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Court sentences Pastor to death by hanging for killing landlord

Published

6 months ago

February 20, 2026

Advocate News Nigeria

The convicted Pastor

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Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Uyo, on Thursday, sentenced a 29-year-old Resident Pastor of Living Faith Church, also known as Winners Chapel, Ifa Ikot Ubo–Ifa Ikot Okpon Branch, Uyo, Prince Emmanuel Umoh to death by hanging for the murder of his landlord, Gabriel Bassey Edward.

The judge, Justice Gabriel Ette convicted the pastor for stabbing to death, Edward, a 500-level Civil engineering student whose academic result, released posthumously, showed he graduated with First Class honours.

From the facts of the case made available, the deceased, a student of University of Uyo had relocated to his late mother’s property at Ifa Ikot Ubo to secure the estate and live closer to school.

His mother, before her death in December 2019, had established a nursery school on the property.

Evidence before the court showed that Edward lived in a two-bedroom flat attached to a long hall within the compound alongside his younger brother, Emmanuel Edward Bassey.

The hall, originally constructed for school purposes, was later rented to Living Faith Church for worship activities at an annual rent of N150,000, with the consent of his father, Emana Bassey Edward, a retired school principal.

The church was allowed to commence use of the hall, even before full payment of rent.

Prince Emmanuel Umoh was subsequently posted to the branch as its pioneer resident pastor.

Evidence presented in court revealed that ”on 21st December, 2020, the defendant was seen entering the deceased’s compound.

Neighbours later reported hearing loud screams of “Jesus” from inside the premises.

Shortly afterward, the defendant emerged wearing a white garment stained with blood, claiming he had fallen while attempting to hang a banner.

‘The deceased was never seen alive again.

On 26th December, 2020, a day after Christmas, Edward’s decomposing body was discovered in his room, wrapped in a mat with multiple lacerations.

A butcher’s knife was found beside him.

”The defendant, being the last person seen with Edward and possessing unexplained bloodstains while having repeated access to the premises, was promptly arrested and charged with murder.

The defendant was arraigned on 6th December, 2021, on a one-count charge of murder.

He pleaded not guilty.

To establish its case, the prosecution called six witnesses, including the deceased’s father, Emana Bassey Edward, who testified as the first prosecution witness (PW1).

PW1 told the court that shortly after the church began operations, the defendant requested permission to store church chairs and other items inside the deceased’s flat for security reasons, as the hall lacked doors and windows.

The request was granted.

However, the arrangement soon became problematic.

Whenever the defendant needed access to church property kept in the flat, the deceased, often away, had to return home to grant access, incurring transport expenses that were not refunded.

Following complaints, PW1 directed his son to give the defendant a spare key to ease access.

The prosecution led evidence that after the key was handed over, items belonging to the deceased’s late mother, including clothes, plates and other valuables, began to go missing.

The defendant, being in possession of the spare key, became a suspect.

When confronted, the defendant claimed he had lost the key.

The matter was reported to the church’s senior pastor, Owoidoho Etuk Akpan, who testified as a defence witness, who provided N5,000 to enable the deceased change the locks.

According to evidence before the court, no further items went missing after the locks were changed.

Tensions later arose between the deceased and the defendant over the handling of rent money reportedly paid for the use of the hall and intended for repairs.

In a detailed and emotionally charged judgment read for over two hours, Justice Gabriel Ette described the case as “very sympathetic,” recounting the efforts of the deceased’s late mother to build and develop the property for educational purposes before her death.

The court found that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

In sentencing the defendant, Justice Ette condemned the act, noting the irony of a religious leader taking a life within church premises.

“Life is sacred and those who represent God on earth should teach that. It is an irony and quite appalling when a man who claims to be the representative of the Divine on earth stoops so low as to denigrate the very essence of his calling and take someone’s life in the premises of the church.” Justice Ette held.

He further stated that individuals who betray public trust in such a manner, pose a danger to society and must face the full weight of the law.

“Having found you guilty as charged, I hereby sentence you to death by hanging,” the court held.

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2027: Atiku raises concern over outdated BVAS

Published

17 hours ago

August 11, 2026

Advocate News Nigeria

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar

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Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has raised concerns over the alleged use of an outdated operating system on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), warning that it could pose cybersecurity and operational risks ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Paul Ibe disclosed this on his Facebook handle on Tuesday.

Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), raised the concerns following the reported failures recorded during the Osun State mock accreditation exercise on August 1, 2026, and comments by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Director of ICT, Dr Lawrence Bayode.Bayode, while speaking on Arise TV on Monday, reportedly said the BVAS, introduced into Nigeria’s electoral process in 2021, currently runs on Android version 10.

In a statement issued by his Media Office in Abuja on Tuesday, Atiku said Android version 10 had reached end-of-life status in 2023 and no longer receives regular updates or security patches.

He argued that running an election technology platform such as BVAS on an outdated operating system could expose the electoral process to cybersecurity and operational vulnerabilities.

Atiku questioned why INEC, with what he described as its substantial budget, had not upgraded the BVAS software ahead of the 2027 general elections or used forthcoming off-cycle elections, including the Osun governorship election, to test an updated version.

He described what he called INEC’s handling of the BVAS issue as “suspicious” and alleged that it could undermine the integrity of the country’s elections.

According to him, vulnerabilities in an outdated operating system could potentially be exploited by cybercriminals to gain unauthorised access to devices and tamper with stored voter accreditation or polling unit result data before transmission.

He also raised concerns about the transmission of polling unit results over public telecommunications networks to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.

Atiku said outdated security and cryptographic components could increase exposure to cyber threats, including attempts to intercept, block or manipulate data transmitted between polling units and the result-viewing platform.

The former Vice President further expressed concern about the biometric functions of BVAS, which uses fingerprint and facial recognition for voter accreditation.

He argued that an outdated biometric framework could affect the system’s accuracy and resilience against attempts to circumvent its verification processes.

Atiku also warned that software defects associated with legacy systems could lead to application crashes, particularly during periods of heavy usage, potentially causing delays in voter accreditation.

He said he supported calls by cybersecurity experts for an independent and comprehensive audit of the BVAS hardware and software ahead of the 2027 elections.

According to him, running critical national infrastructure on an end-of-life operating system could create an expanded attack surface and expose the electoral system to avoidable risks.

The statement was signed by the Atiku Media Office, Abuja, on August 11, 2026.

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Gov Mbah hails security forces over arrest of Affa Church kidnappers

Published

1 day ago

August 11, 2026

Advocate News Nigeria

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Four AK-47 rifles, ammunition recovered

Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has commended intelligence and security agencies in the state for nabbing three members of a notorious kidnap gang responsible for the August 2, 2026 attack on St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Inoyi-Affa, in Udi LGA of the state.

A joint operation by the Department of State Services (DSS), the Army, Police, Enugu State Forest Guard, and others, led to a gun battle with the suspected kidnappers.

One suspected member of the kidnapping gang was neutralized, while the security team recovered four AK-47 rifles and a cache of ammunition.

The governor made the commendation on Monday night after visiting the state DSS headquarters to see the arrested suspected kidnappers.

The governor, who was represented by Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, disclosed that two of the three kidnapped victims of the August 2 attack, Seminarian Lawrence Igbo and Mr. Emmanuel Onwudi, had regained their freedom.

The victims, stated the SSG, had fully identified the apprehended men as their abductors.
On behalf of the governor, the SSG assured the people of Enugu State that the Mbah administration would continue to prioritise and invest in the security of their lives and properties.

“There was one fatality in this process. It was one of the criminals that died in the process of apprehending them. Usually, criminal elements will not want to be apprehended easily without a fight, but our people were ready, and we have one fatality, while the others are here now as you can see; and they will face the full wrath of the law,” he declared.

“We made it very clear that if criminality becomes your venture, Enugu State is not the location to do that business; that we will pursue you, we will make sure we bring you to justice, and that was why we put the robust security architecture across the state, working in collaboration with the security forces to ensure that Enugu is uncomfortable for anybody that plans criminality, and you’re seeing that very clearly.

“We are intentional in investing in and organising our security architecture to prevent crime. But if there is a breach, you can run, but cannot hide for long. We must get you. You can’t commit these crimes in Enugu State and get away with it. No way,” he said.

He warned citizens against colluding with criminal elements or serve as their informants, vowing to come after them.

“We will find you also, just as we have found these people, and we will prosecute you as part of this evil operation and this evil syndicate.

“Wherever you are, know that investigation is ongoing and that this government will track you down, and you will pay for your crimes in planning havoc on our citizens. So wherever you are, we are still coming for you,” he stressed.

He showered encomium on the security forces for their cooperation and gallantry.

“We also want to very highly commend all the security agencies: the DSS, Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Police, the Enugu State Forest Guard, the military services, others for being very instrumental in some of the work that was done, and continue to do in Enugu State,” the SSG declared.

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Enugu Church Kidnap: Seminarian, other victims rescued, three kidnappers arrested, one killed

Published

1 day ago

August 10, 2026

Advocate News Nigeria

Three kidnappers arrested

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…Ransoms, 4 AK-47 rifles and ammunition recovered

…Gov Mbah: You can’t get away with your crimes in Enugu

Security forces in Enugu State have successfully apprehended three perpetrators of the August 2, 2026 kidnap attack on St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Inoyi-Affa, Udi LGA, Enugu State, and also recovered ransoms during the operations.

This was even as one of the kidnap suspects was neutralised in a gun duel during the joint operation of the Department of State Services (DSS), the Army, Police, Enugu State Forest Guard, and others, which also saw to the recovery of four AK-47 rifles, seven magazines and 133 rounds of ammunition from the hideouts of the kidnapping syndicate.

Fielding questions from newsmen during the parade of the criminals at the state headquarters of the DSS in Enugu Monday evening, Governor Peter Mbah, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, added that the remaining two of the three victims of the August 2 attack, Seminarian Lawrence Igbo and Mr. Emmanuel Onwudi, had also regained their freedom.

Ransom recovered from the kidnappers

Mbah also revealed that ransom deployed as a strategy was fully recovered, noting that security agents tracked down the criminals by deploying the state’s hi-tech security assets.

He hailed the DSS, Army, Police, Forest Guards and other security agencies in the state, adding that the victims had equally identified the apprehended criminals as their abductors.

The governor assured the people that his administration would continue to prioritise and invest in the security of their lives and properties.

A member of the kidnap gang neutralized

“There was one fatality in this process. It was one of the criminals that died in the process of apprehending them. Usually, criminal elements will not want to be apprehended easily without a fight, but our people were ready, and we have one fatality, while the others are here now as you could see; and they will face the full wrath of the law.