Our Reporter

THE Federal Government, Southeast governors and other stakeholders have hailed Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for his administration’s support towards the completion of the administrative block of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Academy at Udi in Udi Local Government Area of the state.

The FRSC Academy, a centre of excellence for skills acquisition in road traffic administration and safety management in Africa, was relocated from its temporary site in Jos, Plateau State, to Udi in 2014.

This followed the approval of Enugu State government for the FRSC to acquire 35 hectares of land in the state and its commitment to providing the road network to the facility as well as a befitting administrative block.

Speaking during inauguration of the administrative block, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, expressed the appreciation of the Federal Government to “the Enugu State government, under the amiable leadership of His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Enugu State, Lawrence Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for the show of uncommon support for the Corps”.

Mustapha told Ugwuanyi that “your goodwill and that of the good people of Enugu State is highly acknowledged by the Federal Government”.

Read Also: Ebeano family endorses Ugwuanyi as leader

Represented by the Director of PRS, Jamiu Adelabu Abdukalreem, the SGF also expressed confidence that the establishment of the FRSC Academy in Enugu State will continue to aid the realiwation of the corps vision.

He added that the purposeful partnership between the Federal Government and the Enugu State government “should, therefore, be emulated by other state governments, organisations and individuals to enhance the country’s road safety management efforts”.

The Corps Marshal of FRSC, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, thanked Ugwuanyi for what his administration was doing for the Corps.

“I am short of words to convey the gratitude of the Corps to the government and good people of Enugu State,” he added.

Governors of Imo, Ebonyi, Anambra and Abia states lauded Ugwuanyi’s efforts, support and magnanimity towards the realisation of the FRSC Academy.

Inaugurating the project, Ugwuanyi acknowledged the sacrifice by the royal fathers and people of the three communities in Udi Local Government Area, who jointly own the parcel of the land where the academy is located.

The governor also lauded the giant strides of the FRSC leadership.

By Bisi Olaniyi, Southsouth Bureau Chief, Benin

Edo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Tony Azegbiemi has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct by-election to fill 14 seats in the House of Assembly.

The 14 seats, occupied by All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers, were declared vacant last December by the factional Speaker Francis Okiye, a loyalist of Governor Godwin Obaseki.

Okiye became Speaker during the controversial inauguration on June 17, 2019.

Azegbiemi warned yesterday in Benin, the state capital, hinted that the PDP would formally write to INEC to conduct the by-election to ensure that the constituents of the 14 lawmakers are not disenfranchised.

He said: “We are very worried because about a million people have lost their voices in Edo State House of Assembly. Their voices are not being heard; nobody is talking about them and nobody is representing their interests.”

The Speaker of the All Progressives Congress (APC) faction comprising 17 members in the 24-member House of Assembly, Victor Edoror, was sworn in last August 6.

But he could not be reached last night for his reaction.

Read Also: Nobody died in PDP, APC clash – Police

An APC lawmaker, Washington Osifo, who is also a former Education Commissioner, had said: “Declaring our seats vacant is a joke. The matter is before a court of competent jurisdiction. When a matter is before the court, such an action is prejudice.

“We are challenging the illegal inauguration of the Assembly. Anything put on nothing cannot stand.”

The seven PDP lawmakers hold plenary inside the Government House in Benin, while the 17 APC legislators regularly sit at an undisclosed location in the state capital also.

This followed the August 6, 2020 heaping of tipper loads of granite and sand at the main entrance to the House of Assembly and removal of the roof sheets of the complex “for renovation”, according to Obaseki.

By Chris Njoku, Owerri

The International Association of World Peace Advocates (IAWPA) has named Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma the 2020 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Most Friendly Governor in Nigeria.

The association also urged the United Nations (UN), African Union (AU), Economic Commission for West African States (ECOWAS), the New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD) and the international community to visit and invest in Imo State.

It decorated the governor as an Eminent Peace Ambassador, based on his pursuit of peace in his leadership style in Imo State and beyond.

The ceremony, which took place at the weekend at the Government House in Owerri, the state capital, was conducted by IAWPA President, Ambassador Per Stafsen, in company of other top members of the association.

Stafsen described Uzodimma as a politician who has uncommon interest in quality leadership and one passionately inclined to meeting the SDG needs of his people.

He said the governor is neither tribal nor ethnic in his administrative style, making him a true nationalist.

“He (Uzodimma) is carrying everyone along and leaving no one behind, irrespective of class, age, colour, and religion. Hence, the social inclusion in his administration covers the five “Ps” of the SDGs, meaning People, Planet, Peace, Property and Partnership,” Stafsen said.

Read Also: Uzodinma gets kudos for transport initiative

The IAWPA President assured potential investors that any investment in Imo State will meet the needs of the people as “the governor represents a true man of trust and public confidence that will rewrite the Nigerian history”.

Accepting the award, Uzodimma reiterated his administration’s commitment to good governance and support of the 17 programmes of the SDGs.

The governor emphasised that the gains derivable from the activities of the SDGs would be used to assist the poor and the vulnerable in the society.

He urged the UN and other world bodies involved in the SDGs programmes to sustain the programme, adding: “Africa needs it most, considering the level of poverty, disease, and declining educational standards plaguing the continent.”

 Emma Elekwa, Onitsha

RESIDENTS of Agbaja community at Abatete in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State have protested alleged imposition of leadership on their people.

The protesters, under the aegis of Agbaja Abatete Community Association (AACA), also alleged threats to their lives by those they called influential persons in the town who had been attempting to replace the current administration with another.

They urged Governor Willie Obiano to call the community’s “trouble makers” to order to forestall any breakdown of law and order in the community.

Addressing reporters at the weekend after a meeting with the police, AACA President, Prof. Ikechukwu Okudo, accused the Traditional Prime Minister of the community, Chief Pius Ezeigwe, of single-handedly setting up a caretaker committee without recourse to the constitution, after claiming dissolution of his (Okudo’s) administration.

He said despite the rejection of the committee by majority of AACA members, some other officials swore in the committee, even when there was no vacancy.

The AACA president said the committee wrote a petition to the police, alleging threat to lives, breach of community peace and plot to conduct election.

Okudo said: “I’ve been President for three years until we decided to hold a general election, which COVID-19 stopped us from holding. But on July 5, 2020, I convened a meeting where the association extended my tenure for one month – till August 2 – to enable us hold the election.

“When we convened a general meeting to think of a way forward, after realising we could not still hold the election due to the ban on elections by the government, we discovered that the venue had been sealed by the police and some members of Abatete Vigilance Group stationed to disperse us.

“But one of us, Chief Basil Mbanefo, who was did not know about our decision to shift the meeting and went to the venue, was arrested and was brought to the Area Command at Ogidi.

“We came to sort out his bail, but they brought out a petition, saying 10 of us were being awaited. That’s why we’re here today to answer them. Members of the caretaker committee were also invited.”

Okudo said the police discovered their claims of threats to lives, breach of the peace and planning the election were false, after AACA proved to them that the committee was unconstitutional.

Read Also: Explosion averted as tanker falls opposite Anambra gas station

He added: “Area Commander asked us to come back next Tuesday (tomorrow) so that certain relevant persons could attend, including Chief Pius Ezeigwe and the President General, Chief Moses Chukwuka.

“We appeal to concerned authorities to call the Igwe to order. He should be made to behave himself. We are peaceful people, we’re not violent. You can see the elderly men among us.”

When reporters contacted the Secretary to the Caretaker Committee, Chief Cyprian Iloegbunam, for his reaction to the allegations, he simply said: “We’re not disposed to speak to you.”

Ezeigwe referred our reporter to the President General, Mr. Moses Chukwuka, who did not answer his calls.

Police spokesperson Haruna Mohammed, a Superintendent of Police (SP), said the matter was

By Innocent Duru

Ohaneze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide has condemned recent attacks on security agents in the South East while calling on pro- Biafra groups to desist from making inflammatory statements.

In a statement signed by the President General, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro and the Secretary General,  Mazi Okwu Nnabuike , the OYC said: ‘The recent Guerrilla revolution and attacks on security agents that led to the loss of lives of security agents, burning down of police stations, and looting of  their rifles is a ploy to complicate security issues in the South East and set ablaze the peaceful atmospheric nature of the East by men of the underworld.

Read Also: Igbos want presidency, not Biafra – Ohaneze

“This ugly situation must be nipped in the bud immediately by Igbos through collective surveillance and intelligence gathering by  all and sundry.  Igbo youths will never allow this criminality to be condoned in our land.

“Biafra agitators should desist from making inflammatory statements directing subjects to attack security agents in retaliation for the killing  of Igbos in Emene Enugu. We equally believe that Biafra agitators’ threats of violence against security forces was done out of anger and displeasure over the Enugu episode, but definitely this is a rare opportunity for those who made bogus calls and threats to retract their threats and show repentance, so that Igbos will jointly defend ourselves against possible invasion.”

By Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba

An unidentified middle-aged woman was  on Friday, crushed to death after a Lexus Jeep rammed into  her motorcycle along the New Sapele/Agbor Road opposite Ebedei Secondary, Adonishaka in Ukwuani LGA Delta State.

Three persons including a pastor with Winner’s Chapel ,simply identified as Pastor Ngbomini, survived the accident, it was learnt.

It was learnt a speeding Lexus Saloon car veered off its lane after a burst tyre and crushed the woman who was heading to Obiaruku on a motorcycle.

Read Also: Delta Catholic Priest regains freedom

The woman died on the spot, The Nation gathered.

It was learnt the driver of the Lexus fled the scene after the incide

By Simon Utebor, Yenagoa

The gale of defections rocking the All Progressives Congress continued on Friday as more core grassroots leaders and supporters of the party  defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  ahead of the Bayelsa West Senatorial bye elections scheduled for October 31, 2020.

Hundreds of APC members from Ward 6 of Sagbama Local Government Area led by Hon Mentor Bob abandoned the APC for the PDP during a major protest rally at the Toru Orua country home of ex-Governor Dickson.

Mentor and the APC members were received by the PDP Senatorial candidate, Chief Dickson, a member of the party’s Board òf Trustees, Chief Remi Kuku,  the Senatorial Vice Chairman òf the Party, Hon Michael Magbisa, the member representing Sagbama Constituency in the State Assembly, Col. Bernard Kenebai, and other officials of the party.

The spokesman of the group of defectors, Mentor, said that the APC members were embittered by the brazen violation of the agreement on the rotation of the two National Assembly positions between Sagbama and Ekeremor Local Government Areas making up the district.

In his remarks, the senatorial candidate of the PDP, Chief Dickson, said while addressing the crowd that the APC candidate, Chief Peremobowei Ebebi, would not be able to win a ward in the forthcoming election.

Also, the people of Fatorugbene and Tamogbene Ward 7, In Ekeremor Local Government Area have declared total support for Chief Dickson during a solidarity visit.

Read Also: NDE recruits 400 Bayelsa indigenes for business scheme

The team was led by a former Chairman of Ekeremor Local Government Area, Barr. Billy Toboye, former Special Adviser, on Domestic Matters to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr Obiriki, Hon. Pena Omuko, Hon. Julie Samuel Andy other stakeholders from the ward.

Toboye assured the former Governor of the unflinching support of the people and their votes during the election.

Our Reporter

Ijaw Elders Forum (IEF) has urged the members of the National Assembly from the Niger Delta region to reject in its entirety the proposed Water Resources Bill which has been generating concern across the country.

The appeal followed the resolution of the House of Representatives at its last plenary to take a second look at the bill with a view to fine-tuning it for general acceptability.

In a statement issued on Friday by its Secretary, Pastor Efiye Bribena, the forum described the bill as “the most audacious land-grabbing  scheme ever envisioned in human history,” declaring “it is obnoxious, provocative and evil.”

“It is with all sense of responsibility that the Ijaw Elders Forum categorically states its denunciation and rejection of the Water Resources Bill that is designed to seize the waterways and ancestral lands of the Ijaw people by the force of an evil, draconian and provocative law.