
Merry Home Hotels has been closed by authorities in Abia State following the inexplicable death and disappearance of several of its clientele.
While the body of an unidentified woman was retrieved from the facility, numerous more are said to have vanished with no information on their whereabouts.
The Commissioner of Information in Abia State, Dr Eze Chikamnayo, confirmed this to newsmen on Saturday in Umuahia, the state capital.
He said that the government’s intervention was necessitated by recurrent complaints of patrons dying or disappearing under suspicious circumstances on the premises of the hotel on the 7UP axis of Aba’s Ogbor Hill.
The most recent case, according to the commissioner, was the death of a woman who arrived with two young men and a baby in the afternoon of April 15, as evidenced by hotel CCTV footage.
He went on to say that the men left with the baby without the lady hours later, only for hotel management to break into the room at midnight and discover the lady dead and dismembered.
Chikamnayo claimed that the authorities have received reports of similar instances occurring within the hotel, particularly around the swimming pool.
He emphasized that no responsible government would stand by and watch criminal hotspots persist, and that the Okezie Ikpeazu-led administration would not enable such an atmosphere to flourish.
The police have arrested everyone suspected in the April 15 incident, according to the commissioner, and the hotel will remain closed in the meantime.
He claims that Abia is a no-go zone for ritualists and murderers, and that the government has zero tolerance for wrongdoing of any kind.
Chikamnayo warned that any hotel in the state that engages in such behavior would be shut down and the perpetrators brought to justice.
He also recommended parents to keep a close eye on their children’s movements in order to avoid falling prey to ritualists and other criminals.
The lady’s death was also confirmed by police in the state, who said they were working to apprehend and bring her killers to justice.
The body of the yet-to-be-identified lady has been deposited to a mortuary, according to Mr Geoffrey Ogbonna, the Police Public Relations Officer in Abia.
According to him, the matter is being handled by the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), and locals are encouraged to assist the authorities by providing helpful information about the occurrence.
The Anambra State Police Command has foiled a cult initiation ceremony in Nawfia, Njikoka Local Government Area of the state.
Spokesperson for the Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday in Awka.
According to Ikenga, the operation was carried out by police operatives around 9:30am on June 15, leading to the arrest of six suspects at the scene.
Recovered during the raid were one Jojef pump action gun, two cartridges, and a golden-coloured Lexus SUV with registration number ATN 202 AE. Other items found include two cutlasses, two scissors, a cap bearing the inscription of the Supreme Vikings Confraternity, charms, and substances suspected to be hard drugs.
“They are currently undergoing police interrogation to get more insight into their modus operandi, after which the case will be charged to court on the conclusion of the investigations,” Ikenga stated.
The police spokesperson reassured residents of the command’s unwavering commitment to fighting cultism and other related crimes across the state.
An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, on Wednesday, remanded two persons, Olaitan Fasasi and Kehinde Tobiloba in a correctional facility over alleged attempted murder.
Fasasi, 40, and Tobiloba, 26, whose addresses were not provided, are being charged with conspiracy, attempted murder and membership of a secret society.
The Magistrate, Mr L.A Owolabi, did not take the plea of the defendants for want of jurisdiction.
Owolabi directed the police to forward the case file to the Director of Public Prosecution for legal advice.
He thereafter adjourned the case until May 31 for mention.
The Prosecutor, Josephine Ikhayere, told the court that the defendants committed the offences at about 5.02p.m on Feb. 15, at Mushin, Lagos.
She said that Fasasi, Tobiloba and others now at large, attempted to commit murder by shooting at a resident, Alfred Ademola.
“They armed themselves with a locally made gun. They belong to Eiye Confraternity, a group proscribed by law,”, she said.
Ikhayere said that the offences contravened Sections 230(1) and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2012.
He said that the actions of the defendants also contravened Section 2(3)(a)(b)(c)(d) of the unlawful societies and Cultism Law of Lagos State Law.
An Area Court in Jos, on Tuesday, sentenced one Jeptha John, to three months imprisonment for stealing a Redmi mobile phone valued at N165, 000.
The judge, Shawomi Bokkos, sentenced the John after he pleaded guilty to the offence.
The judge, however, gave the convict an option to pay N20, 000 fine and N50, 000 restitution to the complainant.
Bokkos said that if the convict defaulted in paying the restitution, three months should be added to his sentence to make it six months imprisonment.
Earlier, the police prosecutor, Insp Monday Dabit, told the court that the case was reported at the B Division Police Station, Jos, on Dec. 1, 2024, by Ms Nerat Danjuma.
He said that the complainant alleged that the defendant trespassed into her house and stole her mobile phone valued at N165, 000.
The prosecutor further told the court that the offence contravened the Plateau State Penal Code, Law of Northern Nigeria.
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