Category: South East

The operation of an oil company, SEEPCO Nigeria, is facing disruption in Anambra State over the firm’s face-off with a host community that has threatened to shut down its operation this week.

The threat, if carried out, can upset the state government’s march towards becoming an oil-producing state.

The elders and youths of Umuegbu kindred in Okechi, Ogwu-Ikpele, Ogbaru Local Government, the host community; told our reporter yesterday that they would shut down SEEPCO’s operation over lack of agreement on the company’s mode of operation.

High Chief Ambrose Onwuma, the Ogene of the community, told The Nation that his kindred’s ultimatum to the company would expire on Thursday, paving the way for disruption of SEEPCO’s activities in their land.

The company at press time did not respond to our reporter’s email inquiry to its official address (info@stoilmgt.com). Calls to its contact line (+234 907 0002 300) were unanswered.

However, Onwuma and other heads of the kindred, Chief Paulinus Azudiugwu and Mr. Charles Nwudike, Oda-Ukwu and Oga-Nta, said the decision to go on the offensive followed over a year of failed promises and perceived neglect by the company.

They said the firm ignored their entreaties for its peaceful operation, failed to obtain FTO (freedom to operate) and allegedly ignored best global practices, and refused to sign a GMoU with them.

In one of the communications obtained by our reporter, the trio said they “exercise so much restraint and allow you (SEEPCO) to operate, and allow your rig movement and drilling operations unhindered since 2021.”

They further said: “Should you ignore this letter, we will begin the processes for mass action and shut down your operations on (Wednesday) 30 March 2022 without further notice.”

 

 

A Chief Magistrates’ Court sitting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, has ordered the remand of a 40-year-old man, Idongesit Ezekiel Idiok, for defaming Governor Udom Emmanuel on Facebook.

Idiok, popularly called ‘Soundcraft’, is to remain in police custody pending the advice of the state Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in a charge of cybercrime levelled against him by the police.

The court, presided over by Senior Magistrate Ini-Ifiok Isong, also ordered that the original case file be forwarded to the DPP for the arraignment of the accused person before the appropriate court.

The order is coming following a

petition to the police over a case of criminal defamation of the character of the governor

The accused person with a Facebook name, ‘Soundcraft Owo OBA’, is said to have made a social media publication dated 16 March, 2022, containing offensive words against the governor, which the complainant described as false and malicious.

The offence is punishable under Section 24 (1) (b) of the Cybercrime Prohibition, Prevention Act 2015.

At the hearing of the matter, Senior Magistrate Ini-Ifiok Isong said by the virtue of Section 50 of the Cybercrime Prohibition, Prevention Act 2015, the jurisdiction to hear the case was vested in the Federal High Court.

Isong ordered that pursuant to Section 315 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Law of Akwa Ibom State as amended, the case file be forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions and the accused person remanded at Ikot Ekpene Correctional Centre.

The case was adjourned till April 4.

 

 

Stakeholders of Bayelsa West Senatorial District, comprising Sagbama and Ekeremor local governments of Bayelsa State, have warned the member representing the district, Senator Seriake Dickson, to respect the zoning arrangement and drop his ambition to re-contest.

Briefing reporters yesterday in Yenagoa, the stakeholders, drawn from the two local governments, promised to revolt and mobilise the electorate against the candidature of the former governor if he decided to re-contest the senatorial election next year.

The stakeholders, under the aegis of Concerned Indigenes of Bayelsa West Senatorial District (CIBWSD), said there had been an existing zoning formula in the district since 1999 with the Senate and House of Representatives seats being rotated between the councils, adding that it was the turn of Ekeremor to produce the next senator.

One of the conveners of the socio-political pressure group and former Security Adviser to Bayelsa State governor Chief Perekeme Richard Kpodoh, who is from Sagbama, wondered why Dickson, who claimed to be a proponent of zoning, would turn to become a champion of no zoning.

He said: “We don’t want the selfish interests of a few persons to jeopardise the peace between the people of Sagbama and Ekeremor local governments.

“Why are we now dragging the senatorial position? It is greed that is leading us to this situation now. We are hearing that some people have contributed money to buy form for Dickson. You and I know that these are gimmicks and it is time for us to speak out.

“How can only one person, you brought your personal assistant from nowhere and made him commissioner for works. It did not end there, the game was still on. You made that man again a senator to hold that seat for you.

“When the time was due, you pulled him out and made him a deputy governor and you now occupy the senatorial seat. He made a statement that he was coming to complete the tenure of Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo.

“Today, you are fighting to go back. I ask a lot of questions- one, what are your contributions to Bayelsa State? For eight good years, we don’t have anything to show for it. We are in debt. What about the N1billion he claimed he was saving every month? Do you know how much it is for eight years?

“Let them give us the account of their stewardship. Let them tell us how much they left behind for the new government that is there now. It is not by being arrogant and pompous, claiming what you are not meant to be.

“The truth is that, in Bayelsa West, there is a zoning system and that zoning stands. Let me also remind you that the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has agreed on zoning. So, who are you to challenge the party?”

Another co-convener of the group, Prince Bodi Arerebo of Sagbama Local Government, said: “Sagbama and Ekeremor remain united. Our unity cannot be overemphasised. We will not allow anybody to divide us.

“The issue of elective positions in Sagbama and Ekeremor is based on zoning. We should not allow anyone of us to cause catastrophe and acrimony within the brotherhood and love that we have shared over the years.

“We will not allow unscrupulous, barbaric set of human beings; those who want to make themselves semi-gods, to come and destroy the peace that has been sustained over these years between Sagbama and Ekeremor.

“If any man wants to play God and undermine the people, what we are talking about is justice, fairness and equality. The people of Sagbama and Ekeremor will support what we call total revolution because power is in the hands of the people and we will do everything humanly possible to stop him.”

Emiemokumor Michael, a co-convener of the body, said if Dickson insisted on re-contesting the senatorial election, the electorate would resist him.

Said he: “Power lies in the electorate. They will decide who to vote for on the day of election because the voters in Ekeremor and Sagbama know that there is a zoning system.”

Michael recalled when Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, who hails from Ekeremor, was stopped by the then governor, Dickson, from contesting while attempting to continue after doing eight years in the red chamber, in adherence to the zoning pact.

He alleged that those claiming to have donated N10million to buy Interest Form for Senator Dickson to re-contest were sent by their paymaster to cause confusion and fan the embers of disunity in the zone.

He urged Governor Douye Diri, the leader of the PDP in the state, to address the issue, to avoid pending implosion in the party.

 

 

Some civil servants in Cross River State, who have been protesting non-payment of salary and delisting from the payroll, have again renewed their protest.

The protesters yesterday stormed the office of the Head of Service (HoS) at the state secretariat in Calabar, chanting solidarity songs and carrying placards with inscriptions such as: ‘Over three years without salary, who did we offend? yet we go to work everyday’,  ‘The injustice is too much’,  ‘Labourer deserves his wages’, ‘Governor Ayade please pay us our salary’.

Speaking on behalf of the protesters, their coordinator, Mr. David Iyaya, said they were aggrieved civil servants from ministries, departments and agencies employed by the state government in 2018, but have not received a kobo since then.

He said: “We are peaceful citizens. This is why we are demonstrating peacefully. We want the world to know that we are suffering. The HoS is somewhere here, he cannot even come out to address us.  I know he has nothing to tell us.”

They accused the Special Adviser to Governor Ben Ayade on Payroll Matters, Mr. John Odey, of being responsible for their plight and demanded that he be sacked for not fighting for workers’ welfare.

Reacting to the protest in a phone interview, the Head of Service (HoS), Mr. Ogbang Akwaji, said the protesters were not workers as they claimed.

Said he: “They are not my workers. They said they have appointment letters, although I have not sighted them.

“There is nothing new about this calibre of persons. They are flaunting appointment letters, but the governor has said he did not give authorisation. So, if you have appointment letter into the service and the governor said he did not authorise, then what you are holding amounts to nothing.”

 

 

Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel has denied any agreement purportedly reached in 2015 to hand over to Senator Bassey Albert Akpan in 2023.

Emmanuel was reacting to claims by his former Chief of Staff, Mr. Ephraim Inyangeyen, that there was an existing accord of a purported existing political accord to cede the governorship position to Senator Akpan next year.

Special Assistant to the Governor on Research and Documentation Mr. Essien Ndueso in a radio programme yesterday monitored by our correspondent in Uyo, described Inyang-eyen’s claim as laughable and fictitious.

Ndueso said the election of Governor Emmanuel in 2015 came after the people had unanimously agreed that whether by zoning or rotation, the political authority of the state from 2015-2023 should reside in Eket Senatorial District.

He wondered how Senator Akpan could have stepped down for Governor Emmanuel in a race he was never qualified to contest.

“Senator Akpan was at the time the Commissioner for Finance and was part of the state delegation led by the then Governor Godswill Akpabio that toured federal constituencies in Akwa Ibom State through town hall meetings.

“He witnessed general opinions of traditional and religious clerics, business and political classes, traders and artisans, women and youth leaders, and the consensus was that power should shift, rotate or be zoned to Eket Senatorial District in 2015.”

Ndueso also took a swipe at the allegation of poor reward system as peddled by the former commissioner for works.

He said Senator Akpan negotiated and got a senate ticket ahead of his kinsman, Senator Ita Enang, in 2015 and got returned to the Senate in 2019, still another case of reward, and wondered why a person who had been appointed finance commissioner for seven and a half years and senator for another eight years, should complain of not being adequately rewarded.

 

 

THE Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) yesterday said it had begun investigation into how an Ebonyi community illegally took over a hospital facility built by the Federal Government.

It said the hospital was meant to serve as a teaching hospital for medical students of Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo(AE-FUNAI) upon completion.

However, the community, Ebunwana, in Afikpo South Local Government where the project was located, upon its completion, took over the running of the hospital.

Yesterday, the commission, having recovered the hospital from the community, officially handed it over to the university.

ICPC Chairman Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, represented by Mr. Nzebunachi Chukwuma, a superintendent, said the commission was still investigating the matter to unravel how the community took over the hospital worth N150million.

He said: “The project was appropriated in 2019 and completed in March 2020 at the above cost. It was facilitated by the former lawmaker representing Ebonyi South Senatorial District, Senator Sonni Ogbuoji.

“After the completion, the local community unofficially took over the hospital. Although it was not meant for the community, they went ahead to appoint a consultant to manage the hospital on an arrangement of a profit-sharing formula between the community and the consultant.

“The project has been recovered by the commission’s Constituency and Executive Project Tracking Group (CEPTG) team and is being handed over to the university community.”

“Investigations are on to unravel how the community got access and took control of the hospital without any official ceremony.”

Owasanoye said the hospital, fully equipped with state-of-the-art medical facilities, was conceived as a medical outpost of FUNAI in the area.

The Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Sunday Elom, represented by Prof. Smart Otu, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, described the project as a unique intervention.

 

 

The founder of Caregiver Concern Foundation Africa, Rev. Fr. Clement-Mary Ilechukwu, has urged the federal and state governments to introduce social security allowance for the aged, the needy and the jobless.

Ilechukwu, who lamented that the poverty level in the country had gone beyond human imagination, noted that the introduction of social security allowance would improve security, as most of those who caused problem in the society did so due to frustration and hunger.

The clergyman spoke at the weekend at an outreach at Amulor Ogboli in Awgu Local Government of Enugu State where a spinal cord patient, Uzoma Ibeneme, appealed to the government, corporate Nigeria and good spirited Nigerians to pay for her surgery estimated to cost over N6million in a Nigerian hospital.

She was involved in a car crash in 2008 and has been bed ridden since then, as her poor parents, who are peasant farmers, cannot afford the cost of the surgery.

Ilechukwu said with the payment of monthly stipend “to this category of people, life will be better for them.”

He said he decided to reach out to the vulnerable, the handicapped and the needy in the area to ameliorate their problem.

Highlight of the occasion was the support given to school children, the handicapped and the vulnerable in the area to alleviate their suffering by the Caregiver Foundation Africa.

 

Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma has said mothers are the major cultivators of moral rectitude that makes the society a better place for all.

He made the remarks in his message greeting mothers all over the world, particularly in Imo State, on the occasion of this year’s Mothering Sunday.

Uzodimma said his administration “has continued to implement policies and programmes that enhance the welfare and well-being of our mothers, particularly in the area of health care and safety.”

He assured mothers of his intention to continue to pursue universally-accepted policies and programmes that helped to bring the best out of the womenfolk.

 

 

 

The people of Ogwaniocha community in Ogbaru Local Government of Anambra State have raised the alarm over alleged perverted justice in the trial of suspected abductors and killers of their traditional ruler, Igwe Oliver Nnaji.

The police have declared 21 persons wanted in connection with the monarch’s alleged abduction, as well as alleged murder of Chief Ajieh Nwanasor and Ikenna Ugochukwu.

Ten of the suspects were reportedly gunned down and five arrested by Special Forces of the Nigerian Naval Base, Onitsha during a midnight raid of Ochan forest camp of the hoodlums.

But addressing reporters yesterday, son to the monarch, Prince Nnaji Reginald, described the ugly incident as a slap on community’s sacred stool.

He regretted the manner previous cases involving the suspects were handled by the court, expressing fears that his father’s case, who he said would not have died if the kingpin was not granted bail, might not receive justice.

He said: “Last Friday, the suspects, at the police station admitted to have abducted and killed my father. From their confession, they accused my cousin, who happened to be the ring leader of the dreaded group.

“The whole episode saddens my heart because I can’t believe that I will grant interview over what I least expect in life, for a cousin of mine to gang up with some miscreants and machinery to perpetrate this ungodly act.

“This is a slap on Ogwuanocha community sacred stool because the stool has been desecrated. Those found guilty must have to face the full weight of the law.

“But from all indications, the court in the community is biased because the judge quashed an earlier case involving the kingpin. We’re calling for his removal or better still, the case transferred to Awka or Onitsha.

“We don’t want him to continue with the case. If he had not granted bail to the kingpin, my dad wouldn’t have been a dead man today.”

The local government youth leader and nephew to the abducted monarch, Prince Ignatius Nnaji, expressed disappointment about government’s approach to the issue.

He said the community had spent heavily in taking care of security operatives stationed to restore sanity to the community, just as he appreciated the assistance of local government chairman to ensure peace in the area.

Nnaji said: “The community is taking care of the welfare of the security agencies deployed by the IG in the area. The community spends close to N2million to feed them every month.

“The past government didn’t visit the community to appreciate the level of damage. Several lives were lost while over 500 buildings were razed. Eighty per cent of residents are homeless. We appeal to Governor Charles Soludo to intervene.”

 

An educationist and founder of Gregory University, Uturu, Abia State, Prof Gregory Ibe, has joined the 2023 governorship contest on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Similarly, a federal lawmaker, Sheriff Oborevwori, has indicated interest in the governorship seat in Delta State.

Senator Bassey Akpan and Pastor Umo Eno are set for battle in Akwa Ibom, as the two aspirants picked their nomination documents last Thursday.

Akpan is set to battle Eno, who has been tipped as successor to incumbent Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel.

The governor had, a few days ago, unveiled Eno as his possible successor and had presented him to the people at a public function.

But that did not deter Senator Akpan, whose supporters described as the best man for the job.

Pastor Eno, who was accompanied to the PDP national secretariat in Abuja by a large number of Akwa Ibom political bigwigs, was thankful to the governor for finding him worthy as a possible successor.

He said the governor settled for him after consultations with stakeholders in the state, adding that Emmanuel and Akwa Ibom people believed in his vision.

On why others are joining the race, Eno said all interested aspirants have a right to test their strength at the primaries.

“Everyone has the right of expression you cannot take away from them. So just like I am being endorsed, other people also have been endorsed by young people. It’s a normal thing in a political process,” he added.

Abia State aspirant, Prof. Ibe, whose form was picked on his behalf by a support group, said he had a lot to offer his people.

His promoters said the educationist had made contributions to the development of Abia and that winning the governorship seat would give him the drive to do more for the people.

Delta State’s Oborevwori said having been in the House of Representatives in the past three years had equipped him for a more challenging elective office.