Family members, friends and colleagues of a 32-year old groom named Yussuf Babatunde Babalola are currently trying to unravel the sudden death of the young man who was alleged to have been poisoned on the eve of his wedding. Click to continue reading…
The late Babalola with his wife-to-be.
Investigations revealed that the late Babalola woke up at about 6.30 a.m. on Thursday, 12 July, 2012, the day he was to be at the marriage registry, complaining of stomach upset to his bride, Kudirat.
She raised an alarm by calling on his friends when the ailment became unbearable. By the time he was taken to the hospital two hours later, he was clinically dead.
A close friend of the deceased who did not want his name mentioned told P.M.NEWS that on getting to his apartment on Wright Street, Ebutte –Metta, South west Nigeria, Babalola who was unconscious, was later taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, Yaba but the doctor on duty referred them to Lagos Medical Centre, inside the Nigerian Railway compound where the deceased was confirmed dead.
A source told P.M.NEWS that one of the doctors told the family that a black substance was found on his mouth which shows that he might have died of poisoning.
Another friend told P.M.NEWS that before the late Babalola was buried on the same day at Atan Cemetery according to Islamic rite, his friends and family members separately called four doctors and a herbalist to further certify that Babatola was actually dead because of the mystery surrounding the way he died.
“We were told to go and bury him at about 3.30 when it was confirmed that Yussuf had died,” said his friend.
All attempts to speak with the bride who is eight months pregnant proved abortive as she was said to have been devastated by the groom’s death.
Apart from the registry, the late Yussuf Babalola was said to have also been planning to hold his engagement ceremony on Saturday, 14 July, 2012 at the Army Officers’ Mess, Yaba, Lagos and his friends had bought the traditional aso-ebi for the ceremony.
The question on the lips of sympathisers, family members and friends is who killed Yussuf?
Former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori today pleaded guilty before a Southwark Crown Court in London where he was being tried on fraud and money laundering charges. Sahara Reporters reports that Ibori pleaded guilty to 10 counts of fraud, money laundering and corrutption charges before Judge Anthony Pitts.
Ibori’s guilty plea, it was learnt, has closed a chapter to a long judicial and political saga pertaining to his massive money laundering activities in his eight years as governor of one of Nigeria’s major oil producing states. Click to read more
Ibori faces up to 10 years in UK prison during sentencing, which will take place after the completion of the trial of his accomplice and financial advisor, Elias Preko, a Ghanaian.
Today the judge ordered that the remaining charges would remain on file.
In a short submission, Crown Prosecution Service lawyer, Sasha Wass, QC said the prosecution does not seek to go ahead with Ibori’s trial anymore saying, “Mr. Ibori has accepted the entirety of the prosecution’s case as it has always been set out.”
Investigations revealed that the British judicial system usually rewards an accused who did not waste the time of the court by admitting their crimes with a 30 percent reduction in prison sentence.
P.M.NEWS also gathered that in sentencing him to a jail term, the court will take into consideration the number of years spent in detention by the convict.
Ibori, who was arrested on May 12, 2010 in Dubai, it was gathered, will have the months spent in Dubai and London detention centres deducted from his overall jail term.
