Ifunanya Miracle, who recently graduated from the Department of Quantity Surveying at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University,  Awka tragically lost her life on Sunday, June 9, 2024, while attempting to escape an alleged robbery by a yet-to-be-identified prankster on the university premises.

The incident also left her friend, Peace, a student in the Department of Pure and Industrial Chemistry, with serious injuries.

It was gathered that Peace was immediately taken to the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital for medical treatment.

Ifunanya, known for her Point-of-Sale business on campus, had just closed her operations for the day and boarded a tricycle with Peace when the robbery attempt occurred.

Authorities are investigating the incident and have yet to identify the suspect responsible for the fatal prank.

The duo were on their way when a passenger beside them allegedly attempted to rob them of their valuables.

A student, speaking anonymously for fear of victimization, reported that in a desperate attempt to escape the robbery, the two students jumped out of the moving tricycle.

While Peace sustained injuries, Miracle was tragically unlucky, hitting her head on the ground during the escape attempt.

The student said, “Miracle just graduated from the University and does a Point-of-Sale operation in the school. The incident happened around 7 pm on June 9, 2024. She does her PoS business at the front of my residence.

“She usually packed her business stuff under the staircase in our compound and the stuff is still there. She packed it and put it back there in the evening. But all of a sudden, we just heard that she was dead.

“We were like how; she still dropped her stuff under the staircase of our compound on Monday. From what we gathered, she was on a moving tricycle with her friend when a fellow passenger, ordered them to give him their phones.

“While trying to escape, Miracle jumped out of the tricycle and hit her head on the road and by the time she was rushed to the hospital, she had died. Her friend, who also jumped out of the tricycle sustained injuries and she is still in hospital.”

Another student said the man, who ordered the victims to surrender their property, later claimed he was pranking them.

Unconfirmed reports indicate that the man subsequently turned himself in to the police.

The student said, “We heard the guy has reported himself at the Police station and claimed it was a prank. How can he be pranking someone on a moving tricycle? After the incident, we have not heard anything. This lady (Miracle) just died because of the carelessness of some people who claimed to be pranksters.

“It could be that he wanted to rob and when he saw the outcome of his action, he changed the argument to pranking because of what happened.

“The University has not said anything about the case. The fact that the school has not addressed it is a concern. The girl just did her convocation.

“The girl who died is Ifunanya Miracle, also known as Bliss, and she was a student in the Department of Quantity Surveying. Her friend’s name is Peace, in the Department of Pure and Industrial Chemistry. She was hospitalised after the incident.”

The school’s spokesperson, Dr. Emmanuel Ojukwu, confirmed the incident on Monday and stated that the prankster, a final-year student, would face disciplinary action following Miracle’s burial.

He said, “The University is fully aware of the incident. It was not a robbery but a very expensive prank. The students were told to bring their phones but they didn’t know it was a prank. So, they jumped, one died and one survived.

“The families of the victims and that of the final-year student who pranked the victims have held a meeting with us and it was established that it was a prank.

“The families have reached some agreement and we want the process of the burial to take place before the student that pranked them will face disciplinary measures.

“It was an unfortunate incident; the school regrets it, the student who pranked them regrets it and the family of the concerned student will take responsibility for the funeral of the dead victim and the hospital bill of the other student. We use this opportunity to warn students to avoid expensive pranks that lead to death, the person will face the music.”

Women from the Ipo community blocked the entrance to Port Harcourt Airport on Tuesday morning, causing significant disruption.

The protest began around 7:30am, with demonstrators obstructing the airport roundabout gate.

They carried placards with messages such as, “We Demand Our Citizens Rights” and “Ipo Women Peaceful Protest,” while some protesters cooked at the site.

The blockade resulted in a major traffic buildup, preventing passengers from accessing the airport.

This marks the second protest by Ipo women this year. A similar demonstration on March 27 was resolved by Sergeant Awuse, former Chairman of the Rivers Traditional Rulers Council.

This incident follows a warning issued by the Rivers State Police Command on Monday regarding planned protests by the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE).

In a statement released Sunday night, police spokesperson Grace Iringe-Koko acknowledged the police’s awareness of the upcoming protest.

The statement partly reads “The Rivers State Police Command has become aware of the planned protest by the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), scheduled for June 24, 2024.

“While the Command recognizes and respects the right to lawful assembly, it has credible intelligence that this protest will be infiltrated and hijacked by hoodlums seeking to cause disruption and mayhem within the State.

“Consequently, the Command strongly advises the organisers to suspend the planned protest to prevent a possible breakdown of law and order.

“The Police will take all necessary lawful measures to protect the lives and properties of every resident in Rivers State. The Command has vowed to apprehend and prosecute any person or group that attempts to disrupt the peace.”

To ensure public safety and security, Rivers State Commissioner of Police, CP Olatunji Disu, announced the deployment of officers to the secretariats of all 23 Local Government Areas in the state.

“These officers will remain in their respective locations until the threat of disruption of peace is deemed to have ceased,” the statement added.

The Lagos State Government has identified unregistered tiger nut drinks as the cause of the recent surge in cholera cases in the Eti-Osa Local Government Area.

Dr. Kemi Ogunyemi, Special Adviser on Health to the Lagos State Governor, disclosed this during an interview with our correspondent.

Lagos State has been grappling with a cholera outbreak, with Lagos Island, Kosofe, and Eti-Osa emerging as the most affected areas.

Following a thorough investigation into the rise of cholera cases in Eti-Osa, it was found that many of the infected individuals had consumed tiger nut drinks before falling ill.

Authorities are now urging residents to avoid unregistered food and drink products to curb the spread of the disease.

She said, “When we noticed an increase in cases in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos specifically, we went there to investigate. We conducted a survey and found that the common denominator, which was one of the deadly factors, was a tiger nut drink. People who came to the hospitals all identified that they had drunk tiger nut drinks.”

According to Dr. Ogunyemi, further investigations were conducted to test the drink and verify the patients’ claims.

“We couldn’t just take their word for it, so we had to take that drink and test it to see what was in it. We immediately sent people out to look for those selling it so we could take a sample.

“We found empty bottles with a name on them, but we discovered that it wasn’t even registered with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, the regulatory body that ensures the safety of consumables,” Ogunyemi said.

She added, “There was a phone number and a name on the bottle, and we started tracing. We did contact tracing, similar to what we did with COVID-19. We combed the area to ask people where they got the drinks from. We couldn’t find any full bottles. We only found empty ones, which were of no use because we could not test them.”

Dr. Ogunyemi further revealed that the phone number on the bottle of the tiger nut drink was not reachable.

Subsequent investigations confirmed that the beverages were not registered.

She added “the producers hadn’t gone through the processes to ensure that what they were producing was safe for the public to consume. We traced it to that.”