Suspected ritualists kill 73-year-old pensioner in Ekiti
Unknown killers on Tuesday killed a 73-year old pensioner in Ado Ekiti, Adetutu Ajayi. But some residents and relations said they suspected the mother five must have been killed by ‘Yahoo boys’ for rituals. The deceased, a retiree of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, was reportedly killed at her three bedroom bungalow situated at 10, […]
Unknown killers on Tuesday killed a 73-year old pensioner in Ado Ekiti, Adetutu Ajayi. But some residents and relations said they suspected the mother five must have been killed by ‘Yahoo boys’ for rituals.
The deceased, a retiree of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, was reportedly killed at her three bedroom bungalow situated at 10, Moferere, Ajilosun area of Ado Ekiti by church members around 11: 00am when they visited the woman.
The late Ajayi, who retired after 35 years was the daughter of the former Accountant General of the Old Western Region, Samuel Sotoowa .
The deceased was said to have been macheted at the head and body beyond recognition with her fingers cut off.
The deceased’s daughter, Titilayo Ajayi , told journalists that she was called from Akure , capital of Ondo State around 11pm by church members that her mother sustained home injury, which she said made her to rush down to assess the situation.
“When I got here , I saw my mother in the pool of blood. Her blood had been drained and taken away because a bucket Mama left in the store was taken away which we believed were used to drain blood and her fingers were cut off which made us to suspect that it was done by ritualists.
“She ought to attend the cross over vigil at CAC , Voice of God on this street but when the Pastor could not see her, she was worried and sent a delegation to look after her and when they got here, they saw her lifeless body and they immediately raised the alarm.
“We saw the record Mama left on calendar because anytime she woke up around 5am , she would take her bath and marked the calendar and we saw the calendar marked on that day which suggested that she was killed after 5am.”
She said her body had been deposited at the morgue of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti.
She begged the police to conduct thorough investigation into the crime and ensure the prosecution of the perpetrators.
The 82-year old husband of the deceased, Clement Ajayi who lived at Irun Ekiti, described the incident as “sad , pathetic and surprising”, saying it confirmed that the lives of Nigerians were no longer safe.
“I could not imagine myself seeing my wife being massacred like that, over what. In fact, her head, eyes, hands , laps and neck were butchered , you could hardly identify her. It was a gruesome murder and justice must be done in this matter,” he said.
The Police Public Relations Officer of the Ekiti Command, Alberto Adeyemi, confirmed the story adding that "our men are working round the clock to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to book."
Lagos, FG bickering deepens over control of waterways
From Abdullateef Aliyu, Lagos
There is no end in sight to the bickering between the Lagos State Government and the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) over the control of waterways.
Since the July 18 Court of Appeal judgment on the controversy over who controls the waterways, both the state government and NIWA have interpreted the verdict in their favour.
The Lagos Government says by the verdict, it now has exclusive power to regulate waterway transportation including the activities of boat operators and sand dredgers.
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode said at a recent function that the era of uncontrolled dredging is now over with the verdict.
The government moved further on Tuesday by issuing a 7-day ultimatum to boat operators and dredgers to comply with all the rules and guidelines concerning their operations.
But NIWA called on stakeholders to ignore the Lagos government’s claim, saying it is still in control of waterways in the state. NIWA insists all bodies of waterways in Lagos State were international, tidal, intra-coastal and or inter-state waterways.
“The Court of Appeal retained the power to regulate international, intra-coastal and inter-state waterways in NIWA under Articles 36 and 64 of the exclusive legislative list of the 1999 Constitution (as amended)”, says NIWA Managing Director, Boss Mustapha.
As the controversy rages, experts are of the opinion that the two parties should return to the same Appeal Court to seek further and clearer interpretation of the judgment.
Prominent Lagos based lawyer, Barrister Monday Ubani told Daily Trust that the best way to douse the tension is to approach the court.
“There is always room for that. If all the parties are giving wrong interpretation to what the court said, the court has a right to explain the reason for its decision. That procedure is called ratio decidendi. Of course there is a procedure like that”, he said.