Crime
Why We Assassinated Naval Officer, Suspects Admit
The three suspect detained in connection with the murder of Sub-Lt. Samuel Akingbohun, a naval officer, in ldo-Ani, Ose Local Government Area, Ondo State, have explained why and how they killed the officer following an incident.
The accused, Ayomide Sambo, Johnson Adeleke, and Shagari Francis, all 17, admitted to killing the officer in an interrogation when they were being paraded by the state police command. They did this because the officer had attacked one of them.
The three suspects have just graduated from the town’s high school.
They narrate how they used an iron rod to hit the deceased officer’s head and scrotum.
Ayomide Sambo, aged 20, narrated that the naval officer physically assaulted his friend, Johnson Adeleke, by slapping and giving him a headbutt, while trying to contest for the right of way in the community.
“We were so annoyed that we went after him and we cornered him at a junction, where we attacked him using an iron rod.
“We were on our way to collect a power bank when we encountered the naval officer. He was coming from the opposite direction, and the portion he was coming from was bad.
“We were both trying to take a good path when my friend used his shoulder to shove the officer. “In annoyance, the naval officer slapped him and also gave him a headbutt. We started to beg the naval officer. After the naval officer had left, my friend said it was fake military personnel.
“It was then that we took a bike and traced him to the junction and challenged him.
“The naval officer and my friend started fighting. It was in the process that I picked up an iron rod and began to hit him all over his body. My friend also collected the iron rod from them and started hitting him.
“But the two of my friends are now denying it and saying that I was the only one that hit him with the iron rod.
“We have never seen the officer before. That was the first time we set our eyes on him. Even the Okada rider that carried us was saying that where my friend hit him with the iron rod was dangerous.
“We were arrested while trying to flee from the town. I was first arrested, while the other two were arrested the following day after I told the naval officers their whereabouts. The two of them are now saying that I was the only one that hit him.”
The second suspect, Johnson Adeleke, aged 20, however denied his involvement in the beating and killing of the officer.
Adeleke said: “When I was on my way to remove my power bank, I mistakenly hit my elbow with the navy officer. He slapped me and gave me a headbutt. At that moment, we didn’t know that he was a naval officer.
“After the fisticuffs, we took a bike and traced him. After catching up with him, I confronted him, but he refused to say anything.
“The friend of the naval officer used his elbow to hit Ayomide, it was at that point that Ayomide picked up the iron rod and started hitting him. I did not hit him at all, it was Ayomide that was hitting him.
“I was already out of Idoani in a bid to escape when my mother’s elder brother called me to report to the station.”
The third suspect, Shagari Francis, 17, in an interview said: “I didn’t hit the naval officer. I was just following them. I was arrested when my mother took me to the station to ask if I was part of them.”
Commenting, the spokesperson for the command, Funmi Odunlam, said the suspects would soon be charged in court for prosecution after police investigation.
Odunlami said, “Currently, three suspects are in custody, and in the course of interrogation, we realised that one Ayomide Sambo was one of those mobilised to the scene, and when he got there, he carried an iron rod, hit him on his head and his testicles, and started stoning him.
“Later, he became unconscious, and he was rushed to the hospital in the town, where he was confirmed dead by the Doctor.”
Dutch investigative journalist, Oliver Beerman has once again turned the spotlight on Heineken’s controversial business operations across Africa, alleging a history of corruption, unethical marketing, and exploitation in his 2019 book The Dark Side of Heineken’s African Beer Empire.
During a book reading event in Abuja on Saturday, Beerman shared insights from his six-year investigation into the brewing giant’s activities in 13 African countries, including Nigeria.
The book paints a damning picture of Heineken’s conduct in the region, with Beerman accusing the company of engaging in practices that undermine local brewers, collaborating with authoritarian regimes, and exploiting weak governance to bypass ethical standards.
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“Unlike in Western markets, where regulations are stricter, Heineken has operated with far more freedom in Africa,” Beerman stated.
He pointed to the company’s use of marketing tactics disguised as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), such as funding schools in Nigeria’s Enugu state, where the buildings are emblazoned with the Heineken logo and painted in the company’s colors.
“This should be CSR, but in this case, it is another form of advertisement,” Beerman explained.
Beerman also revealed that many African consumers are unaware that brands they consider local—such as Gulder, Star Radler, and Primus—are actually brewed by Heineken.
He highlighted the company’s strategy of creating the illusion of local identity, such as printing the Congolese flag on bottles sold in the Democratic Republic of Congo, while the profits ultimately flow to Heineken’s shareholders abroad.
“They make the product look national, but in the end, the profits go to Heineken outside the country,” Beerman added.
Nigeria, according to Beerman, is by far Heineken’s most important market in Africa, contributing nearly half of the company’s turnover on the continent.
“Nigeria represents half of Heineken’s total turnover in Africa,” Beerman stated. “Lagos, the economic capital, is the heart of a conurbation that 20 million people call home. Nigeria as a whole is more than 200 million strong.”
But the journalist’s findings also expose a darker side to Heineken’s operations. Beerman uncovered a marketing campaign orchestrated by Heineken Nigeria’s CEO, Festus Odimegwu, that allegedly involved the use of sex workers to promote Heineken products.
“In Nigeria, the upper and middle classes drink in clubs without prostitution, but poor people go to bars where you pay 2,000 naira (around $10 at the time) to sleep with a woman,” Beerman recounted.
“So it came to pass that the company designated 500 well-frequented bars as so-called hot spots, where young women had to promote the beer.
“When I ask if they were also encouraged to sleep with the clients, Odimegwu’s eyes grow large as he looks at me, ‘What kind of question is that? Of course, they are prostitutes.’”
When Beerman reached out to Heineken for comment, executives defended the company’s past actions, stating that ethical concerns were not a priority at the time.
“You are looking at the past with eyes of now. Back then, ethical questions were not as important as the present,” Beerman quoted the executives as saying.
However, Beerman countered, “I show in the book that already in the 1990s, people who were already thinking of business ethics had begun asking Heineken questions about some of its practices.”
Beerman’s findings have sparked renewed calls for greater corporate accountability in Africa, where multinational companies are often able to operate with little oversight.
Justices Kayanson Samuel Lawanson, Hammed Isha, Benjamin Manji Lawal and Mohammed Ibrahim Tola of the Adamawa State High Court, Adamawa State have convicted and sentenced twelve internet fraudsters to various jail terms.
The convicts include, Oladele Pius, Emmanuel Bulus, Elijah Elisha, Alamin Mohammed Bappa, Jamilu Usman and Enoch Solomon.
The rest are Emmanuel Anthony, Enebeli Samuel Israel, Dimas Hyellabulatin, Emmanuel Dike , Joshua Umoru and Dan Eden Sunday.
They were separately arraigned between November 6 and 7, 2024 on a one count charge of cheating and impersonation by the Gombe Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
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The charge against Alamin Muhammad Bappa reads: “Alamin Muhammad Bappa sometimes in September, 2024 at Sangere area of Modibo Yola, Adamawa State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud one Amity Shane and other unsuspecting foreign nationals, created some fake Gmail’ and Facebook accounts using the name Jacob sermon to pose as a cybersecurity professional that helps people to recover their compromised or blocked Facebook accounts for a service fee of $20 each and thereby committed an offense of cheating by impersonation contrary to Section 314 of Penal Code Law of Adamawa State, 2018 and punishable under Section 315 of the same law”.
The charge against Oladele Pius reads: “ that you Oladele Pius sometimes in September, 2024 in Yola, Adamawa State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, being a student of Modibo Adamawa University of Technology Yola, with intent to defraud, did cheat by Impersonation, Having created and operating one Mr. Legit Hassan Abbadin a foreign national with Whatsapp account No. +1 (842) 921332016, through your Your iphone 11 Model No. MWNC2CH/A for ” a virtual funds transactions” with a motive of gaining a financial advantage from other unsuspecting internet users and thereby committed an offense of cheating by impersonation contrary to Section 314 of Penal Code Law of Adamawa State, 2018 and punishable under Section 315 of the same law.
Upon arraignment, the defendants pleaded guilty to their respective charges, prompting prosecution counsel Saad .H Sa’ad and M.D Aliyu to pray the court to convict and sentence the defendants accordingly; however, counsels to the defendants pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy.
Justice Lawanson thereafter convicted and sentenced Bulus , Elisha, Usman and Israel to ten years imprisonment or a fine of N200,000 (Two Hundred Thousand Naira) each. However, Hyellabulati bagged five years imprisonment or a fine of N200,000.
Justice Tola convicted and sentenced Dike, Umoru, Sunday and Pius to five years imprisonment with an option of fine of N2,000,000 (Two Million Naira) each.
Justice Lawal convicted and sentenced Bappa and Solomon to five years imprisonment or a fine of N200,000 each.
Justice Isha convicted and sentenced Anthony to ten years imprisonment or a fine of N300,000.00 (Three Hundred Thousand Naira).
The Judges ruled that the mobile phones recovered during investigation be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria .
In addition, Justice Lawal ordered that the sum of $20 recovered during investigation from Bappa and being proceeds of crime, be returned to the victim.
The convicts were arrested on September 24, 2024 around Modibo Adamawa University of Technology area of Yola, Adamawa State by operatives of the Commission following actionable intelligence linking them with cybercrimes activities. They were charged to court and convicted.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has announced the arrest of a businessman caught attempting to traffic a significant quantity of cocaine.
The NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, revealed the arrest on Sunday through his official X account.
According to Babafemi, the suspect had ingested the drugs in a bid to evade detection but was apprehended and forced to excrete the contraband while in custody.
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Sharing a video of the seized drugs, Babafemi issued a stern warning to drug traffickers, especially during the upcoming holiday season.
He wrote, “Detty December: Before you swallow those drugs, please remember that the new @ndlea_nigeria has the capacity and capability to catch you.
“The businessman who excreted this amount of cocaine will not only spend Christmas behind bars but also risks a life sentence at the end of his trial. Beware!”
The agency has ramped up its operations to combat drug trafficking as the year-end festivities approach, a period known for increased criminal activity.
Officials warned that traffickers face severe consequences, including life imprisonment if convicted.
The NDLEA urged Nigerians to avoid involvement in illicit drug activities, emphasizing its readiness to ensure a drug-free festive season.
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