Category: South East

A pro-life advocate and neuroscientist, Prof (Dr.) Philip Njemanze, has petitioned the International Criminal Court (ICC), over the demolition of the ancestral Eke Ukwu Owere Market, Owerri.

The medical practitioner had also petitioned UNESCO to lament demolition of heritage and ancestral sites in Owerri by the Okorocha administration, now a Senator of Imo West.

On August 26, 2018, then Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha had demolished the Eke Ukwu market, pulling down stalls and destroying goods worth over N1 billion.

An 11- year- old boy, Somtochukwu Ibeanusi, was killed by a stray bullet from security forces, during the demolition of the market which attracted local and international outrage.

Njemanze, a native of Amawom in Owerri, who strongly kicked against the demolition of the market held so dear by Owerri people, said he wrote to the International Criminal Court, ICC, The Hague, the Netherlands to lament “the dastardly act satanic act accomplished with human hands.”

Njemanze said the demolition of the market by the Okorocha administration was a crime against humanity.

In a letter to  Dr. Mechtild Rossler, Director of Heritage Division and World Heritage Centre, UNESCO and copied to Prosecutor, ICC, Njemanze under the auspices of Owerri Indigeneous People Youth of Amawom, partly wrote ” These actions are crimes against humanity, which is under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Den Hague, The Netherlands.

Some of the requests made by the Njemanze led group include: “an Executive Presidential Order stopping all interference, demolition, removal of historical sites including Eke Ukwu Owerri Market, buildings, arts and cultural centres of the Indigenous People of Owerri and in Imo State.

“To mandate UNESCO World Heritage Centre’s investigators in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture to further uncover the facts of the historical sites in Owerri using the indigenous knowledge base, for enlistment and protection under the UNESCO World Heritage Convention.

According to Njemanze, the ICC, in its response to his requests, had said it had taken up an investigation on the matter.

Four years after the demolition of the market, Governor Hope Uzodimma, has embarked on rebuilding the market.

Two students of the Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri, were on Friday evening reportedly killed in an auto crash along Okigwe Road in Imo State.

It was gathered that the students were returning from a burial ceremony of their landlord’s brother when their bus had a head-on collision with a Mack truck coming from the opposite direction.

According to an eyewitness, one of the students died on the spot, several others were wounded while another student was said to have died on the way to the hospital.

The eyewitness said some of the students who sustained various degrees of injuries were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.

The public relations officer of the institution, Everest Nwosu, told The Nation that some of the accident victims were not students of the Polytechnic.

He said the deceased was a student of Mass Communication while the other had graduated, adding the students were returning from Abba, Ohafia in Abia  State where they went to attend the burial ceremony of their landlord’s late brother.

The Onitsha Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (ONICCIMA) has called on the Anambra State government to digitalize taxation processes to end revenue leakage for proper accountability.

The Director-General, Stanley Anyadufu made the call in Onitsha during a visit by the Justice Development and Peace Caritas (JDPC) in partnership with Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

He lamented increasing non-remittance of taxes by illegal collectors, saying collection of taxes digitally would put an end to such an ugly trend.

He said, 90percent of taxes collected by touts are not remitted to the government, but go into private pockets.

“Collection of taxes in a more civilized manner, inclincludingude digitizing and creating tax offices at strategic points in the city will help people make their payments and documentation seamless.

“You don’t need to be stopping people on the road, blocking major roads,  and causing traffic gridlocks in order to collect taxes.”

On the lingering Monday sit-at-home order, Anyadufu regretted its adverse effects on businesses in Southeast, particularly in Onitsha.

“Though some youths are enjoying the sit-at-home as they take advantage of it to exercise and catch their fun, for us in the business sector, it has been tough.”

“If businesses don’t open, sales are not made, income doesn’t come in, it shortens wages. What the state loses each Monday runs into billions.

“We’re even informed that businesses are relocating to neighboring towns where they can easily access the traders. But we’re hoping it will end soon,” he added.

Earlier, Project Manager, JDPC Onitsha/FCDO, Mr. Alphonsus Nwoye said recommendations from the engagement with ONICCIMA would be sent to the government for implementation.

Elder statesman and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State, Chief Anike Nwoga has warned that it would be dangerous to distort the existing zoning arrangements as it affects the governorship position of the state in 2023.

Chief Nwoga also cautioned political parties against fielding candidates who are not from Enugu East Senatorial District in next year’s governorship poll in the state.

Addressing a press conference in Enugu weekend, Nwoga insisted that it is the turn of Enugu East Zone to produce the next governor come 2023 based on the existing rotational arrangement in the state.

He explained that any party or candidate going against zoning arrangements for the governorship seat would be swimming against the tide.

According to him, it would be a dangerous precedent for some persons who felt they were wealthy and highly connected to contemplate distorting the zoning system and grabbing power against the existing practice.

“There has been controversy over zoning arrangements in the state and I want to inform you that APC has zoned the governorship slot to Enugu East and it means that our candidate must come from Enugu East Senatorial District because it’s their turn to direct the affairs of the state come 2023.

“I also want to believe that other parties might have done the same. We believe in the zoning arrangement that first produced former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani from Enugu East, then  Sulivan Chime from Enugu West, and the current Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi from Enugu North, so we must go back to Enugu East and we are not joking about it because it must happen.

He warned aspirants from other zones who are contesting based on their rich pockets and connections of impending disgrace, insisting, “Nobody will take away this mandate from the people of Enugu East, no matter how rich or influential the person is because it’s our turn to become the next governor in Enugu state.

“Any politician from Enugu West or Enugu North with the aim of contesting for the governorship election in 2023 is free to do so but we must get it right as we speak with one voice that the governorship seat must go to Enugu Senatorial district”

On the statement by some politicians that the governorship slot can go to any zone, Nwoga said “that’s their personal opinion and not the opinion of the people of Enugu state because based on our zoning arrangement; our next governor must come from Enugu East.”

The truck driver of a heavy-duty truck said to belong to the Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA), has reportedly crushed to death a young man in his 20s, whose name is yet to be ascertained at the time of filing the report.

The incident, our correspondent gathered happened at the ever-busy popular Bata Junction some distance away from the Aba South Local Government Area headquarters.

The deceased, The Nation gathered, was said to be allegedly used by the soldiers on duty at the said Bata junction to extort money from commercial motorists.

An eyewitness who disclosed that the deceased died while trying to rush over to the other side of the road to collect money from a commercial driver carrying a load,  said that the deceased was unfortunately caught up and crushed under the ASEPA truck.

“There was a little traffic jam at the Bata Junction. So, when this guy who collects money from motorists on behalf of the soldiers saw a commercial bus with loads, he knew that he would miss the vehicle because of the traffic.

“So, he decided to pass through the ASEPA truck. At that time, the truck was stationary, but immediately the guy went under the truck, the line of the truck driver started moving. The truck driver didn’t know that someone was under the truck. The young man was not expecting the truck to move, but sadly, he was caught up under the truck and was crushed.

“There is no way one can even think of rushing him to the hospital. He died on the spot. The truck crushed his head.

“This is not the first day that the boy will be standing to collect money from drivers for the soldiers. Bata Junction is not equally the only place such a thing is being done.

“The same thing is happening at Emelogu Junction by Opobo-Azumin Road. It is also happening at Obikabia Junction. It is the same scenario at Itungwa in Obingwa, Ariaria Junction, Uratta Junction, Ngwa Road, and among other places.

“The military authority in Aba and the state will not say that they are not aware of it. They know and if they don’t know, it means that all the cries of intimidation and harassment the civilian populace suffer in the hands of soldiers in the state, they don’t know about it and if that is the case, it means that the leadership is not on the ground. It means that they are liars,” said the eyewitness.

Efforts to reach the authorities of 144 Battalion, ASEPA, and the state government at the time of filing the report could not yield any positive fruit.

The body of the deceased, has, however, been taken away from the scene and deposited in an undisclosed morgue.

The traditional ruler of Ukwulu, Dunukofia Local Government Area of Anambra State, Igwe Peter Uyanwa, and his subjects are at daggers drawn over land grabbing in the community

As a result, the community has protested to the Anambra State government to wade in to save the community from land grabbers

The Umugama Village, has equally, called on the security agents to save them from the activities of a notorious ring leader in the area known as Dilibe.

Speaking to reporters during the protest, on Saturday, the leader of the protesters, Peter Okoye, who is the Chairman of Umugama Progressive Union (UPU),  stated that for years, Dilibe and his gang had been terrorizing the community despite several reports and complaints to relevant security agencies including the Force Headquarters, Abuja.

He alleged that apart from intimidation, harassment, extortion, the threat to life, the said Dilibe and his group had upped their activities into grabbing and selling of the community’s land.

He further alleged that Dilibe engages gunmen who guard those he engages in destroying their farmland and crops.

He lamented that his life and that of his people are being threatened on a daily basis.

Okoye cited an example of the sad event of 25th February 2022 where the gunmen engaged and led by Dilibe shot and wounded two persons from his community but for the swift intervention of the Police from Dunukofia Division, more harm would have been inflicted on his people.

Okoye stated that Dilibe who is not holding any position in the community at any level had made several attempts with his partner in crime to remove him as the Chairman of the Village, but his people resisted him because they believed in his leadership style.

Corroborating the Chairman, Mrs. Nonye Okeke, the village women leader, in her brief comment, appealed to the Police to sanction Dilibe for peace to return to the community

In his reaction, Dilibe, via protest at the State Police Command Headquarters, Amawbia, where some youths in support of him, blocked the Command’s gate to draw the attention of the commissioner, Mr. Echeng Echeng.

The youths who wore black clothes accused their monarch, Igwe Peter Uyanwa of land grabbing, stating that he had also been using police operatives to arrest and lock up members of the community who dared to oppose his decision.

Mr. Dilibe, accused the monarch of selling off their land. Asking the traditional ruler to leave their lands for them, while wielding placards with various inscriptions.

The state Police Command, through the police spokesman, DSP Ikenga Tochukwu, advised both aggrieved parties to get an attorney to articulate their grievances in the form of a petition

He said that the commissioner would work on it to ensure peace in the community.

“We are happy that you are protesting peacefully, and we want to assure you that the commissioner will look into your petition once you write him formally and will ensure that investigation is carried out, and your grievances will be addressed,” Ikenga told the protesters.

Meanwhile, the traditional ruler of Ukwulu, Igwe Peter Uyanwa, on his part, denied having anything to do with land belonging to Umugama village.

The monarch said, “that village is having their own crisis, and I’m not from that village, and I have nothing to do with their land, even though I’m their traditional ruler

“They even told me they wanted to protest at my palace today for me to settle the dispute they have, but I said no, I didn’t want to receive visitors.

“What you must know is that more than 80 per cent of the protesters led by the man called Dilibe, to the State Police Command, are not my subjects, they were just hired for the protest. I don’t have even one plot of land in that affected village,” Igwe Uyanwa said

The Lagos State Chapter of Ohaneze Ndigbo has demanded a two-year tenure extension for the current executive committee, led by Chief Solomon Ogbonna.

The decision, according to the socio-political organisation which held a press conference yesterday, became necessary because the good work which the administration has started must not be allowed to be destroyed.

The group maintained that the national executive committee (exco) doesn’t have the right to conduct any election in Lagos State Chapter, that the press conference held by some members of the organisation a few days ago is null and void, as the majority of them are not members of Ohanaeze and that the elders and members of the organisation agreed that the tenure of the current exco is extended by two years.

Ogbonna said his administration was disrupted by long litigation, pointing out that since he came on board on the 16th of July, 2018, he had been in court and in spite of that his regime has performed beyond expectation and has also spent millions prosecuting a court case.

He said his exco brought sanity to the Lagos Ohanaeze, adding that for over 20 years Ohanaeze didn’t have a secretariat.

“It was through my connections that we got a befitting secretariat for the organisation. I was able to create a very peaceful relationship between us and our Yoruba landlords.

“It is on record that since I took over, no major market that our people control has been shut down because of any crisis, and our people have been going about their business peacefully. We have done so much and we intend to consolidate on some of these achievements which are why the elders and members met on Sunday to decide that a two-year extension be given to me and the exco to conclude on some of the work that we have started,“ he said.

While speaking at the press conference held by some members of the group a few days ago, Solomon said “Enugu doesn’t have the right to come to Lagos to conduct any election. Our by-law doesn’t vest such powers on them. We don’t receive any financial support from the headquarters.

“They alleged that my offence was that I want to take my people to the All Progressives Congress (APC), and for that reason, I must go. We won’t allow that to happen.”

Rector, Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Uku, Aniocha South LGA, Professor Emmanuel Achuenu has decried the lack of perimeter fence around the school

He said it has led to the invasion of  “uncontrollable people, cows, and herdsmen into the Polytechnic environment.”

Achuenu, who spoke to reporters in Ogwashi-Uku, said the campus needs to be secured with a fence to enable control of unauthorized persons into the institution.

He said all avenues would be pursued to activate promises made to the school at federal and state levels.

He said, “the campus needs to be secured, without good perimeter fencing, we are having an influx of strange people without control. You may see cows and herdsmen all over the place, simply because the entire campus is not properly fenced and secured.”

He identified the deplorable state of access road, power supply and uncompleted administrative block as challenges facing the school.

 That the state government had promised to do some parts, saying he hoped  that it would come on board soon, just as he noted power supply, edifice administrative block offices are also major challenges to the institution.

He said all courses offered by the school are legally approved by National Board of Technical Education (NBTE), adding that plans had reached an advanced stage to introduce National Diploma on Urban and Regional Planning and National Diploma on Estate Management in the School of Environmental Studies 2023 session.

On the alleged “No Bra, No Pant, No Entry” policy by the school, Achuenu blamed the media for sensationalism.

According to him, “the management does not tolerate any level of indecent dressing, saying that the policy was war against indecent dressing and not necessarily “No Bra, No Pant”.

The Governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa and immediate past governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan are among the dignitaries expected at the ‘2022 NUJ Warri Correspondents’ Chapel’s Press Week.

Chairman of the NUJ chapel, Mr. Okies V. Okpomor, disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen on Friday in Warri.

According to the statement, the weeklong event which includes visits to orphanages, a novelty football match, as well as a lecture/award night, is scheduled to hold between March 19 and 23, 2022.

Okpomor said that the event themed: ‘2023 General Election and Security’ would climax on Wednesday, March 23, at the Casa de Pedro Hotel in Effurun near Warri.

He added that the occasion would be chaired by former Federal Permanent Secretary and former Nigeria Ambassador to Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, Amb. Godknows Igali.

“Governor Okowa will be the Special Guest of Honour while the duo of Dr. Uduaghan and Olorogun(Barr.) Kenneth Gbagi, former Minister of State for Education will be the Guest Speakers.”

“Uduaghan will speak on the topic: “2023 Elections and Roles of the Media” while Gbagi will deliver a lecture on “Security Challenges Ahead of 2023 Elections and way Forward,” he said.

The statement listed royal fathers of the day to include the Olu of Warri Kingdom, Ogiame Atuwatse III; the Ovie of Uvwie Kingdom, HRM, Dr. Emmanuel Sideso, Abe I; Ovie of Idjerhe Kingdom, HRM, Monday Whiskey, Udurhie I and the Okobaro of Ughievwen kingdom HRM Matthew Egbi, Owahwa II.

Hundreds of youths on Friday marched in Owerri, the Imo State capital, calling for an end to insecurity in the state.

They said that the killings, kidnappings, banditry and all forms of insecurity affecting the state were against the dreams of the founding fathers of the state.

The youths who marched from control post roundabout to Government House roundabout down to Wetheral, Douglas Road, MCC Road, Bank Road, Okigwe Road, World Bank Road, Orlu Road and Tetlow Road, said that the economy of the state was shrinking.

The youths who operated on the platform of Imo Youths Peace Movement, called on politicians in the state to de-escalate tension in the state by playing politics with principles.

Chairman and founder of the group, Chidubem Martins Ogbenna, said that they had also carried out the same march in Orlu and Okigwe zones of the state.

Ogbenna, said that the essence of the rally was to sensitize the people of the state because there was no alternative to peace.

“This is the grand finale of this rally. We had in the past two days carried out this same rally in the Orlu zone and also in Okigwe zone of the state. This is a serious campaign. We are fed up with the level of insecurity in Imo state. The kidnapping, armed robberies, killing of policemen, bombing of security formations, and all forms of banditry in this state are unacceptable.

“We have no place to call our state except Imo. We are not partisan. We are self-funded. We are only interested in the security and well-being of the state. We have written to the governor of Imo State, informing him that we are committed to the peace and wellbeing of the state and the people of Imo state. We have also visited the commissioner for information and strategy and his counterpart in the ministry of justice.

“We want every stakeholder to be genuinely committed to the peace and prosperity of the state. Imo has suffered a lot in the last two years. We are reaching out to the traditional rulers and the clergy. We are not limiting our consultations. This march is to inform everybody including the hawkers that we should all work together to restore peace in Imo state.”

The group’s Publicity Secretary in the state, Gideon Chinagorom, said that the group was seriously engaging youths in the hinterlands in its efforts to restore peace in Imo.

“We are not limiting our consultations. We also know that a lazy mind is the devil’s workshop. That is why we are rehabilitating those who are victims of drug abuse like mkpurumiri. We are trying our best to reintegrate them into society.

“This is not the Owerri we used to have. We also know that Owerri used to be the center of the hospitality and tourism industry in the south East and Southsouth zones. Every weekend people used to troop into Owerri from Port Harcourt, Aba, Umuahia, Awka, Onitsha, Uyo, Asaba. But people no longer come because of insecurity. We want Owerri to start bubbling the way it used to be. That is why we are asking everybody to join hands with us in ending insecurity in the state.”

The Provost of the group, Johnson Eric said “this is a major campaign for us. We have no sponsors. We are concerned citizens of Imo state who are embittered about the level of insecurity in the state.”