WOULD you believe it? The other day, police in the eastern Nigerian town of Enugu received the shock of their lives.

An armed robber who had been executed stood up, pleaded for water, mourned his own death and assured 20,000 stupefied onlookers that he was going to heaven. He said he had been wrongly accused of his crimes but was sure he would get a fair hearing when he arrived in heaven.

Newspapers in Nigeria reported that Simeon Agbo, 24, was among 38 prisoners, accused or found guilty of armed robbery, which carries the mandatory death penalty, who were executed en masse.

One hour later, when the police came to take the corpses away, Agbo was resurrected. He was singing along with a group of onlookers a church hymn: ”Nearer my God to thee / Nearer to thee.” Police say they had no authority to finish him off but nonetheless threw him on to a lorry transporting the corpses and drove off. Nothing has been heard of him since.

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Occult lottery winnings

ORGANISERS of the Veteran Association of Ghana special raffle are hoping that things “will return to normal soon.” They have been making so many huge pay-outs in winnings that they believe that the supernatural must be at work here.

Peter Garbah, member of the VAG management committee surmised: “It seems that stakers are now using magic, African art or juju to place their stakes. No one really knows.”

One particular supernatural winning had “disjointed the finances of the raffle, and from then on things have never been the same.” The fund-raising purpose of the raffle appears to have been defeated.

“This has put management in a difficult position to meet its financial commitments,” noted Garbah.

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Landlady blows her top

HOW do you get a rather stubborn tenant to leave your property? That was the situation that presented itself to an Accra landlady when she was made an offer she could not refuse for a room in her house. But first, the small matter of ejecting the present occupier of the said room - her tenant of 30 years.


While the tenant was dragging his feet, the landlady asked workmen to remove the part of the roof directly over the room, thereby “exposing the personal effects of the tenant, a photographer, to the vagaries of the weather,” reported a local newspaper.

“That was the best action that can be taken,” declared the landlady. “ The new tenant is paying good money to take care of the roof.”

Of course, the tenant left but he claimed that he was in the process of “putting things in order to leave” when the landlady raised the roof.

Moaned the tenant: “I therefore find it strange that my family and belongings can be so exposed when l have already made clear my intention to leave. “Anyway, it’s her loss. What I owe in rent is a fraction of the cost to repair the roof,” concluded the tenant.

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New Craze in Tokyo

THE JAPANESE are well known for their ingenuity, and this time around they have come up with the solution to the problem of housing space in overcrowded Tokyo.

They have started hiring out their pets by the hour - two hours at most, so that attachments are not formed and the animals must be treated well.

Will this catch on in Africa where Japanese novelties are in abundance? We doubt it. For instance, will Nigerians from certain parts of the country (where canines are a delicacy) be allowed to hire dogs - even for ten minutes? We doubt it. But if the price is right some dog owners may be tempted to risk it.

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