We only got $200, phones from Basketmouth – Robbery suspects

More than two months after popular comedian, Bright Okpocha, AKA Basketmouth, was robbed in his home at Lekki, Lagos, the police have apprehended the suspects and paraded them before journalists at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters, Ikeja.

The leader of the three-man gang who attacked Basketmouth, 24-year-old Chibuzor Ugwu,  explained that they simply stumbled on the comedian’s house during their robbery spree on September 7.

Ugwu, an Enugu State indigene living in Anambra State but came to Lagos regularly on the sole mission of carrying out robberies, explained that he was an internet fraudster for three years before he ventured into robbery.

He said, “Anytime I came to Lagos, I took my gang to vandalise vehicles and steal auto parts. We normally targetted Toyota and Honda vehicles.

“But the day we robbed Basketmouth’s house. We had operated on some vehicles in the area that day. We then peeped into a compound and saw a very nice car. When we gained access into the compound, we realised we could make more money by robbing the occupants of the house.

“We then used a bolt cutter to enter through the kitchen. It was when we entered the house that we realised that it was Basketmouth’s house. We saw the pictures of him and his family on the wall.”

According to Ugwu, who said he had done nothing else than internet fraud and robbery since he left secondary school, as soon as they saw Basketmouth, they believed they had hit the mother lode.

The suspect said he pointed a gun he was holding at the comedian and told him to cooperate.

He said they were shocked the comedian told them he had no cash at home.

Ugwu said, “We thought we were going to find millions of naira at the house. He was begging us not to hurt his family. He said he did not keep cash at home. But we told him to cooperate so that we would just operate peacefully and leave.

“We searched the whole apartment and found nothing. We only got a $200 note in his wallet along with the mobile phones in the house which he handed to us.

“Eventually  we left with the little we could find, we were not ready to hurt him because it was clear he was telling the truth when we searched everywhere and found no money.”

He said the phones collected in Basketmouth’s house were sold to a friend he identified as Osama at the Computer Village in Ikeja.

Ugwu explained that he bought the gun he took to the operation for N80,000 in Benue State.

ugwu and chimezie

Saturday PUNCH leart that Ugwu entered the police net when he went to a police station to reclaim his vehicle that was impounded after he abandoned it on a road where it broke down at Ijeshatedo area of Lagos.

“I had abandoned the vehicle on the road for some days. When I went there to pick it, I was told the police had impounded it. When I went to the station to claim it, I did not know the police had previously arrested a friend of mine who knew about my robbery activities,”  he said.

The friend he was talking about is 21-year-old Joseph Chimezie.

Chiemezie said he met Ugwu in Anambra State at a joint.

“He is fond of buying drinks for young men at the joint. I told him that anytime he was leaving for Lagos, he should take me along with him so I could find a job,” he said.

He said the day he eventually left for Lagos with him, a member of Ugwu’s gang took him to Ilasamaja and handed him a bag containing guns.

According to him, he was told to take the guns to a house but on the way, the police stopped him. When they searched the bag, they found guns and arrested him.

Chimezie said, “I don’t know about when they robbed Basketmouth. I did not follow them. I did not know that the police were looking for them.

“When they handed me the bag containing the guns, I was afraid and would have droppped it and run away but I knew nowhere in Ilasamaja. All I wanted was to make a better life for myself in Lagos.”

The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State,  Mr. Fatai Owoseni, said the suspects would soon be charged to court. 

Sex: When you want more of it.

You can decide to do a ‘leave in message.’ It’s another way for each of you to communicate what you would like without saying a thing. Either of you may go all out to buy an erotic gift and leave a note on the fridge in the morning saying that you don’t mind changing position to a ‘kneeling down and taking off style.’ This style is so unique that it not a regular style but a special one that you engage in when you want to have a time to remember. And while doing that, take note that to get the maximum pleasure, you have to take your time to slowly and passionately rip your clothes off in a wild ride, so as to really get to know every erotic spot on your mate.

You can even time yourselves to know how far you both can endure heavy foreplay before actual sex. For a start, set a timer for 20 minutes one day, 30 the next and 40 the day after (every other day could be a good idea). This will force you to figure out each other’s pleasure threshold. Or try this technique: put four little bells on four silky strings, and tie one around both your spouse’s wrist and ankle. Then tell him or her not to jingle while you check out the body geography. Partners can learn a lot about what turns a partner on just by watching their facial expressions as they struggle to stay still.

The age of 32 to 39 or thereabout, hormonally speaking, is a great time for a couple. The man’s testosterone level is still high enough to keep him hot. But he’s not as frivolous as he was in his 20s, when a sideway glance at his wife could spark a raw fire within him and turn him on and keep him hard all day long. Those slightly lower levels of excitement may mean that he may have put any premature ejaculation problem behind him. And while the wife may have dry spells when she is pregnant or breastfeeding (both of which can decrease her sex drive), it is common for breastfeeding women to have inadequate vaginal lubrication. But experts agree that this is the age when most women hit their sexual stride.

“In their 30s, majority of spouses are more confident with their bodies, their mates and their sexuality. They are less afraid to speak up about what they like, so they are more likely to have orgasms. Although the two of them may have come off that initial wild passionate sex, they may likely settle into what experts call the attachment stage: a period of closeness and contentment when both share a general sense of union and peace of mind. The kind of connection a couple in love shares at this stage drives up levels of oxytocin and vasopressin (the two chemicals that flood the brain with feelings of well-being). Here, they think of sex in the brain before the body. A research was carried out on couples within these age ranges to know the percentage of sex in the brain. Researchers wanted to know how much do these couples think about sex on a daily basis. The result was once a day, 34 per cent; once an hour, 44 per cent; whenever I hear love music, three per cent; I’m too busy to think of it much, 19 per cent.

Besides, it is at this stage that such couples are caring for kids and building careers, so they have less time for spontaneous sex. Making sex truly sensational happens when they find ways to put it on their schedule, whether that means more quickies or making foreplay a part of everyday life. But whatever the case may be, the passions much not go off. You both can flood your sexual senses by carving out a day when you’re so tired that you can’t imagine wanting to get busy in bed. You can refocus with this relaxing but racy ritual, which will wake you and your husband’s senses. Innocently invite him to “talk” over a favourite dish and your favourite music while you change out of your work clothes. Once you’ve stripped down to your underwear, lean over and lick his neck while unbuttoning his shirt. Next, work your way down to his nipples, where that tingling sensation will fill his head with sexy thoughts. Stimulating your senses is the best way to shut out distractions and ease your way into the bedroom. Even when you’ve got in the mood, you may still have to fit what you used to do in three hours into just a few minutes. This makes you both feel so connected to each other, and sex becomes even more intimate and soulful, no matter how swiftly you both do it.

‘Nothing spoil’ if both of you have an all day foreplay in one of the weekends. It also helps if you’re ready to get it on before you hit the sheets. Find little ways to play around during the day. Creativity can help compensate for minimal mattress time. One woman I know writes sexy messages on her husband’s arm (they’re hidden under his sleeve during the day) and forbids him to read them until he gets to work. A man who I particularly admire puts rose petals on the overhead fan in the bedroom. When his wife turns it on, the room is showered with flowers. You both can savour those sleepless nights by just doing it, because a man’s testosterone level starts going up around 2 a.m. and keeps rising. It’s actually even better than morning sex because you are in a sort of altered state. And after you have made love, you can just roll over for a few more delicious hours of sleep. Think sex whenever you find yourselves up at an odd time; it is very pleasurable.

Now let’s look into the age of 45 and above. This isn’t the most hormonally charged stage of marriage. The outset of peri menopause may mean that sex hormones are waning. Less estrogen means that the woman may not lubricate as quickly or easily as she used to. And the man’s lower testosterone level means that it’ll take more to get him turned on and that he’s not thinking about sex as often as he used to. Never mind. At this age, there’s plenty that is going on between the two of you to keep sex steamy. In fact, experts say many couples in their 40s say they enjoy making love now more than ever. At this point, you and your partner know exactly how to excite each other. The little traditions you have, such as making love on Saturday afternoon and slipping into Sunday morning. Kids are old enough to fend for themselves (if you still have young kids, try a mix of tips from this section and the previous one), so you have some quality time to be together alone.

Remember, when nature’s doing less to push you into the bedroom, just do it and do it. The more you make love, the more you think about making love. And the more you think about making love, the more you want to make love. But shake things up. Now is the perfect time to explore new moves, since after so many years together, you feel comfortable enough to try silly games with your mate or to just be erotically close together than ever before. Besides, at this age, men crave for some surprises. So, give your man something to reflect on.

If you’ve been noticing that it takes your husband a little longer to get it up these days, try this twist on the mirror-above-the-bed cliché. Next time you catch him standing in front of a full-length mirror, sneak up to him from behind with a handful of massage oil that heats up on contact and start stroking him slowly while he watches. Before long, the surprise of what he’s feeling combined with the sexy scene he’s watching will have him totally revved up. Men are visual creatures; nothing turns them on like a sexy image. Don’t stop there; prevent him from turning around to embrace you or from moving his eyes away from the mirror as you continue to stroke him. I am sure that both of you will enter another world, because the more you can shock your husband at this stage, the hotter he’ll get. Spread the sensation further. Since you’ve got all day to please each other, you may as well prolong the pleasure. Nothing stops you from kissing and caressing your husband’s penis until he’s on the verge of orgasm. Then shift your attention to other parts of his body. Alternate between genital and non-genital stimulation until he’s aroused to a state of being hypersensitive. Try to continue doing this for about 10 minutes. The longer you do this, the better. Then push him over the edge. His climax will radiate like shock waves through his entire body.

Five reasons you should never try anal sex

Rockcity

Ordinarily, there should be only one (main) route to sexual satisfaction – intercourse, but in reality, people have devised several means to that destination, and one of the ways some people have adopted is anal sex. This means sex through the anus.

And the act seems to be growing, because in spite of the society’s stance on it and how much it has been condemned by some medical experts, a report by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, under the United States Department of Health and Human Services, shows that 44 per cent of men and 36 per cent of women have had anal sex at least once in their lifetime.

Apart from those who tried it once in a lifetime, a report by WebMD, an American corporation that reports news and information pertaining to human health and well being, found in 2015 that as many as five to 10 per cent of sexually active women engage in receptive anal sex.

Notably, apart from consenting heterosexual adults and homosexuals, it has been observed that some of those who also practise it are young men and women lured into it based on money, while some children; young boys and girls, have been or are being sexually abused by older men.

Regardless, given that some have already embraced this backdoor action, it is however instructive to note that there are serious health risks attached to anal sex, and some of these include:

Severe physical pains: One of the many adverse effects of anal sex is that it could cause serious physical pain, as the penile penetration could tear the tissue inside the woman’s anus, while the man could also feel some pain on his penis. This is mainly because the anus is not lubricated like the vagina, thus, thrusting might bring about some pains, more so that the skin on the penis is such a flexible one that is prone to tear on slight friction. Even though such people tend to use lubricants like cream, to lessen the pain, Dr. William Blahd, an emergency medicine specialist, who wrote on WebMD, noted that using lubricants does not completely prevent tearing of the tissue in the anus. While both persons may try to enjoy the act, it was also gathered that the pain after the exercise may not go away quickly, especially if the man has a bigger organ. Blahd would also point out that apart from the pain, consistent anal sex could affect the functioning of the anus and affect the overall health of such persons.

He added, “There could be bleeding after anal sex which could be due to hemorrhoid (a swollen vein or group of veins in the region of the anus) or tear, or something more serious such as a perforation (hole) in the colon. This is a dangerous problem that requires immediate medical attention. Treatment involves a hospital stay, surgery, and antibiotics to prevent infection.

Anal leakage: While men who engage in masturbation have to contend with seminal leakage, in which case sperm begins to leak out of their penis even when there is no erection, due to excessive masturbation, people, including women and homosexuals, who engage in anal sex tend to have weakened anal sphincter, thereby reducing their ability to hold faeces for a long time. Blahd explained that anal sphincter, which controls the closing of the anus after defecation, is a tight circular muscle that constricts and expands, but that due to repeated penile penetration, the sphincter would be weakened, “making it difficult to hold in faeces until you can get to the toilet.”

Also, a gynaecologist, Dr. Bolanle Shukra-Okesina, said anal sex destroys the inner tissues and that such women or the (receiving) men, in the case of homosexuals, could end up using pampers. She explained, “The anus has a locking mechanism that keeps it close when you finish defecating. So, if somebody continues to traumatise that area, that place relaxes and becomes slack, such that the anus won’t close anymore.

“After a long time of practising it, the person would start having loose release of gas and stool because the sphincter in the anus would have become slack. I’ve heard a lot of young guys that put on pampers because of that. It’s also applicable to young guys who are being abused or lured into it by older men because of money.”

Free ticket to STIs: According to experts, sexually transmitted infections can easily be transmitted through anal sex. According to Blahd, this is partly because if the penetration of the penis tears the tissue inside the anus, it serves as broad opening for viruses and bacteria to penetrate the bloodstream of such persons, and the infections that could be transmitted in this regard include HIV. He said studies had shown that sex through the anus is 30 times more risky for HIV infection than sex through the vagina. He added, “Our external tissue has layers of dead cells that serve as a protective barrier against infection. The tissue inside the anus does not have this natural protection, which leaves it vulnerable to tearing and the spread of infection.” Even though using a condom could reduce the likelihood of getting infection, it has been said that condom is not an absolute (100 per cent) protection against infection.

Shukra-Okesina also explained that there are some organisms in the stool and some in the inner canal of the anus, which a man could easily contact during anal sex. She added, “For people who get involved in it, they contract those organisms and so they are prone to having infections. And the effect of having to treat several infections along the genital tract is that it can block the tract, causing difficulty when they want to make a woman pregnant, because that is the same tract semen passes through.” This is applicable whether the man does it with a male or a female.

And it should equally be noted that the possible health issues connected to STIs include pain with urination and intercourse, vaginal bleeding and discharge, rashes, itching and odour oozing out from the genitals, infertility, reproductive system cancers and inflammation of the coiled tube at the back of the testicle that stores and carries sperm.

The anus has loads of bacteria: As the canal for human waste (faeces), it has been found that the anus is a breeding ground for bacteria, and Blahd stressed that even if both of the persons involved in the act do not have sexually transmitted disease before the act, the quantum of bacteria in the anus are capable of infecting the man, and that is easily caught through the penile penetration. While anal sex on its own is as risky as can be imagined, Blahd warned that the situation could be worse if the man and the woman engage in vaginal sex after anal sex. He said this could lead to vaginal and urinary tract infections, and the urinary tract includes bladder, ureter, urethra and kidney. And for those who like to put their mouths in the anus, perhaps out of sexual excitement or adventure, Blahd warned that oral contact with the anus could make both persons stand the risk of hepatitis, which is a disease characterised by inflammation of the liver, human papillomavirus infection, which could result in anal cancer or warts, which is a small, hard, benign growth on the skin, caused by a virus. Meanwhile, there are reports that some men who had sex through the anus were found to have the hard-to-treat Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, which is a bacterium that causes infections in different parts of the body and it is tougher to treat because it is resistant to common antibiotics. According to WebMD, it can cause serious skin infections, infect the bloodstream, the lungs and even the urinary tract. Notably, this infection can be passed among sexual partners.

Anal cancer: Apart from the infections and other effects that have been identified, anal sex has also been found to cause anal cancer. According to Shukra-Okesina, anal sex could also lead to cancer, due to the changes in the nature of the tissues in the anus. She said, “On the long run, once the nature of the tissues changes, which is known as metaplasia, the mucosa, which is a membrane that lines various cavities in the anus and some other parts of the body and surrounds internal organs, also becomes infected over time. It becomes inflamed. And so these continuous abnormal changes of the mucosa would lead to anal cancer on the long run.”