Category: South East

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the  African Democratic Congress (ADC), on Friday, walked out of the Interparty Advisory Council (IPAC), Ebonyi Chapter election venue.

The two parties cited lack of transparency in the process and state government’s hijacking of the elections as their reasons for boycotting the election.

A mild drama ensued before they walked out of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Ebonyi State venue of the election where new leaders that will pilot the affairs of the state  for the next two years were elected.

Fourteen political parties were accredited to vote during the election which was witnessed by INEC officials and security agents.

But there was a melodrama shortly after a motion was moved for the dissolution of the former leaders of the council to enable the election of new leaders to hold proper.

The meeting started with a motion  moved by Chika Samuel of the Action Democratic Party (ADP)  and seconded by Catherine Ohakam of Alliance People’s Movement (APM) for the dissolution of the former executive of the council.

However, the Deputy Chairman of PDP Ifeanyi Nworie moved his own counter motion calling for suspension of the election.

He alleged that there was no transparency in the processes that led to the exercise and accused the Special Assistant to Governor David Umahi on Labour and Inter Party Affairs, Mrs. Jenifer Adibe of hijacking the process to favour the state government.

He said: “I am appearing in protest and bringing  to your attention the irregularities in the processes of this exercise and the unlawful exclusion of my  party, the PDP in the ongoing election. It was a deliberate calculated effort to scheme our party out of this election.

“On 29th December, 2021, the SA to the governor on Inter Party Dialogue , Jenifer Adibe called for a meeting in her office and directed that anybody who has interest in the election should softpadal, that she wants the current executive that was just dissolved to come back for second tenure unopposed. This brought a lot of controversy and the meeting was marred with quarrels because where a political party will be for-closed in involvement in the election, I wouldn’t know what it will look like”, he said.

But Adibe said that the law provides that she calls for a meeting over IPAC election as SA on Interparty Affairs to avoid breakdown of law and order.

“There have been a lot of crises in IPAC. So, I have tried to stabilize the system and not to cage them. Nobody was told not to participate in the election,” she said.

Comrade Morgan Nnaemeka of the ADC also challenged Adibe and called for suspension of the election.

Both Nworie and Nnaemeka submitted petitions against the election before IPAC national officials.

They also engaged the IPAC national officials in verbal arguments which made the exercise rowdy.

The two party chiefs later walked out of the venue of the election as the  officials did not act on their protests.

The election was however later held with former leaders of the council returned unopposed.

The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court has issued an interim restraining order against Ebonyi State government and security agencies in the country including the Ebubeagu security network from arresting a former House of Representatives member, Linus Okorie who was recently declared wanted by the state security council.

This followed a motion ex-parte filed by Mr Okorie through his lawyer, Okoro Nkemakolam before the Hon Justice I E Ekwo.

Okorie was declared wanted last week by the State Security Council for allegedly publishing statements on social media which was deemed to have contravened the state’s controversial Cybercrimes law.

The state government further alleged that the posts he made on Facebook exacerbated an already charged atmosphere in Ikwo Local Government Area leading to the beheading of one member of Ebubeagu security outfit.

But Mr. Linus in a reaction claimed the declaration was part of the attempts to stifle the opposition in the state.

He, therefore, proceeded to the Court to file a suit against the state government seeking to enforce his fundamental human rights.

The suit has the Inspector General of Police, the Commissioner of Police Ebonyi state, Department of State Security Services and Attorney General of the Federation  as 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th respondents.

Others joined in the suit are Ebonyi State Government, Barr Cletus Ofoke, Attorney General of Ebonyi State; Barr Uchenna Orji, Commissioner for Information and State Orientation Ebonyi State; Stanley Okoro Emegha, Ebonyi State Security Consultant; and Panchrist Ikechukwu Eze, SA to the Governor of Ebonyi State on Internal Security as the 5th , 6th ,7th ,8th and 9th Respondents.

Okorie, according to the originating process, urged the court to declare that the decision of the security council to declare him wanted without giving chance to defend himself amounts to a flagrant breach or is likely to breach the fundamental rights of the Applicant to fair hearing.

He also urged the court to declare the said action unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal, and wrongful and a flagrant abuse of his fundamental rights.

Okorie further urged the court to declare that the attempt to arrest and detain him indefinitely by the security acting on the orders of the state government based on the said declaration by the Security Council of Ebonyi State, without a warrant of arrest, or any form of invitation amount to a breach or is likely to breach his fundamental rights and therefore unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal, wrongful and amount to flagrant abuse of his fundamental rights.

He also prayed the court to set aside the said resolution of the security council on the 25th of January 2022 where the said decision to declare him wanted was taken.

Linus further urged to issue “‘a declaration restraining the 1st -3rd Respondents, either by themselves, their agents, privies or whosoever, from further threatening to arrest, detain or from arresting and detaining the Applicant on the basis of the facts and circumstance of this case”.

“An order restraining the 5th , 6th ,7th ,8th and 9th Respondents ether by themselves, their agents, privies or whosoever from taking any further steps whatsoever to incriminate, malign, and consequently dehumanize and inflict psychological torture and trauma on the Applicant, with respect to the facts and circumstances of this case.

“An order restraining the 5th , 6th ,7th ,8th and 9th Respondents , either by themselves, their agents, privies or whosoever, and from using the Southeast Security Network, known as Ebubeagu, to arrest, threaten to arrest, detain, or threaten to detain, kill or threaten to kill the Applicant herein in respect of the facts and circumstances of this matter”.

He also urged the court to order the 5th, 6th ,7th ,8th and 9th Respondents to jointly and severally pay him  the sum of One Billion Naira (N1,000,000,000.00) for the unjustified, callous, reprehensible, and wanton breach and threats to breach the fundamental rights of the Applicant.

He also sought another N10m from the same respondents as cost of action.

Mr Okorie also urged the court to order the respondents to publish an unreserved apology in two national dailies.

In the motion ex parte, Mr Okorie through his lawyer urged the court to grant an interim order restating the respondents whether by themselves, agents or employees from arresting and detaining him and from threatening to do so pending the determination of the motion on notice.

He further sought the leave of the court to serve the respondents through substituted service.

Justice Ekwo while granting the applications ordered that all parties in the interim should maintain the status quo.

He said: “Order is hereby made directing parties to maintain status quo ante bellum pending further orders of this court”

The Judge also granted the applicant leave to serve the 5th to 9th respondents originating processes and any subsequent processes of the matter through substituted means.

He adjoined the matter to the 21st of February for hearing on the motion on notice. Ends

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Niger Delta University (NDU) Chapter, has threatened to resume the strike they suspended six years ago over alleged Bayelsa State government’s attitude towards funding and welfare of lecturers of the institution.

The chairman of ASUU-NDU, Tonbara Kingdom, disclosed this yesterday while briefing reporters at the university’s campus on the Wilberforce Island.

Tonbara, who was joined by the chapter’s secretary, Ebi Baraka, and other officers, said the union had already taken the resolution at its congress meeting to initiate the processes that would lead to the resumption of industrial disharmony.

He said: “We are tired and frustrated by the uncooperative attitude of the Bayelsa State Government towards the funding and welfare of members of staff of Niger Delta University.

“We express dismay that the report of a committee set up by Governor Douye Diri in January 2021 ‘to solve some of the funding and welfare issues in tertiary institutions in the state’ has not been submitted to the governor more than 10 months after conclusion of the task.

“For the record, staff of the Niger Delta University are yet to enjoy the minimum wage signed into law in April 2019. While workers of the mainstream civil service and other MDAs, including Bayelsa Medical University established yesterday, are enjoying the minimum wage, NDU is left to suffer. What is our offence?”

Tonbara said promotion was not implemented in NDU between October 2015 and September 2019, neither was annual step increment implemented from October 2015 till date.

He also said there were unpaid salaries of some staff between October 2013 and December 2015.

He further said: “We also have unpaid study fellowships. The working conditions of staff are terrible. There are no residential quarters in the university more than 20 years after it was established. Who did we offend?”

Tonbara lamented that the state government’s policy of subvention to higher institutions was not only ill-advised but also poorly implemented as it had not captured annual promotions, step increments and pension.

He said the union should not be blamed if the suffering lecturers downed tools and shut down the university.

Tonbara also decried the refusal of the Federal Government to carry out the 2009 agreement it signed with the national leadership of ASUU and subsequent Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) and Memoranda of Agreements (MoAs).

He listed the outstanding issues as funding for revitalisation of public universities; renegotiation of 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement; earned academic allowances (EAA); adoption of home-grown software (University Transparency and Accountability Solution, UTAS) as credible alternative to risks-prone IPPIS; withheld salaries of union members and non-remittance of third-party deductions and proliferation of state universities without funding.

Tonbara lamented that several efforts by the ASUU and stakeholders’ interventions to make the Federal Government implement MoUs and MoAs had hit a brick wall.

Akwa Ibom Deputy Governor Moses Ekpo has urged governorship aspirants on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to put aside their differences and work as a team to ensure victory in the 2023 general election.

He gave the advice yesterday when the Commissioner for Lands and Water Resources, Mr. Umo Eno, visited him in his office.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Eno’s visit was to formally inform the deputy governor of his intention to contest the 2023 governorship election.

NAN also reports that Governor Udom Emmanuel had, on January 30, announced Eno as his preferred successor.

The deputy governor said the call had become imperative since PDP stakeholders had already unveiled Eno as the party’s preferred candidate for the 2023 governorship election.

He described Eno as a good team player, who was not only business conscious, but also, highly result-oriented.

“There is the need for other aspirants to come together to line up behind Umo Eno, as God has always had a hand in the selection process of any leader in a given society.

“His political ascendency and his choice as the preferred candidate are a confirmation that God still rules in the affairs of men, even when he never lobbied for the position,” Ekpo said.

He thanked the aspirant for showing respect by deeming it fit to consult him, pledging, therefore, to be involved in the campaign to ensure his success.

Eno had appealed for the support and blessings of the deputy governor and thanked the governor for giving him the platform to stand.

“I am here as a servant, by the Grace of God and by the goodwill of the Akwa Ibom people, to submit myself to you for your support and blessings.

“It is only God that prepares someone for leadership, and I come ready to learn and to be tutored.

“We want to build on the foundation that God has already laid for us.

“We will continue with the good works and development, which your administration has established, to move Akwa Ibom forward, particularly in this era of industrialisation.

“We’ll build industries, particularly in the rural areas, build on education, health, tourism and aviation to further the prosperity of our people,” Eno said.

NAN reports that the governorship aspirant was accompanied by the Director General of his campaign organisation, Mr. Assam Assam, the National Chairman, Maintain Peace Movement, Mr. Emmanuel Enoidem and Sen. Akon Eyakenyi, representing Akwa Ibom South Senatorial District, among others.

A group, the Igbo for Progressives and United Nationhood (IPAN), has advised Ohanaeze Ndigbo against blackmailing presidential hopefuls from other regions, who have declared interest in the 2023 general election.

It urged the pan-Igbo group to rally support for Igbo aspirants in their parties, instead of begging interested ones from other regions to drop their ambitions.

The National President, Lawrence Onuzulike, in a statement yesterday said that discouraging aspirants from other geopolitical zones from contesting through blackmail could mar the chances of those from the Southeast.

He advised Ohanaeze to rather appeal to the consciences of Nigerians, the political elite and the masses, to support Igbo aspirants for the sake of equity and fairness.

The statement said: “Although we believe that 2023 is the perfect time for a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction to emerge, we don’t believe in arm-twisting Nigerians to make an Igbo man president or telling other aspirants from outside Igbo land to drop their presidential ambitions.

“Every Nigerian who meets the constitutional requirement to contest for the office of the president is eligible to do so, regardless of the region he or she comes from.”

The Ijaw in Kalabari, Rivers State, have prepared a reception for Governor Nyesom Wike.

The reception, scheduled to hold tomorrow, is being organised by leaders across political lines to honour Wike for his strides in the area.

The Chairman of the Planning Committee, Dr. Tammy Danagogo; Co-Chairman, Prof. Victor Umuaru and Secretary, Dr. George-Kelly Alabor, said yesterday that monarchs, leaders, stakeholders and the public would receive the governor.

The Executive Chairman of Asari-Toru Local Government, Onengiyeofori George, said all was set to receive the governor at Abalama.

He spoke when the Secretary of the Central Planning Committee and Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Projects, Dr. Dax Alabo George-Kelly, was accompanied by other committee members to the venue to ascertain the level of preparedness.

George assured the Kalabari of better days and advised them to eschew divisive tendencies.

Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma has expressed his readiness to collaborate with members of the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), in advancing the tenets of democracy.

The governor gave the hint when he received combined national and state executive members of the IPAC, who visited him at the Government House, Owerri.

The team, led by the National Deputy Chairman, Maxwell Ngbudem, had come to inform Uzodimma about the peaceful conduct of IPAC election in Imo State and the need for the template they used for the exercise to be adopted for the survival of democracy in Nigeria.

The governor hailed them for the peaceful outing in the election of their new state executive, noting that “it is a testimony that democracy is working in Imo State.”

He took the opportunity to reiterate his stand and commitment to support IPAC in their activities in the state that are in line with democratic norm, noting that their “role is a catalyst to quicken democratic processes in our society.”

Uzodimma said: “The peaceful outing of IPAC is indeed another testimony that democracy is really working in our state, because the synergy required to oil the wheel of democratic growth is in the activities and opinion that will come, not only from the political class, but also from parties that are not in power. Coming together to be a watchdog of the political system and the international community is commendable.”

He described IPAC as a political organ that needed to be taken seriously for political programmes and for democracy to thrive in the country.

The governor thanked IPAC national officers for finding time to come to the state to supervise and monitor what their colleagues were doing.

He commended IPAC in the state for “demonstrating the level of organisation of building consensus and agreeing to ensure that the common interest of their group is more important than individual interest.”

Uzodimma assured IPAC that his government would work with them to be their brother’s keeper.

The legislature of Bakassi Local Government Council in Cross River State State has removed the Leader, Emmanuel Effiong of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He was replaced with Edem Ekeng of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Effiong was yesterday removed by six councillors out of 10.

They accused him of highhandedness, gross misconduct and inefficiency.

The councillors, who signed to remove the Leader, claimed that they had lost confidence in his leadership.

They said in a statement: “Effiong thus stands removed as provided for in Section 33, Subsection 2(c) of the Cross River State Local Government Law Number 22 of 2007, as he cannot lead us from a minority party, the PDP.

“Consequently, Ekeng representing Ward 5 in Bakassi, was elected as the new leader to fill the vacant position.”

In his inaugural speech, Ekeng thanked his co-legislators for the confidence reposed in him.

A new house leadership was immediately constituted, with Orok Asuquo emerging as the Majority Leader, while Effanga Bassey Effanga clinched the Chief Whip position.

Others are Maureen Maurice Effiom, Deputy Chief Whip, and Esoho Bassey, Deputy Minority Whip.

The new leader urged the former leader to return government property in his possession within 24 hours.

Anambra State House of Assembly may summon Agric Commissioner Nnamdi Onukwuba over the N1.5 billion loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The Governor Willie Obiano-led administration applied for and secured the loan for the purpose of fish and rice farming in some local governments across the three senatorial districts.

The Assembly Committee on Economic Planning, Sustainable Development Goals and Donor Agencies, led by Ebele Ejiofor, revealed this yesterday.

It expressed worry about the poor level of work done by the contractor handling the construction of 600 fish ponds, hostel blocks and farm houses in Aguleri and Adazi Nnukwu communities.

The committee said it might invite Onukwuba to appear before the assembly to explain how his ministry spent the agricultural loan received in 2020.

The CBN launched guidelines for the regulation of the Private Sector-Led Accelerated Agriculture Development Scheme (P-AADS), to boost private sector staple food production, industrial raw materials and support food security, job creation and economic diversification in the country in 2020.

The apex bank said in a bid to address food security and youth unemployment challenges across the country, the Accelerated Agriculture Development Scheme (AADS) would engage 370,000 youths in agricultural production, in collaboration with state governments.

Ejiofor spoke shortly after he led other members of the committee to oversee some of the projects awarded by the state government.

The lawmakers threatened to call for the revocation of the contracts, following the slow pace and quality of work done in the two communities visited.

The contracts were awarded through the Ministry of Agriculture for the construction of 300 fish ponds at Adazi Nnukwu in Anaocha Local Government to the tune of N75.2million and other 300 fish ponds in Aguleri, Anambra East Local Government, to the same amount.

Also, contract was awarded for the building of 50-bed capacity hostel each in Aguleri and Adazi Nnukwu communities to the tune of N100.3million.

Farm houses, entrance gates, perimeter fencing and generator houses were awarded for the two communities with a total amount of N100.2million.

A document made available to the House committee by the Ministry of Agriculture showed that N41.7million was awarded for the construction of industrial boreholes to serve the two fish farm ponds.

Ejiofor, a member representing Anaocha Constituency 1 and his committee, after visiting the project sites, expressed displeasure about the work on ground, which he noted was not commensurate with the amount released to the firms.

He regretted that N300.2million had been paid to the contractors, out of N510.3million, being the total sum of the projects at Aguleri and Adazi Nnukwu communities.

“This is a total failure. There is nothing to show that this amount of money has been released. Look at Adazi Nnukwu site, only 150 fish ponds have been done and they were not properly done.

“The work is not durable. They are using red mud to plaster walls of the generator house, while that of Aguleri 50-bed hostel is still at the foundation level, yet millions of naira have been released as claimed by the commissioner for Agriculture.

“I think we will invite him to come and explain how such amount will be released with little or nothing to show on ground,” Ejiofor said.

Another member of the committee, Mr. Emmanuel Nwafor representing Orumba South Constituency, described the quality of work as substandard and called for the revocation of the contract, which he said was for the interest of the masses.

“From what we have on paper, they said 40.per cent of the work had been completed, but what we are seeing here, the 300 bed capacity hostel is still under the ground. They have not even come to the DPC level. So, I believe the commissioner for Agriculture should be called to order so that he could answer some questions.

“We require the commissioner to give us details of what has been going on. This project is supposed to have been handed over to the people of Anambra State, but look at where we are,” he said.

Mr. Chukwudi Okosie, the site supervisor for Civil Crest Engineering Services Ltd, one of the contractors handling the construction of the fish ponds at Aguleri, said he was not aware of the amount received.

He, however, said that the project would be delivered in the next four months.

Contract was also awarded for the provision of two 75KVA generators for the two fish ponds in the communities to the tune of N23million.