News
Rivers Police Arrest Housewife For Bathing Husband With Hot Oil
The Rivers State Police Command has confirmed the arrest of the housewife who bathed her husband with hot groundnut oil in Etche Local Government Area of the State.
The Police Public Relations Officer of the command, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed this to journalists in Port Harcourt, yesterday.
“Good afternoon, the wife has been arrested in police custody now ,” she stated
Iringe-Koko had earlier told journalists on Wednesday that the woman was on the run after committing the crime.
It would be recalled that a housewife identified as Mrs. Hope Nwala allegedly bathed her husband, Ekelediri Nwankwo, with hot groundnut oil in the Okehi community in Etche Local Government Area of the State.
It was learnt that the couple had been having a running battle over the attitude of the wife’s younger sister who lived with them.
The suspect hails from Obite Community in Etche Local Government Area of the State,
Narrating the incident to newsmen on Wednesday, the victim, Nwankwo, said his sister-in-law had been disrespectful to him, so he decided to send her packing and gave her some money to return home when he could no longer tolerate her.
The man, however, said it was surprising to him that his wife opposed his decision, leading to a heated argument between the couple.
He revealed that during his sister-in-law’s stay in his house, his wife started putting up a suspicious behaviour, saying he had been noticing a strange man lurking around his wife and sister-in-law.
Nwankwo said he confronted his wife with his observations and demanded to know who the strange man was, adding that rather than responding to his question, his wife became violent and allegedly poured hot oil on him while he was asleep in addition to hitting him with a hammer.
He stated, “I told my wife’s younger sister to leave my house because of the way she started dressing.
“Her behaviour and the way she occupied my matrimonial bed even when I was around were unacceptable. And no young guy will tolerate such behavior. But my wife refused the younger sister to leave the house.
“I also saw my wife alone with one tall black guy in the shop I rented for her. Not that he is in for business. He followed my wife and her sister here and there.
“So, with all this, I gave her younger sister two thousand naira transport to go home so that I can actually understand what is going on in my house, but my wife got upset. While I went to bed to sleep, she used boiled groundnut oil on me, then started hitting me with a harmer.”
By: Akujobi Amadi
Nigerians may experience an increase in the prices of premium energy products diesel and petrol as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery temporarily halts the sale of petroleum products in Naira.
“This decision is necessary to avoid a mismatch between our sales proceeds and our crude oil purchase obligations, which are currently denominated in US dollars,” the company said in a statement yesterday.
The $20billion refinery based in Lagos said the sales of its products in Naira have exceeded the value of Naira-denominated crude it has received from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
“As a result, we must temporarily adjust our sales currency to align with our crude procurement currency,” the company explained.
The refinery said it remained committed to serving the Nigerian market and would resume the sale of its product to the local market in Naira as soon as it received crude cargoes from the NNPCL in Naira.
“As soon as we receive an allocation of Naira-denominated crude cargoes from NNPC, we will promptly resume petroleum product sales in Naira,” it said.
The announcement by the refinery comes amid its price war with the NNPCL.
As part of moves to reduce the strain on the US dollars, and guarantee price stability of petroleum products, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in July 2024, directed the NNPCL to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in naira and not in United States’ greenback.
In the beginning of March 2025, the NNPCL said its Naira-denominated crude sales agreement with the Dangote Refinery was structured for six months with March 2025 as the expiration date.
The state company, however, said that talks were on to replace the contract, and that over 48 million barrels of crude oil have been made available to Dangote Refinery since October 2024 under the Naira-denominated arrangement.
The NNPCL also said it had made over 84 million barrels of crude oil available to the private refinery since it commenced operations in 2023.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, faces energy challenges, with all its state-owned refineries non-operational for decades until 2024. The country was heavily reliant on imported refined petroleum products, with the state-run NNPCL being the major importer of the essential commodities.
Fuel queues are commonplace in the country. Prices of petrol more than quadrupled since the removal of subsidy in May 2023 by President Bola Tinubu, from around ¦ 200/litre to about ¦ 1,000/litre, compounding the woes of the citizens who power their vehicles, and generating sets with petrol, no thanks to decades-long epileptic electricity supply.
Last December, the billionaire industrialist commenced operations at the facility situated in Lagos with 350,000 barrels a day. The refinery, which was initially bogged by regulatory battles, hopes to achieve its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year. The refinery has begun the supply of diesel and aviation fuel to marketers in the country and now petrol.
Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has overtaken Egypt’s Omar Assar to become Africa’s highest-ranked player in the world, now sitting at 18th in the week 12 ranking released on Tuesday.
Aruna moved up from 19th place in week 11 to 18th in the latest ranking, while Assar dropped from 17th to 19th.
Denmark’s Jonathan Groth took over Assar’s 17th place, moving up from 18th.
Despite finishing as runner-up at the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup, Aruna’s impressive performances at the WTT tournaments this year have boosted his ranking.
Aruna remains the only African male player to have reached the semi-finals of the WTT Contender Doha, repeating his 2023 feat earlier this year in January.
This achievement has propelled him ahead of Assar, who beat him to become the champion of the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup.
Aruna’s next tournament is the WTT Contender Chennai which serves off in India from March 23 to 20.
In the women’s singles, Egypt’s Hana Goda maintained her top spot in Africa, moving up one place to 26th in the week 12 ITTF ranking. Her compatriot, Dina Meshref, remained static at 33rd, holding her position as the second-best-ranked female player in Africa.
China’s Wang Chuqin retained his position as the second-best player globally, behind his compatriot Lin Shidong, who continues to hold the top spot. Japanese superstar Tomokazu Harimoto dethroned China’s Liang Jingkun as the third-best player in the world after his semifinal finish in Chongqing.
In the women’s ranking, the top five remained unchanged, with China’s Sun Yingsha holding onto her top spot after retaining her WTT Champions Chongqing title.