TODAY NEWS

Escape from a lynch mob: Story of 64-year-old suspected rapist

BUT for the timely intervention of men of the Ebonyi State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, a suspected serial rapist, Mr. Peter Edigbo, 64, would have been lynched by members of Agbaenyim community in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State last weekend. The suspect was later arrested by the Command’s division in Izzi Local Government Area for allegedly raping a six-year-old girl, Miss Nkwegu Chinwe, at midnight when the victim was asleep in her house.Vanguard Metro, VM, gathered that the suspect sneaked into the little girl’s room and allegedly forcefully had carnal knowledge of his victim. According to a resident, the screaming of the girl had attracted members of the community who rushed to the house without knowing what was initially happening but discovered that the victim’s  screaming was as a result of the immoral behaviour of the suspect.

In a chat with VM, the State Commandant of the Corps in Abakaliki, Mrs. Ego Echendu, who described the incident as abominable charged parents to always keep their eyes on their children at every point in time. She expressed the readiness of the Command to clamp down on incidences of crime and criminality throughout the state as NSCDC was fully positioned in the 13 local government areas to nip any act of criminality in the bud.Parading the 64-year-old suspect before newsmen at the Command Headquarters in Abakaliki, the Corps Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Corps, ASC, Emmanuel Nwali, stated that the incident which angered members of the community was also confirmed by women on examining the little girl after the incident. According to him, this confirmation enraged the villagers who wanted to lynched the suspect because that was not the first time he had committed such act. VM learnt that the suspect’s wife had left him as similar past action on his part had brought shame and embarrassments to their marriage.Nwali noted that  the suspect had been notorious for such act  as confirmed by the village Head and other members of the community.According to the Command’s spokesman:  “Yesterday at about 6pm we received a signal from one of our divisions in Izzi that an old man defiled a girl of six years old. When we got the report we told them to transfer the matter to our command headquarters in Abakaliki so that we will handle it appropriately. So far we are still investigating the case and after that we are going to hand over the case to the appropriate quarters because that is not one of our core mandates as NSCDC.“The suspect, Mr. Peter Edigbo,  hails from Agbaenyim in Izzi LGA of the state. The village head and villagers, among others, confirmed the incident, adding that the man has been in such act for quite some time despite warnings from community members. And if not for the timely intervention of our men the man would have been lynched. The only thing, according to the victim, she noticed when she was sleeping at midnight period was a hard thing inside her body. This is the second time such thing is happening in the village by the same man”.Reacting to the incident, the grandmother of the victim, Mrs. Mary Nwofoke, who spoke in her local dialect added that: “I told Chinwe and the other children that when they were ready to go to sleep, they should alert me so that I will come and lock the door but they forgot and slept off. And so because the door was not locked that gave the rapist the opportunity to sneak into the room and forced himself on the girl.“The child woke up and was screaming and calling me. So when I ran into the room, the man ran out immediately. I asked the little what happened and in her own naivety, she said ‘the man urinated on me’; so when I heard this I raised alarm and the  matter was brought before the village Council. If not for the intervention of the Civil Defence Corps, the man would have been burnt to death. Another lady who came when the alarm was raised also said the man had raped her before,” she stressed.

Dangote refinery to employ 8,000 engineers, create jobs for 85,000 Nigerians

Abuja -  The President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, said about 8,000 engineers would be needed for the smooth take off of the nine- billion- dollar Dangote Refinery/Fertiliser plant in Ondo.Dangote told State House correspondents on Wednesday in Abuja that the project, when completed, would provide direct and indirect jobs for 85,000 Nigerians.He said the group had secured a 3.3 billion-dollar credit facility from a consortium of banks for the project.According to him, importation of petroleum products will end by 2016 as the plant will commence production in the next three years.He said his plan was to make the country self-reliant in petrochemical and petroleum products, as well as make it an industrial giant.“Now, Nigeria is going to be taken out of the list of countries that import petroleum products. We will produce 20 million metric tonnes which is equivalent to what Nigeria consumes currently.“Today, we did the signing ceremony, the vice-president came to witness the signing but we insisted on coming to  thank Mr president for his policies .“Without good government policies, there is no way the private sector can invest in Nigeria, because we are not Father Christmas at all. The policies have to be right,’’ he said.According to Dangote,  Nigeria currently spends about 30 billion dollars annually on importation of petroleum products.He said the complex planned by his group would make Nigeria a net exporter of petroleum products, including diesel and aviation fuel, as well as poly-propylene and fertiliser.

FG urges Total to manufacture solar products locally

The Federal Government has challenged Total Nigeria Plc to consider local manufacturing of solar-powered and environment-friendly lamps in the country.This is coming on the heels of the unveiling of ‘Awango’ portable solar marking new investments by Total Nigeria as part of its corporate social responsibility.The Minister of State for Power, Hajia  Zainab Kuchi, in a statement on Wednesday, was quoted as saying the government was willing to give all the necessary support to investors in solar-powered products by creating the enabling environment through fiscal policy incentives.She said such a move would help the government to achieve the goal of cleaner environment and protection of health of millions of Nigerians from hazardous, environment-degrading products in the domestic market.The minister said, “This past six months, we have been preaching renewable energy for total lighting up of Nigeria, and I see this effort of Total Nigeria Plc as an answer or rather a response to one of those calls.

“We are very desirous of having companies move into this sector, when we talk about renewable energy or talking about biomass, solar and even small hydro. The scope is very wide because in essence, the national grid is saturated and we need to off load and the only way we can light up right to the remotest villages in Nigeria is to just have this kind of answer.”Kuchi said further, “We look forward to Total getting bigger in this investment. I understand this is part of your corporate social responsibility but when I was talking to the President, I’m still worried about the prices because we are not only talking about our mothers, we are talking about our real villagers and the cheaper it is the more accessible it can be to them.”While encouraging the management of the oil firm to consider investing on local manufacture of the products in view of the socio-economic benefits to the country, the minister said government would be willing to offer tax and other economic incentives to investors in all aspects of renewable energy.The Chairman of the company, Mr. Momar  Nguer, said Total Nigeria introduced the solar product into the Nigerian market as part of its long-term plan to become “everyday energy partner and improve the living standards of communities without reliable access to energy in IECD countries.”“Our aim is to provide access lighting for five per cent off grid households in Nigeria by selling one million lamps by 2017. It is worthy to mention that ‘Awango by Total’ was not borne out of purely economic reasons but out of Total’s passion to make sustainable and positive impact on the lives of developing societies,” he added.The Managing Director, Mr. Francois Boussagol, said the products had two years warranty each.