Man impregnates wife’s sister, kills baby five days after birth

The police in Bayelsa State have apprehended a 47-year-old man, Moses Otimba, for killing a five-day-old baby boy he fathered with the younger sister of his pregnant wife.

The suspect, was said to have impregnated the girl, Joy, and allegedly killed the child and buried it in a shallow grave near a river.

Otimba, an indigene of Ogbogoro community in Yenagoa Local Government Area of the state, was said to have carried out the act in connivance with Joy in order to hide the paternity of the baby.

Joy, 18, allegedly refused to disclose the identity of the father of her unborn baby throughout the nine months she was pregnant. She lived with her sister and Otimba throughout the period.

The two suspects were on Thursday paraded by the Commissioner of Police, Bayelsa State Command, Mr. Asuquo Amba, at the command’s headquarters in Yenagoa, the state capital.

Amba said policemen from the Yenagoa Police Division, arrested the two suspects on August 15, 2017, noting that they had confessed to the murder.

The CP said, “Mr. Moses Otimba, male, 47, impregnated one Joy Matthew, 18, a younger sister to his wife, Glory. The pregnant Joy was delivered of the baby by a traditional birth attendant at Amarata, Yenagoa on May 8, 2017.

“On May 13, 2017, Moses, Joy and the baby left the birth attendant and went across  the Swali Bridge where Moses took the baby from his  mother, went down the shore, suffocated the baby and buried the body in a shallow grave.”

Amba said Joy, who alleged that she was being tormented by “some spirits”, confessed to the incident to her mother three months after the act.

He said Joy’s mother alerted the police, which swung into action and arrested the suspects.

The police commissioner said, “The police visited the scene of the incident. By the time they got to the scene, the current of the river had washed away the child’s body.

‘’The suspect, Moses Otimba, has confessed to the crime and Joy has also confessed her alleged involvement in the murder of the baby. Investigation is ongoing.’’

When asked if what the police said was true, the prime suspect, Otimba, spoke in affirmation, saying that he killed the baby because he was scared and afraid to break the news to his wife (Glory) and his mother-in-law.

He admitted that he killed the baby with the consent of Joy, saying that he told Joy of his predicament concerning the paternity and that Joy “gladly gave him the boy” to kill.

Otimba said, “I killed the baby boy because I was afraid. I did not really know how to face my wife and my mother-in-law. I am really sorry.

“I took the baby to the bush in my community and closed his nose until he died. When I was carrying out the act, I was weeping and crying but I had no choice.

‘’When I got to the site, he was five days old then, I closed his nose and within some seconds, he stopped breathing. After that, I started regretting.

“The mother of the baby agreed that we should kill him. I told Joy that I did not know how to tell my wife about the development.

“On that day, she was carrying the baby. She gladly gave me the baby to do as I wished. My wife was not aware of all of this.  But somehow, I did not know what happened. I learnt the baby’s mother told her mother who alerted the police and we were arrested.”

CBN pledges to ensure liquidity in forex supply

CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele



The Central Bank of Nigeria has said it will continue to intervene in the inter-bank foreign exchange market in order to sustain liquidity and stability in the sector.

The Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, gave the assurance in Abuja on Friday, stressing that the measures being taken by the apex bank had yielded positive results as far as forex supply was concerned.

While acknowledging a marginal fluctuation in the exchange rate, he noted that the naira remained stable against other major currencies around the world, even as he observed that activities in the foreign exchange market remained dynamic.

According to him, the interventions of the apex bank are in line with its commitment to sustain liquidity in the market to meet genuine requests as well as deepen flexibility in the foreign exchange market.

Okorafor warned speculators against nefarious activities, adding that the CBN had put necessary checks in place to guard against sharp practices in the forex market.

While stressing that there was nothing to suggest that the CBN planned to discontinue its forex intervention, he noted there had been accretions in the country’s foreign reserves from $30bn to about $32bn.

Okorafor, therefore, urged those who genuinely required foreign exchange for their transactions to approach the Deposit Money Banks, noting that the banks had enough forex to meet the demands for foreign exchange.

It will be recalled that the Central Bank of Nigeria has consistently injected funds into in the interbank foreign exchange market, which received a boost of $547m in the last round of intervention.

Meanwhile the naira exchanged at the rate of 363 to the US dollar in the Bureau de Change segment of the market on Friday.

Stop sending corrupt ex-govs to Senate, Christian elders tell PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party has been asked to stop sending former governors, who have mismanaged the resources of their states, to the Senate.

The National Christian Elders Forum, which made the call in Abuja on Thursday, said it was unfortunate that former governors, who looted their state treasuries, were the ones making laws for the nation.

The Forum, which was led by its Chairman, Chief Solomon Asemota (SAN), made the call while paying a courtesy call on the national leadership of the PDP at the party’s National Headquarters in Abuja.

Asemota, who spoke on behalf of the group, regretted that political parties operated as a mere parastatal of the government.

The senior advocate stated that Nigeria was ripe for political parties that were driven by qualitative political ideology, manifesto, high moral standard, leadership by men and women of proven integrity and good reputation and a clear programme of action that would build the country.

Asemota added, “It is very sad that governors, who have mismanaged their states and looted the states treasury dry, now find retirement space in the National Assembly.

“Why can we not have political parties that will say ‘no’ to such wasteful managers of state resources?

“Why do political parties keep recycling for the country discredited and outrightly incompetent persons as leaders of the country?

“Why do incompetent and wasteful individuals, who mismanaged the commonwealth of the people, still find abode in political parties as power brokers?”

He recalled the recent quit notice to Igbo living in the northern part of the country by Arewa youths.

Asemota said what was more unfortunate was the information that the governors of the region announced that the quit notice had been suspended.

This, he said, implied that it could resume at a later date.

He said, “If governors are now seen to condone such unlawful and ill-motivated statements, then how shall the youth be contained?

“We wish to stress that the conduct of these governors is subversive of their oath of office wherein they swore to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the law.”

He warned that the youth might soon take laws into the hands if the leaders don’t change their ways.