Tragedy: Man dies after hacking wife to death.

The Enugu State Police Command on Friday commenced investigations to unravel why one Francis Uzo, 41, had to kill himself after hacking his wife to death in Emene, near Enugu.

The command’s spokesman, Ebere Amaraizu, said in a statement in Enugu that the investigations were being handled by the homicide section of the Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department (CIID) of the command.

“The couple was reported to have been living happily until Wednesday when Francis was alleged to have murdered his 40-year-old wife, Mrs. Ozoemena Uzo.

“Francis was also alleged to have killed himself after the incident,’’ Mr. Amaraizu said in the statement.

“It was gathered that on that day at noon, Mr. Uzo had allegedly pounced on his wife over a yet-to-be-established issue and inflicted several degrees of injuries on her.

“The injuries allegedly brought about serious bleeding all over her body.

“She was later rushed to a hospital where she was confirmed dead by the doctor on duty.

“However, the husband of the deceased and alleged murderer was already in coma and could not talk before the arrival of police operatives.

“He was promptly rushed to Annunciation Hospital, Emene, for medical attention where he was later confirmed dead,’’ he said.

Mr. Amaraizu said that the bodies of couple had been deposited at the Annunciation Hospital’s mortuary, Emene.

Nigeria’s Present Rectangle of Tragedy By Gimba Kakanda

Since the past six years, no people have been so cruelly, and almost unanimously, ridiculed like members of the Nigerian armed forces. They’ve become the butt of our jokes, and scapegoat of every security lapse, and our anger, though understandable, is often misplaced, directed at the wrong party.

Ever since I learnt, or trained my mind to see, the difference between the Defence Headquarters  and the Nigerian troops, I developed a certain compassion for the latter; the former, however, is only there for management of the defence organizations’ public relations, and the “small guys” in the terrorist infested fields don’t even know what those millionaire bureaucrats and rubber-stamp combatants say of their failings and victories, and how they’re being employed for political advantages by both the ruling and the opposition parties.

We’re presently entangled in a rectangle of tragedy: the paranoia of the armed forces, unaccountability of the executive, the conspiracies promoted by the opposition party and, the offshoot of the three, suspicions of the paranoid military and the unaccountable executive  and, to an extent, even the opposition  figures by private citizens.

Even a flippant observer must’ve already noticed how this rectangle brewed an atmosphere of distrust, which has intensified in this election period, especially with the renewed energy to fight insurgency as declared by the government itself. The unofficial excuse for the escalation of terrorism in the northeast, as cited by the foreign media, aside from the inherent corruption in our government, are the abuse of human rights by our counterterrorism forces and the infiltration of our military intelligence by agents of the insurgents, which resulted in termination of arms deals  between Nigeria and the United States. This, also, is cited as the reason our government patronises international black markets for its arms.

While the President’s widely reported statements that “Boko Haram has infiltrated my government”, which, about two years later, he tried unsuccessfully to deny, validated the theory of our compromised security arrangements, his shadowy deals in the black markets, like the arrest of a a Nigerian-owned private jet in South Africa with about $10 million meant for arms purchase, added more stories to our books of conspiracy. This was also because the plane belonged to a pastor and loyal friend of the President, known for bigoted and polarising remarks on the state of our union.

Whichever excuse the government and its loyal Defence Headquarters officially provided as reason for the recent victories recorded in its counterterrorism, ours is to celebrate the outcomes, and even if we must attack, the Nigerian troops should be seen as different from the Defence Headquarters.

Tragic, though, how some of us rush to report and celebrate the “triumphs” of Chadian and Cameroonian forces but ridicule any attributed to Nigerian Troops. We must be up to cheer the Nigerian troops, whose efforts and realities are often misrepresented by badly-scripted propagandas from the Defence Headquarters, for these recent outcomes of their intensified counterterrorism. We must stand in solidarity with, and in prayers for, those martyrs like Private Kadiri, Corporal John and Captain Olusola giving up their all and lives to keep this nation whole and safe, away from the coverage of televisions.

Perhaps a little perception of theirs, not even solidarity, is all they want from us. At least for losing friends and brothers, without the media to convey their miseries to us. Or you think a soldier would just stand like a statue and let an insurgent shoot him? Let’s redirect our disappointment in our counterterrorism to the appropriate profiteers whose decision is the reason the welfare of the Nigerian troops is a cause for laments.

Thankfully some of us don’t need a photograph, only communication with the actual victims of terrorism up north, to confirm that some towns have truly been recaptured, with the insurgents crushed and fleeing, in northeast Nigeria.

If our President had been half as conscious as that khaki-decked Commander-in-Chief I saw, in photographs, combing northeast Nigeria, there wouldn’t have been these many conspiracy theories and and this much distrust. Sadly, President Jonathan preferred to keep the nation speculating, that he’s complicit in the escalation of this terror that consumes us. My own inference is, Mr. President deliberately refused to be a unifying figure, as he’s seen jumping from one church to another, even making obvious policy statements there, in expectation of a repeat of 2011- a period of polarized electorate. Now that he’s seen it bold and underlined, that Nigerians are better informed this time, his rush to be a responsible President only elicits pity. May God save us from us!

By Gimba Kakanda @gimbakaknda

VIEWS EXPRESSED ARE SOLELY AUTHOR’S…

“Why I Can’t Stop Tragic Visions When I See Them” – TB Joshua

The General Overseer of the Synagogue Church Of All Nations(SCOAN), Prophet TB Joshua has granted an exclusive interview in ‘Read Us’, the official magazine … Excerpts:

QUESTION: What is the secret of your calmness in the midst of the storm?

ANSWER: My calmness is peace of heart, which reflects in the life I live. This peace of heart is the source that calms the storm. When Joseph was in the dry pit where there was no air, food, water or life, it was that peace of heart that sustained him. When everything seems to go wrong, with peace of heart, you can press on. With peace of heart, you can press on, whatever life brings. Remember what David said in Psalm 23:4 – “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil” – because he had peace of heart.

QUESTION: We saw on Emmanuel TV that when you returned from Colombia, you said, “There is a
cloud that covers Nigeria… Cloud means trouble. Look at what is happening here. You will not see it on national TV but if you learn that they bombed here, one of you will call CNN that they have bombed The SCOAN… I am telling you something far but now, I am telling you something as close as my mouth.” What you said came to pass but why could you not stop it happening?

ANSWER: A servant cannot be greater than his master. I am a servant, taking orders and receiving orders. What He tells me, I say, and what He shows me, I see. His will must always supersede.

QUESTION: The people that died in the tragedy – why do you call them martyrs? What does it mean?

ANSWER: Yes, they had an appointment with God and they didn’t let God go.

QUESTION: How did you manage to put up a CCTV camera directed toward the sky when it is supposed to be focused on a subject or object? How did you have a CCTV camera positioned near the bottom of the building which caught the bomb exploding?

ANSWER: That is because I am a man of vision and mission. Without evidence and proof, I would not remain the man of God you know. God will never allow a challenge that will surmount us; we are always greater than our challenges.
1 Corinthians 10:13 – God will never allow a servant to be tempted beyond what he can bear because the beginning of his mission and the end of his mission are under God’s eyes. By this, we know a man of God.

QUESTION: But for the CCTV footage that showed the strange plane and the explosion, what might have been the situation when this happened? What story would you have told?

ANSWER: You mean, if there was no CCTV to capture the plane and the blast of the bomb? Then, there is no vision. A man without vision is a man without God. This is what Gamaliel said in Acts 5:38-39 – “And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it – lest you even be found to fight against God.”