The Police, on Wednesday, said that divers were battling to recover the body of a 30-year-old man who allegedly drowned at the Elegushi Beach, Lagos, where he had gone for prayers.

The Lagos Police Command spokesperson, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, disclosed this to newsmen.

He said that a report to the police indicated that the man, simply identified as Samuel, had gone to pray at the beach with his friends.

Hundeyin said that the case was reported to the Ilasan Police Division at about 7.20 a.m. on Tuesday by a man whose name was not mentioned.

Hundeyin said that the man’s report revealed that on Tuesday, at midnight, he and three of his friends left Igbesan in Ogun to Elegushi Beach, Lekki for prayers.

The image maker said that the report stated that during the prayer session, at about 4.00 a.m., one of the friends, named Samuel, 30, allegedly drowned.

“The scene was promptly visited by detectives of the division and effort is in progress by divers to recover the corpse.

“The family members of the deceased have been contacted and the investigation is ongoing,” he said.

An Ekiti State High Court has sentenced 45-year-old Alabi Oluwafemi to 15 years imprisonment for raping an eight-year-old minor in 1999.

According to the charge, Oluwafemi sometime in 1999 at Ikere Ekiti, did rape an eight-year-old girl.

The victim, in his testimony, said: “The defendant was my teacher and our neighbour. He touched my breast each time he came to teach me at home, I did not understand anything about what he was doing until he raped me in our sitting room when my mother travelled to Lagos and left me and my sister at home.

“He removed my cloth and used it to clean the blood and sperm and threw it away, I later ran to our neighbours weeping, they thought I was missing my mother but I did not tell them what happened.

“Thereafter, I dropped out of school because I could no longer concentrate on my studies. I was afraid anytime I saw him in the class. He came across me on Facebook sometime in the year 2012, he sent me a friend request and I declined.

“In the year 2023 again, he started disturbing me, I reported the matter to the law enforcement agents, and I was advised to ignore him. Thereafter, he started sending disturbing and annoying videos and messages to me, referring to the past ugly incident. When I could no longer bear it, I decided to take legal action against him.”

To prove his case, the prosecutor, Kunle-Shina Adeyemi, called two witnesses and tendered a confessional statement of the defendant, a flash drive of the defendant’s conversations with the nominal complainant, a petition and printout from screenshots of chats among others as exhibits.

In his judgment, Justice Lekan Ogunmoye said the sexual intercourse with the victim could not have been consensual. She, as an eight-year-old girl, was a minor and could not consent to sexual intercourse.

This issue is resolved in favour of the prosecution and the defendant is found guilty as charged, Ogunmoye said.

The Plateau state police command says nine persons were killed in Zurak and Dakai communities in Wase LGA on Monday.

Gunmen attacked Zurak village at about 5pm on Monday and reportedly killed more than 40 persons.

Some residents said they could not immediately report the incident due to the poor communication network in the area.

Sahpi’i Sambo, a youth leader in the area, said the attackers arrived the community on motorbikes while brandishing sophisticated weapons.

He added that the assailants shot sporadically during the attack.

In a statement on Wednesday, Alfred Alabo, the state police spokesperson, said the bandits met an “aggressive onslaught” by a combined team of security operatives.

He said the bandits also burnt down six houses.

“Some of the bandits were killed and one arrested at the Bangalala forest in Wase which is a border between Plateau, Bauchi and Taraba States,” he said.

“Following the incident, the Commissioner of Police has deployed more personnel to the area and directed the Area Commander of Langtang to relocate to Wase with immediate effect.

“One of the bandits who escaped and went to seek treatment at a hospital in Wase was arrested with gunshot wounds.

“He has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigation.”

He said the commissioner commiserated with those who lost their loved ones and assured residents of the command’s readiness to secure lives and property in the state.