Some yet-to-be-identified armed men have abducted a pregnant woman, simply identified as Mrs Ogunbunmi in Ogun State.

Mrs Ogunbunmi, who was said to be due for delivery, reportedly left her home in Oke Lantoro for the State General Hospital, Ijaiye, Abeokuta before her reported abduction on a date not disclosed.

According to reports, her husband, Ogunbunmi Lateef, received a WhatsApp message notifying him of his wife’s kidnapping by these abductors.

Confirming the incident, on Thursday in a statement on her X handle formerly called Twitter, the spokesperson for the state police command, Omolola Odutola, said the suspected abduction had been reported to the command.

Odutola stated, “One Ogunbunmi Lateef of Oke Lantoro reported that his pregnant wife due for delivery left home for State Hospital Ijaiye Abeokuta.

“He received a WhatsApp message confirming the abduction of his wife by unknown armed men”.

A student from Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo (AE-FUNAI) in Ebonyi has been murdered.

The student, identified as Maxwell Okeke, was reportedly abducted and killed while in the custody of his captors.

Joshua Ukandu, spokesperson of the Ebonyi state police, confirmed that four suspects have been arrested in connection to the case.

He said efforts had been made to rescue Maxwell alive but the student’s decomposing corpse was instead discovered on June 17.

“We have commenced an investigation on the matter and four persons have so far been arrested in connection with the heinous crime,” Ukandu said.

“The victim’s body has been recovered and taken to the mortuary. The investigation is ongoing to unravel the death. Four suspects have been arrested so far.”

Elom Iyke Ubochi, the spokesperson at AE-FUNAI, said Okeke was an “extra-year” accounting student when he was murdered.

Ubochi urged anyone with useful information that could aid in the police investigation to come forward and assist the authorities.

“The security agencies have apprehended some of those alleged to be involved in the abduction,” he added.

“They did everything possible to rescue him alive.

“Unfortunately, on Monday, June 17, the decomposing body of Okeke was painfully recovered under the bridge at Ako stream in Nwakpu village, on Ikwo/Abakaliki Road.”

Maxwell Okeke is the latest in a series of tragedies that have hit Nigerian campuses in recent weeks.

Earlier, a 500-level student of agronomy at the Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba Akoko (AAUA) in Ondo was found dead.

The corpse of the final-year student, identified as Ayandare Modupe, was discovered in the Akungba community of Akoko South.

Adekolore Idowu Glory, a 22-year-old recent graduate of the University of Benin, was raped and beaten to death on June 13 in Edo.

A man who identified as a brother to the deceased said unknown men attacked her while she was on her way back home from school.

Glory, who graduated last April, was said to have been processing her clearance when she was killed and dumped close to her house.

The Enugu Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arraigned one Nwodo Martha, a former Principal Manager at Fidelity Structures Limited before Justice H. U. Ezugwu of the Enugu State High Court sitting in Independence Layout, Enugu State.

According to a statement by Dele Oyewale, EFCC’s Head, Media & Publicity, Martha was arraigned on nine-count charges bordering on stealing by fraudulent conversion to the tune of Thirty-nine Million, Eight Hundred and Forty-seven Thousand, Eight Hundred Naira (N39, 847, 800. 00).

Count Three reads: “That you Nwodo Martha from February to December 2017, in Nsukka Enugu State of Nigeria within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did commit a felony to wit: stealing by fraudulently converting to your personal use the aggregate sum of Five Million, Eight Hundred and Forty Thousand Naira (N5, 840, 000. 00) property of Fidelity Structures, the sum being payment for purchase of Brewery products”.

Count Seven reads: “That you, Nwodo Martha, from February to December 2021, in Nsukka Enugu State of Nigeria, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did commit a felony to wit: stealing by fraudulently converting to your personal use the aggregate sum of Nineteen Million, Five Hundred and Twenty Thousand, Five Hundred Naira (N19, 520, 500. 00) property of Fidelity Structures, the sum being payment for purchase of Brewery products”.

The offence is contrary to Section 342 of the Criminal Code Law, Revised Edition, Cap 30, Laws of Enugu State of Nigeria, 2004 and punishable under Section 353 (1) of the same Law.

The defendant pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to her. In view of her plea, counsel to the EFCC, Ahmad Yusuf Abdullahi prayed the court for a trial date and for the defendant to be remanded at Enugu State Correctional facility.

However, defence counsel, Chukwuemeka Okpoto Onah informed the court about the pending bail application before it and thereafter moved the said application. He prayed the court to grant bail to his client on liberal terms.

Responding, Abdullahi vehemently opposed the said bail application on the ground that “the defendant is not likely to attend her trial my Lord because of the gravity of the alleged offence”.

After listening to both sides, the court granted the defendant bail in the sum of Ten Million Naira (N10, 000, 000. 00) with a surety in like sum who must be a level 13 civil servant and the court registrar should verify the address of the said surety.

The court thereafter adjourned the matter to July 24, 2024 for trial while the defendant was remanded at Enugu State Correctional facility pending the perfection of the bail conditions.

Martha was arrested based on a petition from Fidelity Structures, one of the major distributors of Nigerian Breweries, alleging that, as one of its Principal Managers, she turned herself into a Sole Administrator, thereby blocking the Directors of the company from having information about the operations of the company as she allegedly released products to faceless sub distributors and fraudulently collected payments made for the products.

The petitioner also alleged that the defendant, who constantly approved for herself, salary advance, sold off two of the company’s delivery vans (Ford and Mercedes 813 truck ), which she claimed were missing but was later discovered to have been sold at her behest.