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Okomu Oil Palm Plc MD threatens to shut down Edo plant after staff were murdered

The management of Okomu Oil Palm Plc says it might shut its operations in Edo after bandits invaded the multi-billion naira plantation.

The Managing Director of the company, Graham Hefer, disclosed that the company suffered two attacks in one week.

The latest attack was on Monday morning, May 6, when three of the company’s workers were murdered and four were injured inside the plantation in Okomu-Udo, Ovia South-West Local Government Area of Edo State.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Hefer said; “The female worker, who was held hostage but managed to escape unhurt said the six armed gunmen came in through the Okomu Riverside and also escaped through the same route in their motorboat.

“This is one of the two incidences within a space of one week. Last week, armed gunmen ambushed the company’s patrol vehicle which they riddled with bullets.”

He added: “Government has to come and take absolute control of the area overtaken by squatters who now terrorise the locality as the owner of the land.

“The government that is supposed to be their custodian and protect the tenants like us absolutely has no control whatsoever. We are left to our faith.

“There are police personnel or soldiers and no police post at all.

“Yet, the government needs to provide security around the plantation and the people around the communities as law-abiding citizens.

“We have repeatedly said the government should put a military base in the plantation.

“It’s absurd that we pay over N12 billion in taxes to government annually and still are left to fend and seek security for equipment and personnel by ourselves.

“We have to fund our own security and pay more charges in taxes without commensurate service delivery. What kind of investment-friendly environment are you providing?”

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Ex-kogi Deputy Speaker is dead

The immediate past Deputy Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Hon Enema Paul, is dead.

He died of an undisclosed illness in Abuja at a private hospital in the early hours of Saturday.

Before his death, Hon Paul was the member representing Okura State Constituency in the current 8th Assembly in Kogi State.

Hon Paul stepped down as Kogi State Deputy Speaker on health grounds, and he was later replaced by the member representing Ibaji State Constituency, Hon. Comfort Ojoma Nwuchiola.

Meanwhile, the Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Aliyu Umar Yusuf, has commiserated with the family of the former Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Rt. Hon. Enema Paul, whose demise was announced early Saturday.

This is contained in a press statement signed and made available to journalists in Lokoja by the Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker, Yabagi Mohammed.

He described the deceased Assembly member as a friend, temperate, humble, team-playing, committed lawmaker, and public servant.

According to Rt Hon Umar, the former Deputy Speaker was a man who exemplified commitment to the unity of the state, having demonstrated a genuine desire to enhance pro-people legislation for overall development.

He noted that the late Enema Paul was also a devoted Christian who saw beyond religion and whose godliness and commitment to family values were unquestionable.

The Speaker prayed to God to grant the immediate family and members of the current and immediate past Assembly the fortitude to bear the huge loss.

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Lagos doctor, Femi Olaleye, regains freedom after appeal court nullified his rape conviction

Nigerian doctor, Femi Olaleye, has regained his freedom weeks after the Appeal court sitting in Lagos nullified his rape conviction.

Olaleye was arraigned in 2022 by the Lagos State Government at the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, in Ikeja, Lagos and was in October 2023, found guilty of defiling his wife’s 16-year-old niece.

The judge held that the prosecution proved the two counts charge of defilement and sexual assault by penetration against Olaleye.

After his conviction in August 2023, his lawyer, Kemi Pinhero, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), filed an appeal in November 2023, arguing that there was no direct evidence to confirm the alleged victim’s age.

In a judgement delivered on November 29, 2024, the appeal court held that there was no direct evidence to establish the alleged victim’s age, claiming the prosecution failed to provide documentation proving she was 16 years old at the time of the offence.

The court then discharged and acquitted Olaleye.

Taking to his Instagram page this afternoon, he shared photos of him leaving the prison on December 3. He wrote;

‘’Freedom is not just a release—it is a rebirth. And on Tuesday, 03/12/24 my new chapter began! @drfemi is back and active!”

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Gunmen kill 1 at Benin nightclub

The police in Edo have confirmed the killing of a guest at the popular Raptor Club and Lounge, Stadium Road, Benin.

The victim was shot dead by gunmen in the early hours of Friday, while his female passenger sustained gunshot injuries.

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SP Moses Yamu, Public Relations Officer of the Police Command in Edo, told NAN that investigations into the incident were ongoing.

According to him, the police received a distress call at 3 a.m. that there were gunshots at Raptop Club.

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He said the operatives of the command on reaching the scene went after the hoodlums, who escaped and abandoned a pump action gun and two expended empty shells.

Yamu explained that efforts were ongoing to arrest the perpetrators.

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The incident, which occurred at about 2 a.m., has left the management and patrons of the nightclub in shock.

A source told NAN that the deceased, whose identity has not been disclosed, was shot inside his white Lexus Jeep vehicle, while the female passenger was hit by stray bullets on her lap.

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The incident left the club with some damages, including shattered show glasses and a destroyed glass door.

Policemen were seen at the scene of the incident, as the deceased’s vehicle was towed away.

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