The Nation Newspaper

Category: South East

  • Lassa fever: 10 killed in fresh outbreak in Ebonyi

    Lassa fever: 10 killed in fresh outbreak in Ebonyi

    The Ebonyi State Government has confirmed 10 persons dead while 15 others have been infected following an outbreak of Lassa fever in seven local government areas of the State.

    Confirming the incident, the Disease Surveillance Notification Officer, State Ministry of Health, Mr. Orogwu Sampson, said that the cases occurred between January 4 and February 16, 2024.

    He noted that within one month, “25 people were infected including two healthcare workers with 10 deaths.”

     Orogwu said that last year, the state recorded 53 cases while 36 people lost their lives, adding that the disease cuts across all ages.

    He maintained that out of the 25 confirmed cases,16 people were men while nine people were women.

     “Those who died include a pregnant woman, two children, men and women.

     “The Local Government Areas affected include Onicha, Ikwo, Ezza North, Ebonyi, Izzi, Ohaukwu, and Abakaliki with Hausa Quarters and Nkaliki residential areas recording the highest number of cases.

    “Other LGAs that have not recorded any case so far may be because they have not reported not that it doesn’t exist there,” he explained.

    He said that the treatment is free and urged people to go for early detection, early presentation, and treatment to avoid further loss of lives.

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     The State Epidemiologist, Dr. Ogbonna Nwambeke, said that the State Government was partnering with the World Health Organisation (WHO), Breakthrough Action Nigeria, and United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), among others, to mitigate the menace.

    He called for the provision of logistics to increase surveillance and community engagement against the risk factors.

    Nwambeke advised people to stop bush burning, avoid eating rats and touching the surfaces an infected person has touched as well as maintain a high level of personal and environmental hygiene like covering their food and utensils properly.

    He appreciated the State Government for giving them a large volume of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to give to health workers at the National Obstetrics Fistula Centre to ensure that their health workers are alive to save others.

     He noted that Lassa fever is a hemorrhagic illness that occurs every dry season in Ebonyi State and expressed regret that the outbreak started so early this year.

  • Man strangles girlfriend to death

    Man strangles girlfriend to death

    • Dumps body into drainage

    A boy identified as Chukwu has been arrested for killing and dumping the corpse of his orphaned girlfriend in the gutter at Madumere Street in Owerri Municipal Council of Imo State. 

    The incident which took place on January 7, 2024, between the hours of 11 pm and 12 midnight is generating panic and concerns among the residents and Imo indigenes who are wondering how the young woman was murdered in cold blood. 

    The deceased spotted a red skirt, gold earrings, and gold necklace, and was seen in a drainage, soaked in the pool of her blood near an uncompleted building on the same street. 

    The deceased whose name was not disclosed hailed from Umuayala, Egbu in Owerri North LGA. 

    The residents have expressed shock that the suspect’s relations including a retired police commissioner are fighting hard to sweep the case under the carpet so that the suspect would evade prosecution. 

    A source who craved anonymity said the case was first reported at the Owerri Urban Police Station, where he disclosed that police wanted to play funny before the case was reported to CP Monitoring at Homicide 2 Department,  Imo State Police Command where authorities ordered the arrest of the suspect.

    He said:  “The young lady is an orphan from Owerri North LGA and the boyfriend is from Madumere Street from Owerri Municipal Council. 

    “The boy has been arrested and is cooling off at the homicide department of command,”  he said. 

    Narrating the incident he said:  “This case happened on January 7, 2024.

    ” When I noticed it, I raised the alarm which attracted the residents to the spot where the corpse was dumped in a gutter near an uncompleted building. So I evacuated the body and I paid every bill including the mortuary bill and we went to the police in Owerri Urban where the police were trying to be funny, I transferred it to CP monitoring.

     “We later set up a surveillance group about four of them, including my lawyers, to go into that community on surveillance. My Deputy PG also was there on surveillance. We also mobilised the whole vigilante in the area.

     “We then threatened to make the police arrest all the boys on the street if they would not tell us exactly who killed this girl because in that community there are gates in every street that are being locked by 11 pm.

    “So how come that such a corpse was dumped at Madumere Street and nobody saw them?

    “So, it was supposed to be within, we threatened them and they confessed that that woman was a girlfriend to one of the vigilante boys and the same boy was the one that killed his girlfriend on Friday night.”

    He said that the people reported that they saw the suspect with the victim on January 5th, 2024 around Onumiri very far from Madumere Street about two poles where the suspect resides adding that on that Friday night the girl was with the suspect.

    When contacted,  the police spokesman in the state,  Henry Okoye said, “The suspect is still in Police Custody, the Command intends to carry out an autopsy to ascertain the cause of death of the victim. The suspect will be arraigned in court after a comprehensive investigation.”

    “So after the vigilantes had written their report at the state CID Homicide 2. Then we went onto surveillance again, and we continued until the suspect was arrested using my lawyers and everything at our disposal because the boy wanted to run away, we tracked him and he was arrested. 

     “We also tried to track the deceased families and now found out that the deceased family is from Umuayala Egbu. So, we eventually got the sister and brother. They confessed that the boy had been a friend of their sister for four years and that there was a time he came to say he wanted to marry the girl and the same boy is married already. 

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    “So we brought brother and sister to the homicide section and we had their statement and later the police paraded the boy at the sight of the scene. My deputy PG took them to the place to show them everything that had happened and they took the police to his boy’s house. 

    “Now we realised that the boy has a retired commissioner of police who was bent in closing the case and secondly the deceased family wanted to settle with the deceased family because they (deceased family) are so poor and scared because they don’t want any trouble as they claimed they have nobody to fight on their behalf them because the suspect family has been threatening fire and brimstones. 

     “But we have been told the deceased’s family to be strong and that we are with them but they have been so scared because they don’t have anybody. “

     The source further said:  “The suspect’s family wanted to negotiate with the deceased’s family so that they could negotiate the burial and pay the bride price but the bride price is not the future of the deceased. So the question is why was she killed and dumped in a gutter in that manner? Was it that she was not a human being?.”

    He expressed sadness at how the victim was killed and dumped,  “human beings should not be treated that way. I want the suspect to confess those who did it with him. I am calling on Nigerians to assist and call these people to order and make sure justice is given.”

  • Itsekiri communities protest over ownership of oil field

    Itsekiri communities protest over ownership of oil field

    The people of Ubagboro and Abigborodo communities in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State have protested over an alleged plot by operators of Kuri oil field, SHN Energy Limited, to deliberately deny them of their rights as host communities.

    They called on the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government and Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to call the operators to order, so as to avert a crisis.

    Bearing placards with inscriptions such as “Kuri field belongs to us,” “Don’t deprive us of our rights,” and “Makaraba and Omadino have no place in Kuri field”, the protesters, mostly women and youths, who stormed the Kuri platform Friday, accused the company of working in cohort with Makaraba and Omadino communities in Warri South LGA, as well as enjoying the support of some influentially government officials to claim ownership of the area, while denying them their rights.

    Addressing newsmen, Trust Chairmen of Ubagboro and Abigborodo communities, Mr Austin Ogbemi and Hon. Misan Ukubeyinje, as well as a former Ubagboro Youth Leader, Ebisan Fenemigho,  said from 1991 to 2002, government and the former operator, Gulf Oil Company Nigeria Limited, operated the field with the knowledge that their communities were the host and as such, paid compensation to same within the period of their operation with no form of opposition and or litigation from any other communities).

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    Expressing surprise over how SHN Energy got information to illegally deal with Omadino and Makaraba communities, which have no historical link to the field and the location, the leaders warned that the company would not operate until a roundtable discussion was held and government intervene to fix the anomaly currently threatening the peace and security in the area.

    Further lambasting the oil and gas committee set up to oversee the ownership matter, the community leaders claimed the decisions reached were made based on politics and fear, without proper authority and due consideration given to the documents presented to them.

    Responding on behalf of the firm after a brief meeting with some leaders of the protesters, Mr Augustine Okwazu said, “the community came for a peaceful protest and we discussed. I will pass their demands to the management, which in turn will reach back to them.”

  • Ohanaeze Ndigbo boss Iwuanyanwu hails Otti’s performance

    Ohanaeze Ndigbo boss Iwuanyanwu hails Otti’s performance

    • Tap into available mineral resources to develop Southeast, group urges Igbo

    The President-General of apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, has hailed Abia State Governor Alex Otti for his sterling performance, describing his achievements as legendary.

    He took the opportunity of the visit to the governor to urge Igbo leaders, especially governors, to tap into the unharnessed natural resources found in the region, for economic development of Southeast.

    Iwuanyanwu spoke when he and some executive members of the organisation visited the governor at his Nvosi country home in Isiala Ngwa South Local Government.

    He congratulated Governor Otti for making the Igbo proud, saying they are proud of him.

    Iwuanyanwu said the visit was to give a comprehensive report of Ohanaeze to the governor, adding that he received excellent report of the performance of  Otti.

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    “I have field officers who report to me. They have given me excellent report on the performance of Governor Otti. I have also confirmed the information. I have sent people to the field,” he said.

    Iwuanyanwu, who said Igbo land is blessed with abundant natural resources, including limestone, uranium, coal, oil, among others, noted that it was time Ndigbo tapped into the unharnessed natural resources found in the region for economic development.

    He said there was need to change the misconception about Ndigbo by non- Igbo, stressing that it could only be done by Ndigbo telling their own story, rather than allowing others to tell an incomplete story of them.

    Receiving the delegation, Governor Otti thanked Chief Iwuanyanwu and others for the endorsement, saying he came to office prepared because he understood the problems of the people.

    He said one of the challenges of the people was access road.

    He added that he had started tackling it.

    Otti took the opportunity to reveal that he had approved that an assessment of the International Glass Industry, Aba and other moribund industries be done to enable his government take decision on whether to retrofit them or build new ones.

    He said Abia had many mineral resources that would be harnessed.

    The governor, who pledged to support Ohanaeze Ndigbo, thanked Chief Iwuanyanwu for accepting to serve Ndigbo, describing Igbo as industrious, business-like and lovers of education.

  • Communities donate land to ESUT school projects

    Communities donate land to ESUT school projects

    • ’It’s our own support for Mbah’s govt’

    The people of Obe and Umueze autonomous communities in Nkanu West Local Government of Enugu State have donated additional 30 plots for the expansion of the main campus of the Enugu University of Science and Technology (ESUT) at Agbani.

    The donation was done to accommodate nursery, primary and secondary school projects of the university.

    The leaders of the two communities, who spoke while signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU), to hand over the land to the university, at the university’s main campus, Agbani, said the donation was made as a show of their support to Governor Peter Mbah, who, the people believed,  had started well by tackling the challenges of the state.

    The monarch of Obe community, HRH Igwe Stephen Nweke, said the two communities had resolved to own the university, in order to protect its property, adding that with the performance of the Vice Chancellor (VC), Prof Michae Okolie and the vision of Governor Mbah for the state, nothing could be too much for them to do for the university that had brought development to the community. Igwe Nweke, however, took the opportunity to request the university to review its admission quota policy and school fees in favour of the indigenes of the host communities, as other institutions do.

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    “Today, we are here to hand over the land documents, which are owned by Umueze and Obe communities, for the establishment of ESUT nursery, primary and secondary schools, to you and the management of ESUT. We’re here because we have seen a better approach in you than the past VCs.”

    The President-General of Umueze community, Chief Kingsley, hailed Prof Okolie for his kind gesture to the host communities, assuring him of their support.

    “We’ll continue to support you because you’re a good man. The university brought development to our area and we will make everything possible to protect it and ensure you succeed,” he said.

    Okolie hailed the community for donating 30 plots to the university for nursery, primary and secondary schools, saying the schools are for their benefit.

    He said the plan is to make sure host communities and others get the best education required to compete globally.

    The VC said the management had secured Afrihub apartment built on the campus to train students and others in artificial intelligence and provide them with the needed skills that would help them to establish on their own after school.

    He, however, lamented the alarming rate at which vandals invade the institution and urged the two communities to protect the university property, if they are ready to benefit from the growth of the university.

    Announcing the employment of 10 security personnel from the two communities, Okolie said: “The two communities have been backing ESUT in every aspect by supporting the government with land to build ESUT and accepting to give out another land where nursery, primary and secondary schools of the varsity will be built.”

  • APC to Fubara: stop running Rivers without budget

    APC to Fubara: stop running Rivers without budget

    Caretaker Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC), Rivers State chapter, Chief Tony Okocha, has urged Governor Siminalaye Fubara to stop running the state without a budget.

    He advised the governor to obey the peace agreement of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by re-presenting the state budget before the House of Assembly.

    Describing the development as a gross financial misconduct by the governor, the APC chieftain accused Fubara of jettisoning an agreement he entered with the President to re-present the budget to a complete house, for peace to reign in the state.

    Okocha gave the advice yesterday in Abuja at an event to discuss the imperative of revisiting the president’s intervention for progress in Rivers State.

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    Okocha, who lamented that the governor was going against the laws of the land by ignoring the House of Assembly, regretted that it had gotten to the point where the assembly now overrides the governor for declining four important bills passed to him by the lawmakers.

    He said: “They started it; a few of them were running to Mr. President to intervene in the matter. And Mr. President, as busy as his schedules are, called Rivers people together for a peace meeting. I was there at the meeting with other stakeholders, the governor agreed to implement all the agreements. Now, the way he rushed to present the budget before four assembly members, he also went back and re-presented before the complete house. It is not a difficult task.

    “As it stands now, Rivers is sitting on a keg of gun powder that will soon go into flames if the governor does not call himself to order. Running Rivers State without a budget amounts to gross financial misconduct.

    “There must be something he is hiding because that is blatant abuse of law and a gross disrespect for the President because it is contained in the eighth agreement he signed to.”

    Okocha advised the governor to close his ears to mediocre and fifth columnists, whose business is pecuniary.

  • Ijaw paid heavy price for PAP’s formation, says IYC

    Ijaw paid heavy price for PAP’s formation, says IYC

    The umbrella body of Ijaw youths, Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide, has again appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to make the mistake of appointing non-Ijaw as the administrator of Niger Delta Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).

    IYC made the appeal in a statement yesterday in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital.

    Its spokesman, Binebai Princewill, said PAP was not like any other ministry or commission such as the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and Ministry of the Niger Delta, noting that the price the Ijaw paid for the establishment of PAP was too big a price for a people to pay.

    He said the Ijaw had been magnanimous in accommodating other ethnic groups in the programme so far, hence they were confident that President Tinubu would not make the mistake of appointing non-Ijaw as its coordinator.

    Princewill said: “The Ijaw Youth Council has been keenly following political developments of the Federal Government and so far we are beginning to see that the government is not carrying our people along well.

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    “We will not continue to keep quiet forever; we cannot continue to talk about peace when the necessary ingredients of peace such as fairness, equity and justice are not there.

    “Before our very eyes, Adokiye Tombomieye was removed from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL) and replaced with someone from another tribe in the Niger Delta. A similar thing happened in the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

    “Again, plans are already underway for some individuals to collaborate with the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to sell the company to a consortium owned by cronies of the Federal Government without cleaning our environment, an evil the IYC has spoken against and will follow up to the letter until the Ijaw and Niger Delta people are given the right of first refusal.

    “Our people must be included; otherwise this purported sale will not work.”

    The IYC spokesman sounded a note of warning to some elements masquerading as ethnic bigots to choose their words wisely while engaging the press and in public speaking.

    He noted: “You can quietly make your points while agitating for your ethnic groups; we don’t have a problem with them, but talking out of point is what the IYC is taking exception to. What has the IYC call on Tinubu to handle the PAP’s matter carefully got to do with former President Goodluck Jonathan, Ijaw National Congress (INC), Tantita Security Services Nigeria Ltd that some youth leaders are talking about? The reference to the above is not in tandem and a complete deviation from the subject matter.

    “There is no connection between the Amnesty programme and that of the pipeline surveillance security contract, maybe perhaps some people don’t have sufficient knowledge about the surveillance contract that Tantita is not the only firm handling the job in the Niger Delta.

    “There were other companies before Tantita and even now, other companies are still there securing facilities in designated areas. So, why always mentioning Tantita? Only misinformed elements will not be aware that Tantita has perfectly done a clean job by improving the oil revenue of the country.

    “IYC hopes that this critical message from the Ijaw gets to the President and other critical stakeholders in the polity well. While we are committed to a peaceful and united Nigeria, the Ijaw deserve fairness, equity and justice from the Nigerian state.”

  • We didn’t ban worship centres on campus, says UNICAL VC

    We didn’t ban worship centres on campus, says UNICAL VC

    Vice Chancellor, University of Calabar (UNICAL), Prof. Florence Obi, has said the university did not ban worship centres on its campus.

    Obi spoke yesterday at a meeting organised by the Chapel of Redemption, UNICAL campus.

    She said the university authority only came up with a policy to regulate the establishment of worship centres within the campus.

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    Obi said the move was in line with Federal Government’s policy on creation of fellowships and churches within its establishments.

    The vice chancellor further said that the university allowed the Catholic Church, Protestant Chapel and a mosque to operate within its premises.

    ”These religious organisations are given land to build their worship centres within the university campus. We cannot allocate space to every church in town,” she said.

    She said workers or students who could not worship in any of the approved centres on campus were free to worship outside the campus.

    ”We don’t allow fellowships in the classrooms, this can cause a lot of distractions,” she said.

  • Group petitions NSA, demands probe into Tantita’s seized vessels

    Group petitions NSA, demands probe into Tantita’s seized vessels

    Socio-economic crusaders in the Niger Delta, under the auspices of the Movement for the Sustainable Development of the Niger Delta (MSDND), have petitioned the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to launch independent investigation into alleged cases of oil vessels entrapment along the waterways of the region.

    MSDND insisted that the investigation must include the recent seizures of crude oil vessels by the personnel of a private security company, Tantita Security Services Limited (TSSL), owned by a former militant leader, Chief Government Ekpemupolo, popularly called Tompolo.

    The protest letter, signed by the Publicity Secretary of the group, Kelvin Orughoe, alleged that the entrapment activities along the waterways of the Niger Delta was meant to defraud the public, including frivolous claims of complicity of security agencies in crude oil theft, capable of causing chaos and breach of the national and economic security of the country.

    MSDND claimed that Nigerians and the world were allegedly deceived by some propagandists that TSSL had in the past few weeks seized two vessels allegedly involved in crude oil theft off Bayelsa waters.

    The group claimed that the vessels were allegedly lured in and entrapped by officials of Tantita to score some political and media points in their bid to win over the Bayelsa Central Corridor of the proposed multi-million dollars crude oil pipeline surveillance contract.

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    MSDND also claimed that in order to whittle down the powers and noticeable pressure from the Nigeria Navy against alleged questionable activities of some personnel in the war against illegal bunkering and crude oil theft, the recent petition against the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, by Pelumi Olajengbesi, Mohammed Suleiman, Aisha Waliki, Deji Adeyanju and Ogunwoye Samson was allegedly sponsored and released to the media.

    The advocacy group argued that the seizures of the said vessels and the allegations made against the CNS were conveniently designed to hoodwink the Federal Government in order for some persons to win the multi-million dollars crude oil pipeline surveillance contract by maligning the Navy, whose constitutional responsibility is to protect the territorial waters of the country.

    The group’s petition claimed in part: “Upon the conclusion of our clandestine and detailed investigations conducted by major stakeholders from the region, our findings showed a clear attempt to usurp the constitutional powers of the Navy and use individuals to cast aspersions on the hard-earned integrity of the Nigeria security networks, including the Navy.

    “The first accused vessel, MT Kali, which was reportedly apprehended, was allegedly lured to the spot and entrapped by the officials of the private security company.

    “The arrested captain of the vessel was allegedly called on satellite phone and handed navigational coordinates close to territory for anchoring where it was arrested. The vessel and its captain were lured to an isolated location with a promise to load crude oil, but rather they were entrapped and paraded before the world as crude oil thieves.

    “Is it not strange that Tantita officials initially claimed that the vessel was seized at Sokebolou oil field in Bayelsa State?

    “But after our group faulted their report and knowing that they have been caught in a blatant lie, they changed the location of the MT Kali’s arrest to Pelleghton in Bayelsa, claiming that it was at the offshore location of the Anglo-Dutch energy giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), in Bayelsa State.

    “Our investigations, which can be easily verified, revealed that the Nigerian Navy has over three large gunboats (Natsha II, Vakpor II and Vakpor III), all stationed around Pelleghton, securing the entire area against crude oil theft and illegal movement of vessels.

    “And we can confirm that Shell does not have an operational station in Pelleghton; thus, they lied again to the public.”

    The MSDND, however, backed the position of the Navy, describing the claims against CNS Ogalla as sponsored lies, urging Nigerians to ask if TSSL had replaced the Navy and other security agencies along its territorial waters and why did they take the seized vessels away from the location of arrest to their backyard before calling the media.

  • ‘Recover vehicles assigned to ex-appointees’

    ‘Recover vehicles assigned to ex-appointees’

    Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma yesterday directed the Managing Director of Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (ISOPADEC), Chief Charles Orie, to take custody and carry out proper inventory of official vehicles assigned to his former political appointees.

    This directive affects former principal officers to the governor, ex-commissioners, special advisers, general managers of agencies of government, among others.

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    Orie was further directed to ensure that no former political appointee, no matter how highly placed, refused to surrender his or her official vehicles.

    In a statement by the governor’s Media Adviser, Oguwike Nwachuku, Uzodimma said the directives should be respected by all and sundry.