The mum of a missing teenager has been tragically told the description of a body found by police "matches" her son.
Evidence Joel said investigators gave her the heartbreaking news last night, weeks after searches for London student Richard Okorogheye began.
It comes after the Metropolitan Police announced in a statement a body had been found in a pond in Epping Forest, Essex, where the 19-year-old was last seen heading on CCTV last month.
“Oh God, they said the description matches his, but we’ll go in tomorrow to find out," Ms Joel told My London in a highly emotional call.
No formal identification of the body has yet been carried out.
The Met said investigators are working to identify the remains.
Richard's family are being supported by specially trained officers, after being informed of today's developments.
Richard left his family home in Ladbroke Grove, Kensington, on March 22 and has not been in contact since.
Police believe the Oxford Brookes university student got on a bus in West London and then took a taxi to Loughton, in Essex.
CCTV captured him walking towards Epping Forest in the early hours of March 23.
Prince Harry wants an apology from the Royal Family over the treatment of his wife Meghan Markle, according to a source.
The Duke of Sussex says he was outraged when a member of 'The Firm' allegedly asked how dark Archie's skin would be before he was born.
It was later clarified that neither the Queen nor Prince Philip asked this question.
Meghan also claimed Kate Middleton made her cry during a wedding dress fitting in her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey - and not the other way around.
The Duchess, who suffered suicidal thoughts when she was pregnant, also alleged that the Palace refused to provide her with mental health support.
A source has now told US Weekly magazine that Prince Harry wants an apology from his family, the Daily Star reports.
The source claimed: “The problem with Harry is that he’s hooked on being right and regardless of saying he wants to move on from this.
"He won’t back down until he gets some form of apology from his family."
Currently, there has been one official statement from Buckingham Palace concerning the Oprah Winfrey interview, where it was communicated that the Royal Family will look at the concerns expressed by Meghan and Harry.
They said they would be “taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.”
The official statement added: “The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan.
"The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning.
“Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members.”
Oprah's friend and fellow host Gayle King revealed that Harry spoke to Prince William and Prince Charles days after the controversial interview, but claimed the conversation was "not productive".
Police in Kisumu County, Kenya are holding a man who allegedly chopped off his grandmother’s head and took it to Kisumu Central Police Station to report himself.
The man is said to have put the head in a bucket and took it to the police station where he sought to record a statement on Monday, April 5.
Police later accompanied him to Nyalenda estate where he allegedly committed the crime.
Shoprite Holdings Limited, the parent company of Shoprite stores in Nigeria and other African countries, has again classified the Nigeria subsidiary as discontinued operations as it marks it for sale.
The company had in August, in its half year 2020 financial report, announced that it would gradually end its operation in Nigeria.
It said the board decided to formally exit its operations in Nigeria over unfavourable market conditions.
Shoprite Holding in the latest publication of its financial report for December 2020 operations, under its non-current assets held for sale and discontinued operations, maintained that in the short-term, “Strategic shifts made with the Nigeria sale and Kenya closures.
“Classify, the group’s Nigeria subsidiary as discontinued operations,” it said in the report.
In the comparative result obtained from its website, yesterday, Shoprite Holdings said the business was profitable but still marked for sale since 2019.
“Assets and liabilities relating to the Nigeria operations disclosed as held for sale.”
For the 2020 operational year, the company still found the business profitable but still held onto discontinuing the operations.
“Statement of comprehensive income reflects profit from discontinued operations separately; assets and liabilities relating to the Nigeria operations disclosed as held for sale,” it stated.
Still providing the transaction update, the company said the “Nigeria sale near completion” just as the Kenya closure will be complete by year end and would be reported as discontinued operation in June 2021, a process towards winding up its outlets in Kenya.
The company will continue its operations in Angola, Zambia and Mozambique. It reported an appearance exchange rate crisis in Nigeria between the US dollar and the Naira, causing a loss of -7.9 percent as of 2020 when considered to the exchange rate in 2019.
The company hopes to ‘de-dollarise costs where possible’ while ‘increasing local procurement’ across its retail outlets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a law that could keep him in office in the Kremlin until 2036, when he will be almost 84 years old.
The legislation allows him to run for two more six-year terms once his current stint ends in May 2024. It follows changes to the constitution last year.
Those changes were backed in a public vote last summer.
Putin was born 7 October 1952. He is at present 68 years old.
He is currently serving his second consecutive term as president and his fourth in total.
The reform, which critics cast as a constitutional coup, was packaged with an array of other amendments that were expected to garner popular support, such as one bolstering pension protections.
The law signed by Putin limits any future president to two terms in office, but resets his term count.
It prevents anyone who has held foreign citizenship from running for the Kremlin.
The legislation was passed in the lower and upper houses of parliament last month.
Singapore will from May accept visitors who use a mobile travel pass containing digital certificates for COVID-19 tests and vaccines, its aviation regulator said on Monday.
It will thus becoming the first country to adopt the initiative.
Singapore will accept the International Air Transport Association (IATA) mobile travel pass for pre-departure checks.
This will enable travellers get clearance to fly to Singapore by showing a smartphone application containing their data from accredited laboratories.
The pass has been successfully tested by Singapore Airlines.
More than 20 carriers, including Emirates, Qatar Airways and Malaysia Airlines were also testing the pass.
“The success of our joint efforts will make IATA’s partnership with the government of Singapore a model for others to follow,’’ IATA Director-General, Willie Walsh, said in a statement.
Asian business hub Singapore, which has had relatively few coronavirus cases in 2021, has been a leader in developing and using technology during the pandemic and wants to be among the first countries to reopen to host international events.
Airlines are hoping more countries will approve digital passes on apps to allow travel to resume faster and avoid complications and delays at airports where multiple checks on documents are required.
Currently, travellers from most countries are required to take pre-departure COVID-19 swab tests within 72 hours of their flights in order to travel to Singapore, with results presented at airport check-in and on arrival.
The Pan Yoruba Socio-cultural group Afenifere, has cancelled this month’s meeting scheduled for today (Tuesday) as a mark of respect for its late spokesman, Mr Yinka Odumakin, who died at the weekend.
The Assistant General Secretary of the group, Mr Adeleke Mabinuori, announced the cancellation of its April meeting in a statement.
The statement read: “I have been directed by the acting Leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, to inform you that the Afenifere meeting scheduled for Tuesday, 6th April, 2021 is cancelled.
“This is in honour of the late Afenifere Publicity Secretary, Mr Yinka Odumakin. Please await further directives.”
Odumakin, the Afenifere spokesman, died on Saturday in Lagos from COVID-19 complications.
Afenifere in its official statement on Saturday in Akure said Odumakin served the body for 17 years.
Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, the wife of the late spokesman for Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, has reacted to the outpouring of tributes in honour of her late husband.
She said she wished her husband could hear what those he criticised were saying about him.
Joe spoke to Punch correspondent at her residence in Lagos.
Yinka, a vocal activist and columnist, died at LASUTH on Saturday from Covid-19 complications.
His wife told The Punch that he was recovering and had asked for his phones and gadgets before he relapsed and died.
She said, “It all started on March 8 when he said he had a series of meetings and appointments to make. But he went to see his physiotherapist and discovered that his oxygen level had dropped.
“After the doctor attended to him, it was discovered that he had COVID-19 and was transferred to the isolation centre at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.
“The next day, his oxygen level dropped a bit more and we had to move to the Mainland General Hospital, Yaba. He was put on a ventilator at the hospital. After a few days, he tested negative.
“So, he was moved to the LASUTH Intensive Care Unit. While at the ICU, his kidney, liver and other body parts were okay. The issue was respiratory; he had problems with breathing, which they said was due to his lungs which were affected in the aftermath of the infection.
“I did not share these details because I wanted him to tell the story of his survival, which would have been sweeter, and I was looking forward to that. I never believed that he would die. It’s so difficult for me to use past tense for him after being together for 24 years.
“All of a sudden, I got the news from someone in the US (who sent a WhatsApp message) and I thought that the person did not know what he was saying because I was looking forward to reuniting with him. He (Yinka) had also asked after his son after he regained consciousness. He told me that the first thing he wanted immediately he came out was his Ipad and two phones, and I had them in the vehicle. When I heard that the worst had happened, I was in shock.
“The people with me were telling me that I should not go to see his body, but I refused. I moved in and saw his face was covered; I removed the cloth. I was given gloves. I started saying a lot of things to him, but he did not respond. That was when I knew that comrade was gone.”
President Buhari and a former Lagos governor, Bola Tinubu, who had been criticised by the late Yinka, were among dignitaries who paid tributes to his memory.
Joe said she wished her husband was alive to read what they said about him.
“It would have been soothing if Yinka was around to see this. At times, we need to celebrate people when they are around; even if they will critique what we have to say and refer to what they had written and said about us. People are following the trend of events and they will be the best judge,” she added.
Popular Comedian, Okey Bakassi has slammed President Buhari over his recent trip to the UK for medical checkup.
The comedian in a video via his Instagram account, noted that no President who loves his country or leading a country with substance travels to another country for medical checkup.
He also asked why the President’s doctors cannot be flown in or why the Aso Rock hospital isn’t well equipped.
“No President who loves his country or leading a country with substance travels to another country for medical checkup.
“We have never heard that Australian President, South African President or even the President of Ghana goes to another country for medical checkups.
“It hurts me so much that Nigeria which is known as a giant of Africa doesn’t have a proper medical care system.
“All Buhari does is incur more debts for. Nigeria with his incessant travels. The same money they squander in putting together his medical trip to other countries should be used to set up fully equipped hospitals in the country.
“Theres no equipment that a hospital needs that Nigerian government cannot buy. This is the same government that wants to build railway for Niger republic and refinery of 1.5 billion dollars.
“I think its high time we as individuals in this country wake up,” he said.
A 49-year-old man, Ubong Williams Akpan, has reportedly defiled his 12-year-old daughter in Ogun State, saying his wife was no more attractive to him.
Akpan was arrested in April 2 by the police following a report lodged at Itele Ota divisional headquarters by the victim.
The girl had reported at the police station that her father had been abusing her s3xually since when she was seven years.
The Ogun State police spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said on Monday that the girl revealed that “this has been going on for the past five years, and when she can no longer bear it, she decided to complain to the police.”
Upon the report, the DPO of Itele-Ota division, CSP Monday Unoegbe, was said to have detailed his detectives to the scene where the suspect was promptly arrested.
“On interrogation, he confessed to the commission of the crime, claiming that his wife is appearing too old, and she is no longer looking attractive to him,” Oyeyemi said.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, CP Edward Ajogun, has ordered the immediate transfer of the case to family support unit of Ota area command for further investigation and prosecution, adding that the victim be taken to the hospital for treatment.
A two-week-old baby has died after being hit by a car in front of his 'hysterical' parents in Brownhills this afternoon.
Officers are investigating after a mother and baby were pinned against a wall after a BMW driver careered onto the pavement on Sunday.
A BMW was involved in a collision on the High Street with another car, before striking the pram at around 4pm.
The young boy was being pushed along the pavement by family at the time and suffered serious injuries.
He was rushed to hospital but paramedics were unable to save him.
Speaking to the Sun Online, one witness told how the baby's parents were 'hysterical' after the incident, with passers-by attempting to calm them down.
'All I saw was a car that had pinned a baby in a buggy up a iron gate,' the witness told the publication.
A relative suffered a shoulder injury but nobody else was injured.
West Midlands Police say the driver of the car fled the scene.
A 34-year-old man was arrested in Bloxwich shortly afterwards.
He has been taken into custody and will be questioned on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
A section of the High Street has been closed to enable our collision investigation unit to carry out enquiries.
The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has said no one deserves to be in any Nigerian prison when killer herdsmen and Boko Haram militants get arrested, freed and rehabilitated.
Kanu disclosed this on his Twitter handle on Monday morning.
He tweeted, “If Miyetti Allah terror herdsmen & other murderous #Fulani groups, including Boko Haram insurgents, can be arrested, freed and rehabilitated by this neo-colonial Fulanised @NGRPresident, then no single soul deserves to be in any prison in Nigeria. If you know you know! #UGM”
This comes as many inmates at the headquarters of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Owerri, Imo State were set free by unknown gunmen on Monday morning.
The gunmen also attacked the nearby office of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) of the state police command, also freeing suspects there.
Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams has called on the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu to redeploy the Commissioner of Police in Oyo, Ngozi Onadeko, and bring a sterner CP to the state.
According to the Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC leader, the CP is too gentle to handle the security situation in the state.
The Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC leader also called on the inspector-general of police to redeploy her and bring a sterner CP to the state.
Adams in a statement signed and released by his media aide, Kehinde Aderemi, the police boss is also playing politics with sensitive security issues.
He alleged that most of the killer herders and kidnappers apprehended in the Ibarapa area of the state have been released by Onadeko, that they have gone back to resume their criminal activities in the area.
“Last week, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, the Alaafin of Oyo, expressed concern at the spate of insecurity in the state.
“Therefore, I am appealing to IGP Adamu and the police service commission to redeploy the Oyo CP, who according to my finding is too slow and biased, especially, on sensitive security issues.
“The Oyo state police boss had released many of the kidnappers apprehended by the OPC and other local security operatives and they have returned to their base to perpetrate more crimes.”
He also called on Seyi Makinde, Oyo governor, to cooperate with the IGP to secure the state, stating that intelligence reports at his disposal indicate that kidnappers are already taking positions at Ibarapa.
A correctional facility and police investigations department in Owerri, the Imo State capital were reportedly set ablaze by unknown gunmen early this morning.
According to multiple reports, the attackers struck the prison and police department shortly after midnight, freeing an unconfirmed number of inmates and suspects.
According to social media accounts what started as a mere shoot-out which lasted for about three hours, later resulted in a complete breakdown of law and order with people scampering for safety.
A Twitter user, Chidi Odinkalu in a tweet said “Reports of overwhelming attack on security & law enforcement establishments in Owerri, Imo State, SE Nigeria. State CID, Prisons. Perpetrators unclear but seem to have gone unchallenged for over 75 mins with discharge of high-calibre weapons. Possible detonations too.”
''Owerri is in pandemonium right now. State CID on fire 🔥🔥🔥….. prison Inmates seen escaping…. omoh make una stay safe now oo #Owerri'', another twitter user said.
Prisoners on freedom songs as unknown gunmen lights Owerri prison and freed inmates. pic.twitter.com/JHICDPlq9P
The Presidency has lambasted the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah over his 2021 Easter homily, saying it is an ungodly attempt to politicise the nation’s security.
Kukah, in his Easter message, had said the greatest tragedy of Buhari’s government is the death of empathy, adding that the government’s clay-footed fight against corruption had not moved the needle of transparency forward.
He said Nigeria, being the poverty capital of the world came with its rewards such as banditry, violence, death, sorrow, blood, poverty, misery, and tears.
Kukah also said they would manufacture consent by creating imaginary enemies, setting citizens against one another by deploying religion, ethnicity, region, and other platforms while appealing to the base emotions of patriotism.
However, a statement by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu noted that Kukah, the Catholic Archbishop of Sokoto Diocese, had said things that were inexplicable in his Easter message.
According to the presidential aide, it is wrong for Kukah to have stated that ”the Boko Haram terrorism is worse than it was in 2015.”
Shehu expressed the belief that Kukah did not speak like a man of God.
He, therefore, urged well-meaning citizens to continue to support the ongoing efforts by the Buhari administration to secure the country and move it forward.
The statement read in part: “But if you profess to being a man of God, as Father Mathew Hassan Kukah does, ideology should not stand in the way of facts and fairness.
“Father Kukah has said some things that are inexplicable in his Easter message.
“But, in saying that the Boko Haram terrorism is worse than it was in 2015, he did not speak like a man of God.
“Kukah should go to Borno or Adamawa to ask the citizens there the difference between 2014 and 2021, Shehu said.
On the hijab controversy in Kwara, which Kukah also touched on, Shehu pointed out that it was “a state matter which the courts of the land had adjudicated on.”
“They are matters that have appeared in several states as far back as the Obasanjo administration. In all of that, when and where did the name of President Buhari feature?
“He (Kukah) is playing partisan politics by dragging the President (Buhari) into it.
“An administration that has created a whole ministry, for the first time in the country’s history, appropriating enormous resources to it, to deal with issues of internally displaced persons cannot, in all rightfulness be accused of not caring for them.
“Some of the comments are no more than a sample of the unrestrained rhetoric Fr. Kukah trades in, which he often does in the guise of a homily,’’ Shehu said.
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana has adduced reason why the Federal Government should leave self-acclaimed activist, Sunday Igboho alone.
He said the nation has lots of issues facing her which must be addressed urgently instead of seeking to arrest Igboho.
Falana, in a statement on Sunday said instead of asking the police to arrest Igboho and possibly detain him, the Federal Government should take urgent steps to address the allegations of lopsided appointments and violent attacks on farmers by armed herders.
He said as a matter of urgency, the Buhari administration should confront the worsening insecurity in the country.
According to him, the war on counter-insurgency should be extended to armed herders and bandits.
Falana stated that at the same time, the crises of youth unemployment and mass poverty should be addressed without any further delay.
He added that the Federal and state governments should implement pro-people’s programmes to discourage Nigerians from campaigning for the balkanisation of the country.
The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, has attacked President Muhammadu Buhari, saying the greatest tragedy of his government is the death of empathy.
Kukah, in his Easter message added that the Buhari’s government clay-footed fight against corruption had not moved the needle of transparency forward.
He said Nigeria, being the poverty capital of the world came with its rewards such as banditry, violence, death, sorrow, blood, poverty, misery, and tears.
Kukah added that the nation’s cup of sorrow is permanently full; hence the exponential rise in the frustration curve across the country.
“Sadly, human life is haemorrhaging so badly in Nigeria, but the greatest tragedy is the death of empathy from those in power.
“Mysteriously, the government is investing billions of naira in rehabilitating so-called Boko Haram repentant members and their other partners in crime in the belief that they want to turn a new leaf,” he lamented.
According to Kukah, these criminals have waged war against their country, murdered thousands of citizens, destroyed infrastructure and rendered entire families permanently displaced and dislocated.
He asked: “Why should rehabilitating the perpetrators be more important than bringing succour to the victims? When kidnapped or killed, victims and their families are left to their wits. They cry alone, bury their loved ones alone.
“And our government expects us to be patriotic? The victims of violence need empathy, which the dictionary defines as the ability to understand and share the feelings of the other.”
Kukah decried that a critical deficit of empathy on the side of the government made healing almost impossible for the victims, saying that the nation has not heard anything about a rehabilitation programme for the thousands of schoolchildren who had been victims of abduction.
“We seem to assume that their return to their schools is sufficient. Left unaddressed, the traumatic effect of their horrors will haunt them for a long time. Tomorrow’s parents, military generals, top security men and women, governors, senators, and ministers will come from today’s pool of traumatised children,” he added.
He stated that the security quandary was the greatest indictment of this government, stressing that when governments faced legitimacy crises, they fell back on serving the sour broth of propaganda, half-truths, and outright lies.
Kukah said they would manufacture consent by creating imaginary enemies, setting citizens against one another by deploying religion, ethnicity, region, and other platforms while appealing to the base emotions of patriotism.
Former President Donald Trump said “Happy Easter” in his own way on Sunday -- linking his holiday wishes to his claims of election fraud.
“Happy Easter to ALL, including the Radical Left CRAZIES who rigged our Presidential Election, and want to destroy our Country!” Trump said in a statement.
His remarks come a day after he called for his supporters to boycott the companies like Major League Baseball, Coca Cola, Delta that have criticized Georgia’s Republican-led legislature’s new voting laws. MLB said it was pulling its All-Star game scheduled for this summer in Atlanta.
“Baseball is already losing tremendous numbers of fans, and now they leave Atlanta with their All-Star Game because they are afraid of the Radical Left Democrats who do not want voter ID, which is desperately needed, to have anything to do with our elections,” a statement from Trump on Saturday said.
“Boycott baseball and all of the woke companies that are interfering with Free and Fair Elections. Are you listening Coke, Delta, and all!,” he added.
A Kansas woman wound up in cuffs after pretending she’d been shot as an April Fools’ prank, police said.
Arnthia Willis, 58, allegedly called her daughter Thursday, told her of the “shooting” and then hung up, according to Wichita outlet KAKE-TV.
Alarmed, the daughter called 911, prompting more than 15 cops to respond to Willis’ home in full protective gear with guns drawn and EMS in tow.
Officers broke the door down, but found no one inside, the report said.
They later learned that Willis was actually at work and had allegedly made up the shooting as a joke.
The prankster was arrested on suspicion of an unlawful request for emergency service assistance.
Police Lt. Ronald Hunt said that while April Fools’ jokes can be “good,” when police become involved, “it’s not funny anymore,” the Wichita Eagle reported.
“This is a situation that is very dangerous,” he said.
