Many burnt to death as petrol tanker explodes in Niger

Many people, including women and children, were on Saturday killed in a tanker explosion at Dikko in the Gurara Local Government Area of Niger State.

The incident, it was learnt, occurred when some residents were scooping fuel from a petrol-laden tanker fell on the road around 9am.

Apart from the dead, scores of other persons also sustained injury, some of them taken to Suleja General Hospital as well as Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Hospital, Sabon-Wuse town.

“The tanker fell opposite the Government Girls’ Secondary School, Dikko, around 9am but it didn’t explode immediately until after people had gathered to scoop the fuel that was pouring on the ground,” said an eyewitness.

Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, confirmed the explosion in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Bologi Ibrahim.

The governor described the incident as worrisome and heartbreaking.

He sympathised with the families of the victims and prayed that Allah would repose the souls of the departed and heal the injured.

He directed all the relevant Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to do what is necessary while urging the Security Agents to ensure security in the area.

I consulted Ifa oracle that chose new Alaafin, all kingmakers consented – Prof Abimbola

Fresh details of how Ifa oracle played a major role in the final selection of Abimbola Owoade as the new Alaafin of Oyo have emerged.

Wande Abimbola, a 92-year-old Yoruba language and literature professor and Ifa priest, said he was involved in the entire process.

The former vice chancellor of University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile Ife, said all the Oyo kingmakers were present during the Ifa consultation that chose Abimbola Owoade as the new Alaafin.

Abimbola spoke in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune on Saturday.

The selection of the new Alaafin of Oyo has become controversial after the death of the former monarch in 2022.

Although the state governor, Seyi Makinde, has announced and presented a staff of office to a new Alaafin Owoade, five out of seven Oyomesi members/kingmakers are backing Prince Luqman Gbadegesin for the position.

They are threatening legal action if the governor failed to rescind the decision.

But the Ifa priest (Prof Abimbola) recalled that the governor had asked him to conduct the Ifa consultation for the new Alaafin because “the kingmakers were fighting among themselves”.

“I was happy and surprised too that we could find a governor who says that we should consult Ifa. A year or two ago, we divined and it was so easy to pick someone, anyone — I didn’t want to know the person,” Abimbola said.

“That was how Ifa selected a person. We did it and for a long time, we didn’t hear anything again.

“Actually, I came home for the marriage of one of my sons in Lagos. When the governor heard that I was around, he said he was just about to send for me again because he was ready, and the kingmakers were fighting among themselves.

“Even in modern times, culture demands that they would ask Ifa also. That may not be the primary method of selection, but they would ask Ifa, and that is our own tradition.

“Now, it is not the case that the kingmakers were bypassed; they were there while we consulted Ifa to choose the best. The Oyo Mesi were there only they had split into two. And one section took the governor to court; that he must take the candidate they presented. There were five kingmakers. They used to be seven. Two of them had died, remaining five.

“I did not insist on the choice of the candidate, the kingmakers approved him. It turned out that the candidate is a good man when his file was presented.

“We did the divination a long time ago and as an academic, I wrote a 21-page report on the divination process. When they called me four or five days ago, I asked for the report.”

Housewife bags death sentence with sister for killing co-wife in Minna

A High Court sitting in Minna, the Niger State capital, has sentenced one Amina Aliyu, a housewife, and her sister, Aishat Mohammed to death by hanging for the brutal killing of her co-wife, Hafsat Fatima Aliyu.

The youngest sister of the accused person, Zainab, who was alleged to have participated in the murder also received life imprisonment due to her age at the time the crime was committed.

The accused persons had conspired and killed the deceased in March 2021, at the family residence in Barkin Saleh, a suburb of Minna, the state capital.

The two accused persons – Amina and Aishat – were convicted for murdering Hafsat, after hitting her with a pestle from behind in the kitchen on the fateful day.

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According to the prosecutor, the accused persons later set the lifeless body on fire to make it look as if she died of fire incident in the kitchen.

During the proceedings, which spanned three years, four witnesses testified, including Sani Aliyu, the husband of the deceased, who recounted how Amina and her  sisters conspired and killed Hafsat

Justice Balkisu Gambo Yusuf of Minna High Court 7, while sentencing the accused persons said that the prosecutor had proven his case beyond doubt, adding that: “The punishment for culpable homicide under Section 221 of the Penal Code is death.”

However Peter Omale, the defence counsel, urged leniency for Zainab, highlighting her status as a minor at the time of the crime.

Justice Yusuf concurred, admitting that, “As of 2021, when the offence was committed, the ACJA excluded anyone below 18 from facing the death penalty.”

Housewife bags death sentence with sister for killing co-wife in Minna