NewsRegionsBamise’s Murder, Bianca’s Slap, Other March Top Stories

LAGOS — Ayanwole Oluwabamise, a 22-year-old fashion designer, was reported to have gone missing on Saturday, February 26, 2022, after boarding a Bus Rapid Transit, BRT, a bus heading to Oshodi from Chevron bus stop, Victoria Island at the close of work.

It was gathered that Bamise sent distress messages to her close friend, Felicia Omolara when she felt uncomfortable in the vehicle due to the conduct of the driver.

Sensing danger as the bus did not pick up any other passengers at subsequent bus stops, she had engaged her friend using WhatsApp voice notes.

The voice notes revealed that the bus driver said he liked Bamise and asked for her name and other details.

She also sent a video to her friend showing how dark it was in the bus and said, “There are three men and one woman in the bus. The woman is sitting at the back. That’s the number of the bus in case. Please pray for me.”

This was her last known message sent from the BRT bus with number 240257.

Nine days later, on Monday, March 7, 2022, her corpse was found with some body parts missing on Ebute-Ero/Carter Bridge.

At the news of Bamise’s demise, Nigerians besieged the residence of the “jovial, accommodating and sociable” lady to condole with the family, carrying placards with inscriptions: “We want Justice for Bamise”, “Do not sweep under the carpet, we want Justice.”

Bamise’s family and some activists have called on Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the Commissioner of Police to ensure that justice is served.

The driver, identified as Nice Andrew Omininikoron is currently being remanded by Yaba Magistrate Court due to the alleged murder and rape of Bamise.

ABUJA — The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on March 8, sacked Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State and his Deputy, Dr. Eric Kelechi Igwe, from their respective offices, following their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC.

The court equally ordered 16 members of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly that joined the governor and his deputy in the defection to  APC on November 17, 2020, to vacate their seats and refund all salaries and monies received from the day they defected to the APC.

According to Justice Inyang Ekwo, the total number of 393, 343 votes Governor Umahi secured during the March 9, 2019 governorship election in Ebonyi State, belonged to the PDP and the same could not be legally transferred to APC.

He noted that having defected to the APC, both Umahi and his deputy not only jettisoned the PDP, but also the votes that belonged to it.

“There is no constitutional provision that made the ballot transferrable from one party to the other,” Justice Ekwo stated.

Consequently, the court ordered the lawmakers to immediately vacate their positions, even as it restrained them from further parading themselves or acting as members of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly.

The court also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately receive from the PDP, the names of its candidates to replace them, among others.

On March 10, Governor Umahi and others sought an order of the FHC Abuja, staying the execution of its judgment directing them to vacate their offices over their defection to another political party.

LAGOS — Chidinma Ojukwu, who is standing trial over the murder of Michael Usifo Ataga, Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, participated in a beauty pageant alongside other ladies at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre and emerged the winner of the competition.

The beauty pageant was held to commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day, with the theme, BreakTheBias.

At the end of the competition, Chidinma emerged as Miss Cell 2022 and her pictures as the winner of the pageant flooded social media.

The news elicited a lot of reactions from Nigerians on social media. While some saw it as good news and congratulated her, some lambasted the authorities of the Nigerian Correctional Service,  Kirikiri for crowning her the winner despite the gravity of her crime.

However, the National Spokesperson, Nigeria Correctional Service, Francis Enobore, justified the pageant as part of the services of the correctional facility to ensure that inmates are in ‘sound and good spirit.’

Also, the Command’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Rotimi Oladokun in a statement said that the pageant was open to all female inmates, irrespective of whether they are convicted or awaiting trial.

Meanwhile, the comptroller of the female prisons, Mrs. Lizzie Ekpendu was redeployed to the Lagos Command Headquarters, Alagbon, Ikoyi following the uproar generated over the beauty pageant.

AWKA — Madam Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu and Mrs. Ebelechukwu Obiano, wife of Chief Willie Obiano, the immediate past governor of Anambra State made headlines when they engaged in a fistfight at the inauguration ceremony of Prof. Chukwuma Soludo as Anambra state Governor on Thursday, March 16.

In an interview with Arise TV on Friday, March 17, the widow of late Igbo legend, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu opened up on what really transpired between her and the past Anambra First Lady.

She said Ebele was noticeably absent as the inauguration ceremony started, only for her to arrive an hour later reeking of alcohol and came to abuse her, even attempting to remove her headgear in public which prompted her reaction in defense.

She said, “I didn’t pay any particular attention to her arrival. Surprisingly, she then walked toward me and I thought she was coming to greet me. Instead, when she got to where I was seated, she verbally attacked me with her voice raised, taunting me and asking me what I was there to do, and using unprintable vile language.

“She asked if I had come to celebrate their last day in office. But I ignored her completely. Then, she kept aggressively putting her hands on my shoulders and shouting.

“While I ignored her verbal onslaught, as advised by those sitting around me, I requested twice that she refrained from touching me with her hands.

“She proceeded to do so yet again and went further to grab at my head tie, which she attempted unsuccessfully to remove. This very act is considered a sacrilege to a titled matriarch such as myself in Igbo culture.

“It was at this point that I stood up to defend myself and gave her a dirty slap to stop her from attacking me.

She added, “What struck me through the whole episode was the fact that she was clearly intoxicated. I was stunned by the stench of whisky in her breath at such an early hour of the day. How could a first lady be so drunk and proceeded to turn up in that state at an Inauguration ceremony that began at 9 am?”

Sharing her own part of the story, the wife of the former governor of Anambra said all she did was approach the former beauty queen for their usual friendly banters only to be “slapped” and pushed by her.

She said she was surprised at Bianca’s response to her greeting with a slap and a push and wondered what could have brought about the much anger and vile from Bianca, adding that she couldn’t believe that a former diplomat was unable to “manage herself in public”.

Ebele added that she did not bother returning the slap but rather she walked away in utter bewilderment.

US Rapper and Actor, Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock in the face on stage during the 94th Academy Awards (Oscars) on Sunday, March 27 night after the comedian made a joke about the hairstyle of the actor’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

Rock had cracked a joke comparing Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head to Demi Moore’s appearance in the film “G.I. Jane”, suggesting she appear in a sequel.

“Jada, I love ya. G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it. All right?” He said.

Jada Pinkett Smith, an actress, suffers from alopecia, a condition that causes hair loss, and publicly revealed her diagnosis in 2018.

Reacting, Will Smith stood up, stormed onstage, and smacked a stunned Rock in the face.

“Keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth,” yelled Smith, again seated in the audience.

Meanwhile, Smith, who won the Best Actor category, later issued a public apology to fellow nominees and the comedian, stating that he is a “work in progress”.

KADUNA — On Monday, March 28, 2022, some gunmen launched a deadly attack on a Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) Abuja-Kaduna evening train carrying an estimated 398 passengers.

After detonating explosives on the track (and possibly inside the train according to conflicting reports in the local media), the gunmen surrounded the immobilized train and started discharging their firearms into the carriages.

It took at least an hour before a detachment of the Nigerian military came to the rescue of the passengers, who had cowered under their seats as the bandits fired incessantly.

The incident, which left at least eight passengers dead and 41 injured, saw the disappearance of scores of passengers.

A youth leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Amin Mahmoud; a medical doctor, Megafu Nwando Chinelo; secretary-general, Trade Union Congress, TUC, Barrister Musa Lawal-Ozigi were among the dead in the ill-fated Abuja-Kaduna train tragedy.

A staff of the National Board for Technical Education, NBTE, Abdul Kofar-Mata also died in the bloody attack. Also attacked was Mallam Ibrahim Wakkala, a former deputy governor of Zamfara state. Wakkala, was said to have been abducted by the terrorists but was later rescued by a combined team of security forces, mobilized to the scene of the event.

Although the number of passengers on board the train at the time of the attack is controversial, the NRC said in a statement on Tuesday, that 398 passengers bought tickets for the trip, and that only 362 of the tickets were actually validated for the trip.

Consequently, families yet to find their loved ones on board have become anxious to get the manifest to ascertain the names, and the number of persons who made the trip.

However, a manifest of passengers on board the train was circulated on social media on Wednesday, but the NRC dismissed it as fake.

It was gathered that the terrorists, who went away with some of the passengers, have started calling their families to say their loved ones are with them, but they are yet to demand ransome.

Following the attack, the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has suspended train operations on that route.