Man survives machete attack at Magboro bus stop

A professional driver, Lukman Adegboyega Oosha, had a narrow escape on Friday night when he was attacked by hoodlums suspected to be of Northern extraction, at Magboro, Ogun State .

 

Oosha told MicroSecondNews he was waiting for a bus or okada (commercial motorcycle) at Magboro bus stop between 9 and 10 pm when he saw a group of boys rushing in his direction. 

 

"I didn't suspect any untoward thing as I didn't have anything to do with them. I didn't really paid them much attention.

 

"I just stepped aside and continued to wait for my transport home.

 

"It was a near fatal mistake as I suddenly felt a vicious cut on the back of my head where the neck meets the head and blood gushed out.

 

"As I collapsed, I could see that I was attacked with a matchete. The boys ran along speaking their language.

 

"They didn’t waste time on me, or they thought the blow had finished me. I struggled to my feet and rested against something, brought out my phone, because they didn’t steal anything from me. I managed to call my wife before I lost consciousness and fell by the road side. 

 

"My family found me there and brought me to a hospital where I am currently receiving treatment. I'm lucky to be alive. They aimed at my neck."

 

When asked how he knew they were Fulani, he said from their appearance and the language they were speaking. 

 

Oosha's friend, simply identified as Yusuf, said Oosha was lucky that it was not one of those busy traffic days that impatient drivers drive on the road shoulders. He said a careless driver would have crushed him as he lay unconscious. 

 

He appealed to people who pass through the entire Long Bridge, Warewa, Arepo, Magboro. Mowe and Aseese part of the Lagos Ibadan Express way to be more careful as there seemed to be an upsurge of blood thirsty hoodlums on the prowl especially after dark.

 

He said another friend was macheted on the back on the Long Bridge last week. 

 

"His car broke down and he was walking to the bus stop when a hoodlum suspected to be a renegade herdsman leapt out of the bush. He ran but the 'Bororo' was able to deal him a matchete on the back. He managed to run to the bus stop and was taken to the hospital.

Delta Imposes curfew to check second wave of COVID-19

 

Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa

Delta Government has announced a curfew in the state to halt the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic currently in resurgence nationwide.

 The curfew will operate from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. daily and will take effect from Jan. 29, 2021.

Secretary to the State Government, Mr Chiedu Ebie, in a statement, said it was an enforcement of an existing curfew imposed nationwide by the Federal Government.

He called on residents of the state to comply with the restriction in the interest of public health, adding that security agencies had been directed to fully enforce the directives.

He said the guidelines earlier issued on the closure of night clubs across the state still subsisted and should be complied with.

“In the same vein, government wishes to restate the standard COVID-19 protocols for the guidance of all and these include: Wearing of face masks in public places; avoiding crowded places; physical distancing; regular hand washing with soap and water or use of alcohol-based hand sanitizer”, he said.

Lagosians pay N7000 to register for NIN

DG/CEO NIMC, Engr. Aliyu Aziz Abubakar

Desperate to put the issue of registration for the National Identification Number (NIN) behind them, some Lagosians are coughing out as much as N7000 to ‘facilitators’ for express attention.

MSN gathered that many of the 43 designated enrolment centres in Lagos do not operate, leading to overcrowding at the centres that are working.

Lagosians who checked at the Ijaye Ojokoro centre on Friday, for instance, were directed to the Obafemi Awolowo Way State office of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), where mammoth crowds daily jostle to enrol.

Lagosians were seen patronising ‘facilitators’ who assured that the exercise would be completed in record time with a payment of N7000 each.

At the Ojokoro Millennium Estate, a group of ‘facilitators’ were sighted collecting details from residents of the estate who were eager to enrol their names on the national identity register. The service attracted a fee of N3,500.

NIMC recently licensed telecom operators and other bodies to issue Nigerians NIN. 

One of the operators, Airtel, announced it had commenced registration of Nigerians for NIN at designated locations across the country on Thursday. See the report here.

NIMC has repeatedly warned Nigerians not to pay any money to enrol for NIN or collect National ID Card. The commission maintains that its services are free and none of its staff would collect money to facilitate registration.

The involvement of the telcos in the registration by the commission is believed to be a good measure to ease the frustration of Nigerians eager to enrol their names on the National Identity register in accordance with government’s directive.

Ekiti to test cough, fever patients for COVID-19

The Ekiti State Government has directed both private and public hospitals in the State to test all patients with fever, cough and catarrh for COVID-19.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Ado Ekiti, the State Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr. Oyebanji Filani explained that the move is part of efforts to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.

He said the symptoms of the current wave of COVID-19 is similar to some other known and common diseases such as malaria and respiratory tract infection adding that it may also be asymptomatic.

The Commissioner instructed all Health facilities in the State to contact their respective Local Government Disease Surveillance Notification Officers (LGDSNO) for modalities to conduct the test on their patients.

He solicited the support of all stakeholders towards warding off the virus, emphasizing the need for the general public to cooperate with healthcare providers to achieve the desired goal.

Filani also warned that the State Government would not hesitate to sanction any hospital that fails to comply with the government’s directive.

Second lockdown looms in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna

Covid-19 infection rate continues to climb in Nigeria, forcing the Federal Government to seriously consider imposing movement restrictions on epicentre cities of Lagos, Abuja and Kaduna.

 

In an interview on Channels Television on Friday, the National Manager of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19, Dr. Mukhtar Muhammad, said in spite of confirmed cases hitting 127,000, many Nigerians are not observing the laid down safety guidelines.

 

This, he said, may necessitate a second lockdown in the most affected areas, namely Lagos, Kaduna, and Plateau States as well as the federal capital territory. Abuja,

 

“The urban areas are the most affected and that is why we have these super spreaders and that is where we are going to target. We have analysed that and we are advising the states based on the data that these are the focused areas where these transmissions are more than the others.”

 

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), 864 new corona virus infections were recorded in the country as of Friday morning.

 

Death toll from the pandemic stands at 1,547, with FCT recording the highest infections at 129, followed by Anambra at 87.

 

Lagos State recorded zero infection.

Airtel begins NIN Registration in Retail Outlets across Nigeria

Airtel Nigeria, has commenced the National Identity Number (NIN) registration exercise in its retail outlets across the country following an approval from the Federal Government granting the operator a verification and enrolment licence to register citizens.

 

The telco says while select retail outlets in Lagos and Abuja are now fully operational to register Nigerians for NIN, work is currently ongoing to expand its NIN footprints to cover more areas and states.

 

It added that residents of Abuja can now visit Transcorp Hilton situated in Mataima or Airtel showrooms at Carpet Plaza and Kano Crescent in Wuse 2, while those in Lagos can walk into Airtel Express Point, Oyin Jolayemi, Victoria Island or Airtel showroom in Adeniran Ogunsanya, Surulere, Lagos.

 

Lagos residents can also visit the Airtel showroom in Tejuosho, Yaba; Airtel showroom in Isheri Road, Ogba and the Airtel showroom in Oba Akran, Ikeja to register for the NIN.

 

Speaking on this new development, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, commended the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, for expanding the registration footprints and taking definitive steps to smoothen the NIN registration process for Nigerians.

Sunday Igboho has no right to issue vacation order to Fulani herders

                                   

Popular Lagos lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has said popular Yoruba rights activist, Sunday Adeyemo, more known as Sunday Igboho, had no right to issue a vacation notice to Fulani herders in the Ibarapa Local Government Area of Oyo State.

 

Recall that Sunday Igboho  had asked Fulani settlers in Ibarapa to leave the area within seven days following increasing criminality such as kidnapping for ransom, killings, rapings destruction of farms and produce with cattle. He accused the settlers of perpetrating the crimes, harbouring or abetting the criminals.

 

At the expiration of the ultimatum last week, he and his followers had stormed the Fulani settlement in Igangan to eject Seriki Fulani, Salihu Abdukadir, and the herders.

 

Speaking on BBC on Wednesday, Falana said the affected herders should seek redress in court. He counselled against violence saying, “ don’t let us resort to violence; it is unnecessary.”

 

“With profound respect under our laws, even a squatter cannot be ejected and that is why on a daily basis, tenants are given quit notices by landlords or owners of properties” he said, adding that a private citizen could not wake up and say anybody should leave a community.

“Nobody can do that, not even the government because section 43 of the constitution says every citizen shall have the right to own and acquire properties in any part of the country.

 

“The campaign of the human rights community is that if you are born in a place, or you have lived for not less than ten years in any part of the country, you should be considered an indigene and be entitled to all the rights and privileges of the so-called indigenes of the state. So, for me, there is no way I can embrace anyone who has given quit notice to any group of people.”

 

The lawyer said criminal elements must be identified, arrested and prosecuted without an entire ethnic group being labelled as criminals.

 

He said the failure of the government to prosecute those paraded by the police for state offences had resulted in a situation where private citizens issue quit notices to people of other tribes.

 

 “We need to have ranches, in Oyo State in particular. The largest abattoir in West Africa is located in Oyo State but the state government has not allowed the abattoir to function for the past nine years. Is that how to run a country?

 

“The scientific way of solving this problem has been abandoned. So, why would a Sunday Igboho not take over the government of that state? That is what is going on.

 

“There are genuine fears and facts on ground that the lives and properties in that state and in many states of the country are not safe”.

 

He called on the government to remove the basis for the quit notice by protecting the lives and properties of citizens.

Married teacher, 35, is found guilty of sex with her 15-year-old pupil

 

A married teacher faces up to five years in jail after being found guilty of having sex with a 15-year-old pupil she spotted at a school sports day and added on Snapchat to send flirty texts.

 

Kandice Barber, 35, was found to have taken the underage boy to a field, kissed him on the neck next to a bale of hay and whispered, 'What do you want to do now?' before having full intercourse with him.

 

The mother-of-three's lawyer had claimed she was too short at just 5ft tall to have sex with the boy standing up as the teacher lied that her packed calendar meant she was 'too busy' to have slept with him.

 

She had bombarded him with messages including one where she asked him 'Do you like boobs or bum?', and sent him a photo of herself on a bed surrounded by sex toys.

 

But Barber - who has now been bailed prior to sentencing - was found out after a topless pictures she had sent her victim was circulated around so much it ended up being passed to the head teacher of their school.

 

This was Barber's second trial, after she was convicted in September of sending the boy topless pictures of herself on Snapchat between September and October 2018 but acquitted of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity while in a position of trust.

 

Today, the supply teacher, of Wendover, Bucks, was found guilty of one count of causing or inciting a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity, as the judge warned her 'custody is inevitable'. She was found not guilty of two further counts of the same charge.

 

Barber showed no emotion when the verdicts were announced following 10 hours and 39 minutes of jury deliberation, staring blankly across the courtroom.

 

Her delivery worker husband, Daniel, who was watching proceedings remotely in a side room, fumed after the guilty verdict: 'It's a joke.' When Barber emerged at the court entrance he gripped her hand the moment he saw her.

 

The two then walked hand in hand to a court office where the judge ordered them to wait until a date is set for her sentencing on Friday or next Monday.     

 

Nadia Chbatt, Barber's barrister, was carrying out a different professional commitment today, and the judge gave the teacher bail and let her walk free from court before her sentencing.

 

Barber's husband, Daniel (left) and his wife at the court.

The judge told Barber: 'I am not going to proceed to sentence immediately. I totally accept that you should have Ms Chbatt, who was your trial counsel, present.

 

'I am going to bail you until the next occasion that will either be tomorrow morning or indeed Monday morning and you must attend Aylesbury Crown Court.

 

'If you fail to attend you will commit a second offence of failure to surrender and what follows from that is that the police can then arrest you and bring you by force.'

 

Earlier the court heard how Barber, a supply teacher at the Princes Risborough School in Buckinghamshire, had approached her victim at a sports day event when she added him as a 'friend' on social media.

 

She then started texting the boy - said to be 'obsessed' with her - and would tell him when she was 'hopping into the shower' or 'taking a bath'.

 

By then Barber had arranged to meet him and had sex with him behind the back of her devoted delivery firm worker husband Daniel.

 

In court she had lied her busy schedule on that day meant it would have been impossible.

 

She also told the boy she would 'bring him down with her' if the relationship was discovered, and that she was pregnant with his child, the court heard.

 

'Do you like boobs or bum?'

 

'You have a bigger penis than my husband'

 

'When I'm teaching, let's see if we can make each other the horniest we can without the others knowing'

 

In a previous trial in September last year at Aylesbury, Barber was convicted by a majority verdict of 10 to two of sexual communication with a child between Sep 27, 2018, and October 20, 2018, relating to topless pictures she sent to the same victim.

 

She was also convicted by the same majority verdict of causing a child to watch a sexual act by a person in a position of trust, from October 20, 2018, to January 31, 2019, where she sent the victim a video of herself performing a sex act while surrounded by sex toys at a time when the victim was aged 16 years.

 

Barber had been acquitted of one count of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity by a person in a position of trust during the same dates.

 

Jurors at Aylesbury Crown Court heard previously how the teacher, who has school-age children of her own, had later met up with the boy for two other illicit trysts and sent him pictures of herself topless, which were then widely shared around the Princes Risborough School.

 

 

Covid-denying conspiracy theorist who refused to wear a face mask dies of Covid

 

A Covid-denying conspiracy theorist who refused to wear a face mask died a day after testing positive for the virus.

 

Gary Matthews, 46, had been ill for around a week before testing positive for coronavirus on January 12. He died alone in his flat in Shrewsbury, Shropshire the next evening, according to the Guardian of London.

 

Mr Matthews, who exercised regularly, is understood to have told a local conspiracy theorist that he suffered from asthma - though his family said they were not aware of his condition and suggested he may have kept an inhaler on him to exempt himself from wearing a mask.

 

His heartbroken family insist that he did not believe Covid-19 was real, and would not adhere to government pandemic measures including social distancing and mask mandates.

 

Conspiracy theorists have bandied about the outlandish suggestion that he was 'murdered' by the state, the Guardian reports. However, an autopsy has not taken place.

 

Britain has recorded more than 100,000 Covid-related deaths, with scientists claiming the victims could have been reduced if the government had taken tougher action earlier in the pandemic.

Mr Matthews' cousin Tristan Copeland said he had begged him to wear a mask and maintain social distance. 

'But he and his friends had the mindset that they needed to go out and meet people to show they didn't believe the government,' he said.

He called Mr Matthews 'quite shy' and was 'led astray' by conspiracy theorists he found on Facebook groups.  

Herdsmen destroyed my cassava farm, Cleric cries out in Ekiti

 

The founder of the House of Faith Christian Church Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State, Rev Tunde Afe has lamented the invasion and destruction of his cassava farm by suspected herdmen in Ekiti.

Afe spoke against the backdrop of an announcement by the Commissioner for Agriculture in Ekiti State, Olabode Olatoyi,  that no farm was destroyed by herdsmen in the state last week.

The commissioner made the announcement  following a report of an alleged destruction of a multi-million naira maize farm belonging to members of the Maize Grower Processing Marketer Association of Nigeria (MAGPAMAN) in Aduloju farmstead located along Ado-Ijan road in the state capital by herdsmen.

In a statement sent to newsmen on Thursday, Afe faulted the claims by the Commissioner, noting that his cassava farm in Itapaji, Ikole local government area of the state was destroyed by herders last week.

A one-time governorship aspirant in the state, Afe said political office holders should be cautious about playing politics with the precarious situation.

“It is wrong for some people to say ‘No single farm has been destroyed in Ekiti by Fulani herdsmen’ Please don’t play politics with this issue. These herdsmen destroy farms in Ekiti every day. For example, a section of my cassava farm at Itapaji Ekiti was eaten up by cows last week” he said.

According to him, farmers had stopped reporting to police because nothing came out of all the reports that had been made to them.

“These Fulani herdsmen are in Ekiti doing a lot of havoc. This is the third time they are destroying my farm”, he lamented.

When contacted, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Olatoyi said the government would make its position known to the public on the incident on Friday.

New Service Chiefs: Northern elders deplore exclusion of Igbos

A group of northern elders under the aegis of the Coalition of Northern Elders for Peace and Development (CNEPD), has criticised the exclusion of the South East from the appointment of new Service Chiefs.

 

The group in a statement by its National Coordinator, Engr. Zana Goni, today said the exclusion of the region was antithetic to the spirit of unity and oneness of Nigeria.

 

CNEPD commended President Mohamadu Buhari for sacking and replacing the service chiefs.

 

The elders noted that the situation can be addressed by the president by making necessary adjustment to include the Igbos in order to reflect the nation’s federal character principle.

 

“We completely throw our weight behind Ohanaeze Ndigbo on their position over the appointments of the new service chiefs” the group said, as it urged President Buhari to “accommodate our Igbo brothers from the South East region in line with the federal character principle of the country”.

 

They noted that it was unseemly and unfair that there would be appointment of two sets of service chiefs by the president without any Igbo person being included.

 

They further said that their careful checks revealed that there are senior and very qualified military officers in the Navy, Army, and Airforce who can be elevated.

 

They enjoined people of the South East to remain calm, noting that the situation would be addressed in due course.

Doctor accused of killing old Covid patients to free up beds

 

Mosca  who was head of the A&E department at Montichiari Hospital at the time

A doctor in Italy has been arrested after claims he killed two coronavirus patients to ‘free up beds’ at the height of the pandemic.

 

Carlo Mosca, 47, has been accused of giving Natale Bassi, 61, and Angelo Paletti, 80, lethal doses of anaesthetics at Montichiari Hospital near Brescia.

 

The incident allegedly took place in March last year, when Italy hit the headlines for shocking pictures which showed Covid-19 patients lining hospital corridors. Police are also investigating another three deaths after reports Mosca altered the medical records of patients who died – and he has now been put under house arrest at his home in Mantua.

He denies the charges against him, calling the allegations ‘baseless’. Legal documents relating to the arrest have been released outlining the prosecution’s allegations against him.

 

They claim messages revealed nurses suspected Mosca of killing patients to make space in the A&E department he headed up.

 

Prosecutors say Mosca administered Succinylcholine and Propofol, which were typically used on the ward to anaesthetise Covid patients so they can have tubes inserted.

But it is thought the patients given the drugs never had tubes inserted – so they believe the use of anaesthesia was unnecessary. The hospital saw a 70% increase in orders of these drugs between November 2019 and April 2020 – but only five patients were given tubes during that period.

 

Montichiari Hospital

An anonymous complaint was made at the end of April, and legal documents contain WhatsApp messages which suggest Mosca tried to get nurses to cover his tracks. The nurses said in messages to each other: ‘Did he ask you to administer the drugs without intubating them?’, ‘I’m not killing patients just because he wants to free up the beds,’ and, ‘This is crazy.’

Prosecutors add when he found out he was under investigation Mosca asked nurses to ‘agree on a convenient version of the story’ while ‘instigating them to declare falsehoods’. Lawyers also allege he asked colleagues to leave the room when he administered the drugs. ‘This has never happened to me before,’ one nurse said. Natale, a diabetic who suffered from heart disease, died on March 20 and Angelo died two days later.

 

 

BBC Wales viewers spot sex toy behind guest during interview

A guest on BBC Wales Today left viewers in stitches after they spotted a sex toy standing proudly on her bookshelf. 

 

Yvette Amos appeared on the news show to discuss the effect of the pandemic on employment rates, and how many are continuing to struggle to get work. 

 

However, while Yvette was talking, what appeared to be a flesh-coloured dildo seemed to catch everyone’s attention. 

 

The plastic penis was on display on the guest’s bookshelf, standing out against the stacks of paper and files. 

Viewers found the moment hilarious and even cheered Amos on, with one person congratulating her on ‘keeping on top of her DIY’.

 

Things getting critical, Lagos conductors embrace nose masks

 Covid-19's second wave is not playing. New day unveils new victims. This second wave is definitely deadlier. 

Many more Nigerians are getting the memo, including our ever cynical Lagos bus conductors. 

I never saw a bus conductor wearing a nose mask in the first wave. But this morning, I sighted this bus conductor fully kitted against covid-19 in the traffic between Magboro and Arepo on the Lagos Ibadan Expressway. I couldn't resist bringing out my phone to snap him. Lol.

Way to go, alaye!

Woman, 33, abandons UK for 19-yr old toyboy lover in Amazon jungle

A naked yoga teacher has revealed how she’s traded Britain for a life of bare necessities in the Amazon jungle with her chocolate-farming toyboy lover.

Caroline Knight, 33, said life couldn’t be sweeter after falling head over heels for Peruvian cacao farmer Rómulo Elier Huaman Roque, 19.

She never imagined she'd be starting 2021 living deep in the Amazon rainforest.

Caroline is living 70 miles from civilisation with no running water and has to do her washing in the local river.

But despite the jungle heat, ravenous insects and back-breaking toil, she says life couldn’t be sweeter.

Caroline has shared her story on how the romance blossomed just before going into lockdown.

The 33-year-old from London said: “2020 was the most unpredictable year on record, and I never imagined I’d begin 2021 living deep in the Amazon rainforest.

 

“But waking beside Rómulo each morning to the magical sound of howler monkeys calling across the jungle canopy makes all the hardships worthwhile.”

Caroline jetted to South America in March 2020 to spend 10 days teaching yoga on the Hoja Nueva retreat near Puerto Maldonado after an invite from a friend.

She had been making a living running naked yoga classes and providing massage therapy in London’s trendy Stoke Newington - but escaped the UK before the first lockdown was announced.

Caroline, originally from Oxford, said: “From Puerto Maldonado it was a two-hour drive, then a boat ride and a trek to reach the retreat.

“I was feeling really jet-lagged when I arrived, but the place had amazing energy and before long I was mulling over plans to extend my stay so I could see more of Peru.

“I noticed Rómulo, he worked as the handyman and looked after the animals.

 

“In the evenings, we’d all hang out together in a group, and Rómulo was always on the edge of the conversation.

“He was shy and whenever I said hello to him, his eyes would dart to the ground.

“I think it was maybe a little awkward for him because he was wary of coming between a developing relationship between me and another person at the camp.

“But on the odd occasion I got Rómulo alone to chat, he came across as really nice and genuine. The feelings I had for him were intuitive rather than obvious.”

Half way through the retreat, Peru announced a national lockdown.

The twelve-strong group - mostly Brits - were given the option of staying on in the jungle or returning to Puerto Maldonado 70 miles away.

Says Caroline: “For me, it was a head over heart decision. I wanted to stay but I felt like I was in survival mode and would have more options in Puerto.

“Reluctantly, I decided to find a £10-a-night room in Puerto and wait out the quarantine.

“I was basically staying in a wooden hut with bunk beds, but there were worse places to be stuck for lockdown - there was a view of the river from the terrace and the hostel had a pool.

“Most of the other Brits arranged flights back to the UK but there didn’t seem much point swapping what I had in Peru to be locked down back home, so I decided to stay put.”

As Caroline waited for the Peruvian quarantine to be lifted, she found herself pining for Rómulo.

“He didn’t even have a phone and I had no idea if I’d ever hear from him again,” she says.

But ten days into lockdown, a Facebook message popped up from Rómulo.

“He’d borrowed a phone,” she says. “We chatted for ages and then he said ‘I have something to tell you - I think I love you’.

“Even though I’d only known him a matter of days, I felt the same. My head was telling me to hold back, though, and I replied ‘I think I love you, too’.”

For the next month, Caroline would wait anxiously to hear from Rómulo.

The pair managed weekly video or text chats, before Rómulo announced he was coming to Puerto.

Caroline remembers: “It was an amazing, passionate week. We’d spend days by the pool, and evenings going for walks or cooking for each other.

“It was the first time we’d slept together and all I’ll say is we had a lot of fun.”

Rómulo returned to the jungle for three weeks to work on the family farm, a period which Caroline remembers as miserable and lonely.

“Everyone else had gone back to the UK. I was alone and isolated,” she says. “Rómulo couldn’t even call me.

“When he returned after three weeks away and invited me to go and live with him, his mother, and his six brothers and sisters in the jungle, I leapt at the chance.

 

“The hostel was starting to feel like a golden cage and I was ready for some adventure.

“We had our own room - basically a little wooden hut. The ‘house’ is really just a yard with a corrugated metal roof and a collection of makeshift cubicles for rooms.

“Some of the hygiene left a lot to be desired but I’m not too much of a princess,so I just got on with it.”

Rómulo told Caroline how his late father Rómulo Huáman Gamboa had planted cacao trees on family land deep in the Amazon rainforest.

But the plantation had been all but swallowed by the jungle after his death in March 2017.

Cacao nuts are the raw ingredient for making chocolate - and Caroline believed she could find a market for the organic produce back home in the UK.

Caroline explained: “One of the locals offered us a room near the plantation so we set about reviving it.

“It was two hours’ drive away in a jungle village community called Lucerna, home to just 70 people.

“We spent days hacking back the jungle with machetes. It’s been really hard work - my hands were covered in blisters from all the macheteing.

“But the trees have already rewarded us with fruits and I’ve trashed my fingernails pulling them from the pods. The beans have been processed by hand into raw cacao.

“We’ve had our first orders, mostly through our Instagram account - Jungle Cacao Peru - and through contacts back home.

 

“I used to run a herbal tea company, and still know lots of foodie business owners - some of them have been quick to see the value in our product.

“Those first orders are packed ready and waiting to send to the UK. I really hope we can make a business out of it.”

In the meantime, Caroline says she is relying on savings and help from her family to get by.

“The cost of living is almost non-existent,” she says. “Food is cheap and plentiful. We have everything we need.”

“Luckily I’ve always been able to make money go far and I’ve got a stingy, prudent streak in me which has served me well here!”

For the time being, tourists in Peru are allowed to stay under a special arrangement which means they can remain until 45 days after the government calls an end to the national state of emergency.

Caroline said: “The mosquitoes and sand flies have driven me to distraction, we have to collect our water from a neighbour in 20-litre buckets, and the heat and physical labour are intense.

“But I feel safe and loved with Rómulo. There are 14 years between us, but I don’t give it a second thought.

“19-year-old guys back home are still basically children, but men grow up fast in the Amazon.

“Rómulo can be quiet and reserved at times, but he’s got a playful, affectionate and open-minded side, too.

“We’ve even made time for some naked yoga when we can find a private space.

“Rómulo is eager to explore the world, and I can’t wait to bring him home to the UK to meet my friends and family.”

-Mirror