Category: South East

The Labour Party (LP) senatorial candidate for Cross River South Senatorial District, Mr. Daniel Asuquo, has said he disagreed with the High Court judgment recently given against him.

He said he had sought relief from a higher court.

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja and presided over by Justice A. R. Muhammed nullified the primaries conducted by the LP, which produced Asuquo as Cross River Southern Senatorial District candidate and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to delist his name from the list of candidates published by the commission.

Asuquo, who currently represents Akamkpa/Biase federal constituency in the House of Representatives, and defected to the LP from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after failing in his earlier governorship ambition at the PDP primaries, spoke yesterday at a news conference at the NUJ Press Centre in Calabar.

He said: “It has come to my notice that a few people have been misinforming the public about the outcome of the Federal High Court, Abuja judgment that the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) filed a suit challenging INEC, Labour Party, myself and two others about the process of my nomination to represent the Southern Senatorial District in the coming general election on Labour Party platform.”

The Chairman of LP in Cross River State, Ogar Osim, affirmed that Asuquo was still the candidate of the party for Cross River Southern Senatorial District, having fulfilled all requirements by law.

He said the judgment that had been passed was in the past and did not hold any water.

Osim urged LP supporters to keep hope alive.

About 28 host communities of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 34 in Delta State have issued a five-day ultimatum to shut down operations of the facility over non- payment of penalty fines, scholarship arrears, among others.

ND-Western Company and Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL) Exploration & Production Joint Venture is operator of OML 34.

In a letter dated November 1, 2022 and addressed to the Managing Director of NNPC E&P Ltd and Chief Operating Officer of ND-Western, the communities said they would embark on a peaceful protest to further register their displeasure.

The letter was signed by the chairmen and president generals of the 28 host communities, which include Michael Oghenegueke (Otughieven), Pastor Moses Bekaren (Otor-Udu), Rufus Onokurefe (Iwhrekan), Francis Uzoh (Effurun-Otor), Nuwawa Alledy (Ekakpamre), Okorodudu Solomon (Erhuemukovwarien) and 22 others all in Ughelli South, North and Udu local governments.

The communities accused the company of negligence, failure and refusal to fulfil mandatory obligations.

They demanded the necessary payments.

The communities also called for the immediate commencement of the company’s skill acquisition programme for participants nominated by communities long ago and beginning of training of persons nominated for the GMoU capacity building programme.

Efforts to speak with the company’s Community Liaison Officer (CLO), Chris Otobrise, were unsuccessful. Several calls to his phone line either rang out or indicated it was on another call. A text message was not replied.

Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade yesterday launched the 2022 integrated measles vaccination campaign in Calabar.

The campaign, which will run till November 10, will witness the introduction of rotavirus and COVID-19 vaccination.

The governor, represented by his deputy, Prof. Ivara Esu, said rotavirus was a very contagious virus that caused diarrhoea and other intestinal symptoms in infants and children worldwide.

He said immunisation and vaccination were very dear to the state and the government prioritised it.

Ayade said measles was a very dangerous disease among children, adding that increase in its occurrence was becoming alarming and must be checked.

“Today, people are no longer worried about COVID-19, so, they no longer wear masks or observe social distancing. This is enhancing the spread of preventable diseases that would have easily been prevented.

“We urge parents, whose children are from 0 to 5 years, who have missed this vaccine, to come forward and ensure that their children are vaccinated against measles and diarrhoea, while adults should avail themselves of COVID-19 vaccination.”

“This administration attaches 100 per cent attention to vaccination and immunisation and hopes that residents will do same,” he said.

The Director General, Cross River Primary Health Care Development Agency (CRSPHCDA), Dr. Janet Ekpenyong, said measles was one of the major causes of infant and child mortality.

She said that was why every two to four years, they carried out an integrated measles campaign to bridge the gap in terms of children who missed the routine immunisation.

Ekpenyong took the opportunity to hail the federal and state governments for the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine.

“Before now, the rotavirus vaccine was a scarce commodity. The only place you could get it was at private health facilities and you have to pay as much as N12,000.

“So, we are excited that the Federal Government has made it possible that every child in Nigeria within the ages of 0 to 5 will be vaccinated not just against measles, but also against rotavirus free of charge.

“For Cross River, we are targeting 700,000 children. We want to achieve 100 per cent coverage, so we have decentralised the process,” she said.

A representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr. Salisu Ibrahim, said Cross River State Government was providing good leadership in the health sector, but could do more with support.

He said while WHO was supporting the state in training health care workers in vaccine logistics, other stakeholders should assist the state to enhance the vaccination process.

The war of words between Senator Godswill Akpabio of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) opponent, Emmanuel Enoidem, over the Akwa Ibom Northwest Senatorial District seat, is getting messier.

The recent altercation between the duo is not unconnected with an alarm raised by the deputy governorship candidate of the APC, Mr. Victor Antai, over the destruction of the party’s billboards in Uruan Local Government allegedly by agents of the PDP.

In a swift response, the Enoidem Campaign Organisation through a statement on Wednesday by its Head of Media, Ekomobong Peter,  attributed the destruction of the billboards to Akpabio, the state APC governorship candidate, Akan Udofia and his running mate, Victor Antai.

However, in a counter-statement by Mr. Joe Iniodu, director of Media/Publicity, Senator Godswill Akpabio Senatorial Campaign Council, Akpabio warned Enoidem to stop blackmailing him.

He said he should rather engage in issue-based campaigns for the Akwa Ibom Northwest senatorial poll.

The statement said: “Senator Godswill Akpabio Campaign Council is concerned about the hostile language and unremitting vituperation contained in a statement asserted to have emanated from the campaign organisation of Emmanuel Enoidem and patented to by Mr. Ekomobong Peter, his spokesman.

“Senator Akpabio’s campaign council is curious that an incident, which took place in faraway Uruan Local Government that has no proximal relationship with Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District, could be re-localised to Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District, with Enoidem’s campaign organisation turning into self-styled mouthpiece of that local government and that of the party in what could easily be adjudged as hostile usurpation of others’ responsibilities.

“The fallacies, large scale falsehood, incoherent speculations and intemperate language of that statement interrogate the intention of the purveyors of the unfounded allegations against Senator Akpabio and other allies of APC in a matter that does not even have any remote relationship with them.

“For those who may not be familiar with the incident, a summary of it will suffice. A billboard bearing the campaign message of Obong Udofia, Akwa Ibom State APC governorship candidate, was erected in Uruan Local Government and within 24 hours was vandalised.

“The deputy governorship candidate of APC, Antai, visited the site of the unfortunate incident and expressed concern about the political intolerance that was being birthed in the state through that criminal action.

“But strangely, the Enoidem Campaign Organisation, which is expected to focus on its constituency of Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District, usurped the responsibility of a response in a matter in Uruan in faraway Uruan Local Government.

“The campaign council wishes to make the point that 2023 election will not be determined by the number of billboards one has or can pull down or vandalise, but the popularity of candidates recorded through accomplishments and antecedents.”

Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo has ordered the arrest of prominent people in the state for allegedly defrauding the government through Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

The Nation gathered yesterday that Prof. Soludo accused them of diverting the IGR into their pockets for over eight years.

Some of the personalities (names withheld) own big supermarkets and other businesses in choice locations.

A government source, who pleaded anonymity, told The Nation that the governor had ordered the arrest of such people over flying revenue windows under their control.

The source said: “They will all be arrested before the end of work on Wednesday (today) if they fail to appear before the chairman, Flying Revenue Committee.

“The order to arrest some of these prominent citizens came about, following government suspicion that they had allegedly diverted revenue accruing to the state government for the last eight years.

“The government is worried over tax and levy diversion in some quarters in the last eight years and wish to unravel some of the mysteries, hence the decision to go after these so-called untouchables.”

The source added that Deputy Governor Dr. Onyekachi Ibezim, who was also the chairman of the committee on flying revenue, had been briefed.

According to the source, he would invite those managing flying revenue windows in Anambra, seen as untouchables, on Wednesday (today) at the Deputy Governor’s Conference Hall.

“For the top supermarket owner and proponent of Anambra rice, Soludo wants to know why Anambra rice concept and branding have been personalised and if he (the supermarket owner) pays taxes to the state for such branding and business.

“Another one is being summoned to explain why he is operating a park at Onitsha South, Fegge.

“He is expected to show evidence of payment to the state IGR for his businesses in the last eight years.

“Others are also being invited for interview on flying revenue windows.

“If they fail to explain themselves properly, they will be arrested and prosecuted. These things must stop.

“Nobody is above the law. This is part of the disruptive changes Soludo is bringing to the table,” the government source told The Nation in Awka.

When one of the commissioners was contacted, he said there were those in charge of it.

The commissioner, who pleaded not to be quoted, told The Nation that heads would roll soon over IGR fraud for years.

The leadership of Ariaria International Market, Aba, Abia State has hailed Governor Okezie Ikpeazu for tackling flood.

It also lauded the rehabilitation/remodelling at the A-line section of the market.

The Nation reports that Ariaria International Market traders have suffered great loss as a result of perennial flooding of the market any moment it rains, prompting the traders to call on the Ministry of Trade and Investment and the governor to find a way to take water out of the market.

The governor, who gave traders affected by the flood two years tax waiver, also gave them about N10million as palliatives, promising that he would address the flooding of the market as soon as the rains subsided.

The Chairman of Ariaria International Market, Elder Emeka Igara, who spoke during a meeting between Ariaria leaders and stakeholders and the Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Chief John Kalu, in Aba, expressed joy that the governor had fulfilled his promise of channelling flood water out of the market, granting tax waivers to displaced traders and the commencement of the roofing of the three remodelled storey buildings at the A-Line section of the market.

He said channelling water out of Ariaria market as directed by the governor was a big relief to the traders.

He promised that the leadership of the market would ensure the monitoring of the drainage channels at the market, to ensure that traders no longer used waste to block the channels.

He said: “Governor Ikpeazu promised that flood water will be channelled out of Ariaria market as soon as the rains subside. Today, the flood water is out of Ariaria market.

“This is a big relief to the traders. The governor also promised to begin rehabilitation of roads and work has started. Governor Ikpeazu has proved to be a man of his words.

“We are satisfied with the quality of work done. The remodelled shops are being delivered.

“Soon, the displaced traders at A-Line will return to their shops. We trust the governor to do more for Ariaria traders.”

Two of the displaced traders, Pius Njoku and Nwokoro Nnamdi, praised the governor for granting two years tax waivers to the traders and roofing the new storey buildings.

Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Chief Kalu, said 106 traders, who were displaced as a result of the remodelling at the market, had been given documents exempting them from paying taxes for two years.

•PDP candidate knocks ex-Emmanuel’s CoS over comments on senatorial zoning

Former national secretary, National Councillors Forum of Nigeria, Mr. Christopher Edemekong, has said Akwa Ibom Northwest Senate seat was not the birthright of Senator Godswill Akpabio.

Speaking with reporters yesterday, Edemekong, the Essien Udim chapter coordinator of Enoidem Support Group (ESG), urged Akpabio to cure himself of his ‘entitlement mentality’, as the era when he ruled the state as governor was over.

He told the former Niger Delta Affairs minister that he lost his 2019 Senate re-election bid; hence he should not overestimate himself.

“When Akpabio defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2018, the people of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District rejected him at the polls in 2019. Today, Akpabio, having realised that he has destroyed and dismembered the APC he joined on August 8, 2018, is making an empty boast of his popularity being beyond party lines.

“Akpabio should be reminded that in Nigeria, elections are run and conducted on the basis of political parties. He is contesting election on the platform of the APC he has rendered moribund in less than four years in the state. He has gone there to scatter the party, sacked the legitimate structure of the party with a fake and forged results of a party congress that his candidate lost.”

However, the Chief Press Secretary to Akpabio, Mr. Jackson Udom, said he would not react to every ‘mischief’ spewed by haters of Senator Akpabio.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for Akwa Ibom South senatorial district, Ekong Sampson, has faulted his opponent in the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Ephraim Inyang-eyen that there is no zoning arrangement in the area.

Inyang-eyen, a former Chief of Staff to Governor Udom Emmanuel, is alleged to have said in a recent interview that the seat of Akwa Ibom South (Eket) Senatorial District has never been rotated among the three federal constituencies that make up the zone.

Head Media and Publicity of Ekong Sampson Campaign Organisation, Mr. Essien Ndueso, in a statement yesterday in Uyo, said the YPP senatorial candidate’s decision to zone the Senate seat to Ikot Abasi federal constituency followed the precedent set in the zone  from 1999.

He recalled that the decision to zone the Senate seat to Ikot Abasi federal constituency was also affirmed by elders of the senatorial district in January.

A coalition of women groups under the aegis of Anambra Central Women Forum, has endorsed the senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sen. Uche Ekwunife, for another term.

Mrs. Oge Ekweozor, who, yesterday, made this known on behalf of the group at their meeting in Awka, described Ekwunife as the most experienced and accepted candidate to represent the zone, following her outstanding legislative performance.

She said Ekwunife remained one of the few women in politics, who had broken the gender bias and redefined representation with a deep sense of courage.

Ekweozor said: “Having evaluated the performance of Sen. Ekwunife, her impactful constituency projects in the 55 communities in the zone and the need to consolidate and expand on the possible principal position as a second term senator, we the coalition of Anambra women groups hereby unanimously endorse her for second term to consolidate on the gains her unrivalled representation has brought to constituents.

“It is our belief that Ekwunife is one of the active female senators and the best legislator to have represented the zone since 1999.”

“We hope her return to the Senate and hopefully as a principal officer, will birth more developmental projects for the constituents, Southeast and Nigeria.”

The legislative assistant to Ekwunife, Mrs. Ifeyinwa Chinwuko, thanked the women for recognising the legislator’s outstanding performance.

A group, Transparency in Petroleum Exploration and Development Initiative (TIPEDI), has described as misplaced, misdirected and a misnomer, attacks on the Interim Administrator, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Maj.-Gen. Barry Ndiomu (rtd), over the proposed scrapping of the programme.

The Executive Director, International Monitoring, TIPEDI, Mr. Igho Derek, in an electronic statement yesterday, said such attacks and protests against the plan should be directed at the Federal Government and not Ndiomu.

He urged the Amnesty boss to remain focused and undistracted, claiming that the sponsors of the attacks had been discovered based on long term tracking of their activities.

The TIPEDI boss said it was obvious that their motives were driven more out of selfish desires than for the collective good of the people of the oil-producing areas.

He said the frivolous and baseless accusations made against Ndiomu were designed to distract his attention from the work on hand, knowing that he had a very short window within which to deliver on the Amnesty mandate.

Derek, a former president of the South-South Peoples Assembly (SSPA) UK & Northern Ireland, said: “Based on long term tracking of the activities of some of those making the allegations against Ndiomu, it is obvious that their motives are driven more out of selfish desire than for the collective good of the people of the oil producing areas.

“What is particularly worrisome is that it is always one set of people that have been found to serially antagonise and hound past coordinators of the Amnesty Office once they perceive their interests to be threatened.

“This situation is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue.”

He called on the political and community leaders in the region, as well as the leaders of the ex-agitators, who felt otherwise about the winding down of the PAP, to apply pressure on the Federal Government to continue with the programme, instead of allowing a few elements to vent their frustrations on Gen. Ndiomu.

Derek noted: “We believe that a man of Gen. Ndiomu’s character and standing in the military where he served meritoriously and rose to the peak of his career or in his civilian life since retiring from the Army, should be celebrated and encouraged to participate in public service in order to use his experience for the benefit of the Niger Delta people and the nation that he loves dearly, instead of being antagonised and vilified unjustly.

 “Ndiomu has been advised to remain focused on the national assignment that has been given to him in order to justify the confidence reposed in him by President Muhammadu Buhari who appointed him to the office.”

The deputy governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Victor Antai, has condemned the destruction of billboards belonging to APC candidates.

A visibly enraged Antai, addressing reporters yesterday at the site of one of the vandalised billboards in Idu Uruan, accused Uruan Local Government of destroying the billboards.

He said by the development, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government was inciting mayhem ahead of the elections and gave the council 24 hours to restore the billboards.

Antai said: “Yesterday, I sent some people to come and put up our flex on our billboard behind me here. This board belongs to me. I erected it since 2015. This was the board I also used in running campaign for Governor Udom Emmanuel.

“Since I was not on the ballot, I have no need for it and some of my friends that are still in PDP have been using this board and I have not disturbed them.

“Yesterday (Monday), I sent some money for them to maintain the board and then pasted APC governorship candidate’s flex on the board.

“But this morning (Tuesday), I received a call from our supporters across Uruan that the local government has vandalised the APC board. It is unfortunate. Power is transient.”

He, however, gave Uruan Local Government 24 hours to return the vandalised APC materials or face the consequences.