Chris Njoku, Owerri

A TANKER laden with diesel on Friday allegedly killed seven passengers of a commercial bus heading to Douglas Road, Owerri, Imo State.

An eye witness said the accident which occurred at the edge of the Otamiri River at about 6 pm saw the tanker ram into the small commercial bus with the passengers on board.

The source said the tanker driver was overwhelmed by the noise of a siren blaring  van belonging to the Nigeria Correctional Centre, Owerri, and veered off the road  before ramming into the mini bus.

According the eye witness, four passengers and the driver died on the spot while two other passengers that sustained serious injuries later died  at the Federal Medical Centre, (FMC)Owerri.

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The Imo, Abia Commander of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Evans Ugoh, on Friday  blamed the men of the correctional centre for the accident.

Ugoh who was there to assess the level of damage,  alleged that the driver of the van conveying inmates back to the centre was driving recklessly, coupled with the blaring of siren and guns trotting by the men escorting the van.

He said the reckless “driving and manoeuvring might have scared the tanker driver to lose control and ram into the commercial bus.”

Chris  Njoku, Owerri 

TWO decomposing bodies were on Friday found in neatly wrapped black cellophane bags  and dumped in a burrow pit located at Umuerim in Umudibia Autonomous Community,  Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State.

The discovery caused panic  in the community populated by students of Federal Polytechnic Nekede,  Owerri, as residents feared  ritualists were on the prowl in the area.

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The unidentified female bodies were suspected  to have been used for ritual purposes as some vital parts of their bodies were said to be missing.

It was also gathered that their hands and legs were dismembered to make it possible for the  perpetrators to pack the remaining body parts in  the cellophane bags.

According to a resident, the bodies  were discovered when the burrow pit was set on fire in attempt to reduce the heaps of refuse overflowing to the road.

The Police spokesman, SP Orlando Ikeokwu, told our correspondent that he would inform the Divisional Police Officer(DPO) about it for necessary action.

Sunny Nwankwo, Umuahia

OPERATORS of Point of Sale outlets in Aba, the commercial nerve of Abia State and its environs have cried out to heads of security agencies in the state to protect their businesses.

The operators who spoke to our reporter on Friday lamented series of attacks on their business  by hoodlums who have made them their target.

Their appeal came on the heels of the recent killing of a POS operator, identified as Mr. Victor igbokwe by  gunmen.

Igbokwe as gathered by our correspondent was once a staff  member of a popular commercial bank, before opening his POS shop at NO: 98 Market Road,  Aba.

The incident, it was gathered occurred by 10:30 on Thursday morning forcing  many business operators to run for their dear lives.

It was learnt that four armed men who came on a tricycle (keke), moved straight to Igbokwe’s POS shop, shot at him, collected his money and zoomed off.

One of the sources said that the shooting sent fear into all business operators around, who ran leaving Igbokwe in the pool of his own blood.

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The source added that Igbokwe managed to drag himself out from his shop calling for help while bleeding profusely, but got no help.

According to the source, by the time help could come his way, Igbokwe had lost so much  blood because everyone around ran away for fear of losing their lives.

The source said that Igbokwe was confirmed dead by a doctor when he was taken to a hospital located around Azikiwe Road.

Another source who gave his name as Chika Ifeanyi corroborating others said the number of POS operators attacked over the past weeks is alarming, fearing that if nothing was done to address the problem, the attack on their members could increase.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Abia State, SP Geoffrey Ogbonna confirmed the incident.

Mike Odiegwu, Port Harcourt 

CONFUSION has enveloped members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Rivers State, following the party’s membership revalidation billed to commence on January 25.

Already, the party had been hit with two conflicting court orders obtained by its two factions in the state ahead of the exercise.

The High Court sitting in Rivers State granted an order of interim injunction restraining the party’s National Executives, Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee from conducting the exercise in Rivers pending the determination of the motion on notice.

The order was granted following a suit filed by Mr. Nna Okpara Egburuka and Mr. Gilbert Kilsi, members of the party from the faction controlled by Senator Magnus Abe.

The APC, the party’s National Caretaker Committee Chairman, Mai Mala Buni and Mr. Isaac Ogbobula, were named as defendants to the suit.

The order was granted by Justice O. Graham, and signed by the Court’s Assistant Chief Registrar (Litigation), Patricia Victor-Nwoke.

A copy of it said: “That an order of interim injunction be and is hereby made restraining the first defendant’s National Executives, Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, (CECPC) and the defendants acting by themselves or through their priciest or agents, however described from scheduling, sanctioning, or conducting any membership registration exercise of the first defendant in Rivers State in the absence of validly elected ward executives of the party in Rivers State pending the hearing and determination of motion on notice for interlocutory injunction”.

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But another court order, which was obtained from the High Court sitting in Abuja by party members loyal to the Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi also resurfaced in Rivers.

The order signed by Bello Ibrahim asked the defedants or any person acting through them to allow the party and all the members of the Rivers State chapter of the caretaker committees at the state, local government and ward levels to without inhibition perform their functions including the membership revalidation.

It was gathered that the counter orders had generated tension among the party members, who were said to be confused about the possibility of participating in such exercise.

A top member of Abe camp, who spoke in confidence said the ordered issued by the Port Harcourt division of the High Court superseded the one obtained by the Amaechi’s group from the Abuja Division.

“The truth is that Rivers has a peculiar case because there is a subsisting Supreme Court judgement, which indicates that only the executives empowered by a party congress can handle the affairs of the party.

“What we are saying is that in the spirits of that judgement, the party should wait till after its Congress in Rivers before undertaking such major party exercise. They ran to the Abuja High Court to get an order, but the order we have in Rivers is superior going by the hierarchy of courts”, he said.

But the Amaechi’s camp was reportedly making arrangements to go ahead with the exercise despite fears of possible violence.

A notable APC member, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, raised the alarm that some party leaders in the state were planning to disrupt the exercise in their wards by deploying thugs.