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Fresh disclosure has been made availabe to NM NIGERIA on the murder of popular businessman, Mr. Chikoha Chukwuemeka by his alleged side-chick, Miss Lauretta Walter.

It was gathered that Miss Walter allegedly murdered Chukwuemeka and made away with his Mercedes Benz 4matic jeep and an undisclosed amount of money.

BACKGROUND

According to family sources, Mr. Chikoha, who was married, had been 'dating' Miss Walter for close to a year. They were rumoured to be on good terms until Wednesday, August 4th, 2021 when Mr. Chikoha's corpse was discovered in his room in a pool of blood.NM gathered that Chikoha's decomposing body was discovered after his business associates could not reach him on phone. The deceased, who was an importer, was to clear some of his goods on Tuesday, August 3rd but was nowhere to be seen or heard from.

After repeated calls with no response, a close friend decided to visit his house on No. 2 Samuel Effanga street, Osongama housing estate in Uyo, on Wednesday, August 4th, to inquire on his whereabouts. On getting there, the friend met his gateman who disclosed that his boss had left the house early on Tuesday adding that he has not seen him since then.

THE CORPSE

Puzzled, both men decided to check the building to see if anyone was around. On getting to the entrance, the front door was open which was strange. The house was empty, so they decided to check Mr. Chikoha's room and on opening the door, they met the decomposing corpse of the deceased on the bed in a pool of blood.

On further investigation, It was discovered that Chikoha was last seen alive on Monday around 8pm when he returned with Miss Walter. The gateman confirmed that he saw both of them adding that they bought fast food and retired into the building for the night.

On interrogation, he revealed that on Tuesday morning around 5 am, he was woken up by the blaring horn of the deceased's Mercedes Benz jeep, thinking it was his boss driving, he quickly opened the gate without probing the vehicle to know who was in it.

TROUBLING DISCOVERY

An eyewitness and friend who spoke to POLITICS NIGERIA on the condition of anonymity, disclosed that Chukwuemeka had a huge amount of money in the house on Monday which he intended to use to clear his goods the next day.

The eyewitness disclosed that after discovering the corpse, they discovered the bag where Chikoha kept the money was empty.

The deceased had two vehicles: a Toyota Highlander Jeep and the Mercedes Benz 4matic Jeep. Strangely, the vehicle papers to the Mercedes Benz jeep were also missing.

SUSPECT CAPTURED

Police detectives were contacted and they tracked the Mercedes Jeep to a hotel in Ewan housing estate. On confirming that it belonged to the deceased, the operatives learnt that it was driven by Miss Walter and she was lodged in the hotel. She was not around the premises as that time.

An ambush was laid and she was swiftly arrested after returning to the hotel with an Uber taxi. According to a reliable source, on getting her hotel room, a huge sum of money(around N7 million) was found. She had also bought a lot of accessories, boxes, clothes and also changed her hairstyle.

Upon interrogation, the Uber driver revealed that he had taken Miss Walter to a hair-saloon, market and to a road safety office in Uyo. He disclosed that Miss Walter had requested that he take her to Ogoja in Cross River state to renew her driver's license but he refused saying he could not go 'inter-state' but that he knows someone who can help her do it.

According to our source, she obliged and he took her to the Road Safety Office to get a new license done. He said that he heard Miss Walter asking the road safety officer to help her drive a new vehicle she bought to Ogoja, adding that her 'hand was not yet strong' in driving.

DENIAL

Miss Walter was taken to the B division Police Station in Ewet Housing Estate, Uyo. She told investigators that she only took the vehicle out for 'Wheel Balancing and alignment' adding that she knew nothing about the murder.

POLITICS NIGERIA contacted the PRO of the Akwa-Ibom state Police command, Mr. Odiko Ogbeche-Macdon for a response on the development, he promised to revert with further information on the case. He is, however, yet to get back to our correspondent.

*Says new president should be in his sixties

Former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), might have ruled out a former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and a former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, from the 2023 presidential run, because they would be in their 70s by the next election.

Although IBB as Babangida is fondly called did not in any way mention their names as ineligible for the nation’s number one seat, he however suggested that individuals in their 60s should be the focus of Nigerians as potential presidential candidates in 2023.

By the next general election in 2023, Atiku, who is 75 this year would be 77, while Tinubu, who marked an official 68th birthday in March, would have turned 70 years.

Babangida, who himself will be 80 on August 17 this year, was confident that the nation is endowed with both human and natural resources, hinted at a few individuals, whom he said were in their 60s, had the capacity to become president and could effectively run the country.

Speaking in a sneak preview of a two-part series of an exclusive interview to be aired on the Arise News Channel this morning, focusing on the State of the Nation, IBB said one of the reasons Nigeria has refused to progress and achieve the dreams of the founding fathers was because Nigerians no longer believed in the future of their own country.

The former leader, who accused the Nigerian people of creating and at the same time, destroying their own country, identified bad leadership as yet a major reason for the socio-economic challenges facing Nigeria.

Talking about the presidential hopefuls he had in mind, IBB said they were persons in their 6os with contacts across the nation and who had been traversing the geo-political zones marketing their acceptability and capacity.

Specifically on the importance of leadership in nation-building and where he thought the likes of Atiku and Tinubu no longer fit the bill, IBB said: “If you get a good leadership that links with the people and tries to talk with the people; not talking on top of the people, then we would be okay.
“I have started visualising a good Nigerian leader. That is, a person, who travels across the country and has a friend virtually everywhere he travels to and he knows at least one person that he can communicate with.

“That is a person, who is very verse in economics and is also a good politician, who should be able to talk to Nigerians and so on. I have seen one, or two or three of such persons already in his sixties.”
But when asked if the person could emerge victorious in the 2023 presidential election, the Minna-born former military leader said, “I believe so if we can get him.”

Responding to a question on whether or not he still believed in the future of Nigeria, the former military president, who turns 80 on August 17, 2021, said: “I do believe in the future of Nigeria, but Nigerians don’t believe in the future of their country. They created and they destroyed.”

Reiterating his belief in the future of Nigeria and urging Nigerians to remain patriotic, Babangida, who claimed to feeling good as he was about to turn 80 years, with gratitude to God for sparing his life, advised Nigerians to go for the person that has what it takes to transform the country when the time comes.

IBB served as head of state between 1985 and 1993. Born in Niger State, he received military training in Nigeria, India, Great Britain, and the United States. He rose through the ranks and was known for his courage, having also played a major role in suppressing an attempted coup in 1976, when he walked into a rebel-held radio station unarmed.

After Murtala Mohammed became the military head of state in 1975, Babangida joined his Supreme Military Council, and as military president after taking over power on August 27, 1985, he introduced economic policies such as the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), that altered the course of the nation and liberalise the economy.

At 80 on the 17th, Babangida is one of the leaders like Muhammadu Buhari who have dominated Nigeria’s political space since 1966.

Barcelona stunned the football world and sent suitors scurrying for their chequebooks when they announced that Lionel Messi would be leaving the club this summer.

The Spanish aristocrats have been unable to agree a deal with the 34-year-old Argentina international which will allow them to comply with LaLiga’s financial regulations, leading to a parting of the ways.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at some of the issues behind a momentous decision.

How did it come to this?

We should perhaps not be too surprised. Messi signalled his intention to leave the Nou Camp last summer, believing he could do so on a free transfer under the terms of his existing contract. A 700million Euros – around £629million – buy-out clause prevented him from doing so, but the seeds were sown regardless of the club’s financial difficulties.

Are Barcelona really that badly off?

In a word, yes. Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported earlier this year that the club’s debt stood at 1.173billion Euros – £850million – and their wage bill currently accounts for 110 per cent of their income, a situation president Joan Laporta knows means they are on the wrong side of financial fair play regulations.

How expensive is Messi?

Very. Reports suggest Messi’s basic salary amounts to 45million Euros, or £38.2million, and that he was willing to take a cut of more than 50 per cent to sign a new deal. Barca’s statement claims the two parties had reached an agreement, but that the LaLiga rules simply do not allow it to be completed.

Is the club’s announcement a bargaining ploy?

A good question. There is little doubt that Messi’s profile has promoted LaLiga’s product to a worldwide audience and his battle with Cristiano Ronaldo for the title of the greatest of all time is the soap opera which keeps giving. The governing body will not want to be seen as the villain of the piece, the role in which they appear to have been cast by the Nou Camp hierarchy. However, whether that and the public outcry which will inevitably follow the news will prompt a relaxation of the rules remains to be seen.

If not Barcelona, then where next for Messi?

Manchester City, Manchester United and Paris St Germain are two of the few clubs in world football with pockets deep enough to contemplate a move for a man whose advancing years are unlikely to provide a barrier to his future employment. Major League Soccer, where his enduring quality would enable him to play on for many years more, could provide a halfway house towards a return to his roots in Argentina, but the romantics in Rosario will inevitably pin their hopes on Messi’s suggestion that he would one day like to return to the club where he launched his glittering career, Newell’s Old Boys.