Category: South East

The police in Akwa Ibom State have rescued a one month old baby and another six month old from kidnappers.

The babies- Daniel Jackson Ekwere and Goodness Effiong were stolen from their parents at gunpoint and by trick, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Odiko Macdon disclosed during the third quarter media briefing on Friday.

MacDon noted that at the time of rescue of the six months old, the abductors had concluded the plan to sell the baby at the rate of Four Hundred Thousand Naira(N400,000).

Police spokesperson said “based on a tip-off, operatives of anti-child theft ambushed and arrested four robbery/child stealing syndicate namely, Emmanuel Sunday Effiong, Ibanga Sunday Effiong, Editi Ibanga Effiong, and Miss Idorenyin Etim Iron of Ikot Okubo, Ibesikpo Asutan and rescued a six months old baby.

“Investigation revealed that the syndicate used motor bike on 8/10/2021 at about 9:00pm, masked their faces and invaded the house of Mr/Mrs Effiong Okon Udo of Ikot Okubo Ibesikpo Asutan LGA on gunpoint, beat the couple inflicted them with various degrees of injuries and abducted their six (6) months old baby girl by name, Goodness Effiong Okon. Both Ibanga Sunday and Emmanuel Effiong Sunday are ex-convicts for robbery/Cultism.

“As at the time of the rescue, arrangement had been concluded to sell the child for four hundred thousand naira(N400, 000.00).”

Speaking on the one month and six weeks infant,  MacDon said, ”the suspect,  a forty year old  Margaret Friday Akpan of Ekpene Ukim Uruan, went to the house of the  mother’s victim, Mrs. Blessing Jackson Ekwere pretending to be sick and thereafter sent the said Blessing Jackson Ekwere to buy drugs for her.

“The suspect ran away with her one month, three weeks old baby boy by name baby Daniel Jackson Ekwere before the mother, Blessing Ekwere returned from where she went to buy the drugs for her.”

He noted that the two infants have been rescued and reunited with their parents noting adding that all the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.

However, in an interview ,  Mrs. Effiong Udo, the mother of the six months old baby said she still suffered excruciating pains on her spinal cord as one of the suspects kicked her at the back to let go of her baby even as she expressed joy that her child was reunited with her.

Also, the mother of the one month, three weeks old baby explained that when she called the suspect on phone asking the whereabout of her baby, the suspect claimed she didn’t see her baby that she only  went to the hospital as her stomach ache became unbearable.

“When I called her she denied carrying the baby and said she had to rush to the hospital that the pain was becoming unbearable. I quickly called my husband who informed the police.” Blessing narrated.

She said when it became obvious that the suspect could not hide due to the calls she received; she packaged the baby in a Ghana must go bag and took to her daughter’s house in Ekpene Ukim, where she was nearly mobbed before the police arrived and she was arrested.

Meanwhile, the PPRO noted that the command has arrested  136 suspects within the period under review among who were: 11 murder suspects, 47 armed robbery and stealing suspects, 10 defilement and rape suspects, 21 suspected cultists, 16 suspected vandals,  7 kidnapping suspects and 24 others including child theft and other criminal activities.

The Police spokesperson, while noting that the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded stressed that the Commissioner, CP Andrew Amiengheme has remained committed in making the State unsafe for criminals to stay.

A former governorship candidate in Rivers State and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prince Tonye Princewill, has condemned the People;s Democratic Party (PDP) for opposing direct primaries.

Princewill, who is the Prince of Kalabari Kingdom, said the PDP was kicking against direct primaries because it was only interested in vote-buying against deepening democratic culture in the country.

The APC chieftain, who spoke in Port Harcourt on Friday, said the direct primary method remained the only way to ensure participation of individual members of a political party in electing their candidates.

He said: “I saw the comments made by the PDP official spokesperson and I couldn’t help but smile at their mindset. They said it would financially bankrupt the political process.

“They said smaller parties cannot afford it. Since when did they care about the smaller parties? The truth is they see elections as a time to buy votes by cash or by instructions and in a direct primary there will be not only too many people to pay but too democratic to hand out instructions as they would in a delegate election.

“The sooner they submit to the will of the people and not the will of their people, the better our politics will be. Win by convincing the majority and use superior arguments, not superior spending power.

“In 2007, I won an establishment candidate in the Action Congress primary, because in 23 local governments in the entire state, people came out and cast their votes at the same time in the full glare of local media. I did not have more money and my opponent has the entire party structure. That is democracy.

“It’s democracy in motion. To paraphrase the President from earlier, the country needed leaders who are there for everyone and stooges to no one particular group.

“A direct primary allows for proper participation of individual members. All our voices can now finally count. If you say one person can not make a difference try direct primaries”.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed its readiness to conduct a near-perfect governorship election in Anambra State on November 6.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, announced this yesterday at a workshop for reporters on Election Processes and Procedures in Awka, the state capital.

Mahmood, who was represented by the commission’s Director of Publicity, Mr. Victor Aluko, said the November 6 election would enjoy the deployment of modern technology which would make it more improved than all previous exercises.

He said the entire process – from registration to transmission of results – would be fully automated, including the use of bimodal, which took care of unimodal identification processes that only verified voters by fingerprints.

The INEC chairman said there were a total of 2,525,471 registered voters in the state after an additional 77,471 generated during the just-concluded Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.

Mahmood urged reporters to help the commission disseminate the right information as this would be crucial to the success of the election process, adding that sending the wrong information could inflame the society.

INEC’s Head of Department (ICT) in its Awka Office, Mr. Chuwkuemeka Nnaji, said the commission improved on its system using indigenous team of engineers.

Nnaji said the process was such that human interference was greatly reduced and that data uploaded online would be highly secured from cyberattacks and hackers.

He said the prospective voter would be identified by various fractures, including their faces, and that nobody would be able to vote twice as the registration had been cleaned up.

According to him, INEC’s desire of having credible elections is sacrosanct as technology deployment has proven to be an effective tool in achieving the set objectives.

“The need to have one-person, one-vote is what has necessitated the deployment of a Bimodal Voter Authentication System (BVAS).

“The need to ensure the credibility and openness of the Commission has necessitated the deployment of the IReV Portal, so we ask for the cooperation of all to enable the Commission meet its set objectives,” he said.

Anambra State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Dr. Nkwachukwu Orji, said the workshop was meant to update reporters on the progress made ahead of the election.

Orji, who was represented by the Head of Voter Education and Publicity in Awka, Mr. Samuel Nimem, urged the media to report facts and avoid engaging in interpreting what they do not understand.

The Supreme Court has upheld the election of Charles Soludo as the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State.

A five-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice Mary Odili, was unanimous in holding that the appeal filed by the Jude Okeke factional leadership of APGA was without merit and dismissed it.

The court held that the issue of party leadership and the election of party’s officials were internal affairs of a political party over which courts lacked jurisdiction.

Justice Odili, in the lead judgment, returned Victor Oye as APGA National Chairman and upheld the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Kano, which earlier affirmed Oye’s leadership and dismissed Okeke’s suit.

The apex court held that the appellants abused the process of court by engaging in forum shopping and awarded N1 million cost against the appellants, to be paid to APGA and Oye.

The court took a swipe at Okeke and some lawyers in the case for attempting to mislead the court by filing multiple cases on the same subject matters.

Justice Odili held that the appellants, in a desperate bid to abuse the court’s process, moved their cases from Anambra State to Imo State and later to Jigawa State, where they eventually got a judgment in their favour on March 31, 2021.

Also, Oye has described the Supreme Court victory as a call to greater service to the party.

In a statement in Abuja, Oye said: “Today, the Supreme Court of Nigeria reaffirmed the leadership of APGA under me by unanimously dismissing the twin-suit filed by Jude Okeke and his cohorts.

“We thank God for His mercifulness and compassion and for seeing us through the intense legal battles. By this victory, we have been called to greater service to our great party.

“The November 6, 2021 Anambra State governorship election is drawing closer and this places an additional responsibility on us collectively and individually as members of the party. We must guard our loins and take up the gauntlet for the task ahead by ensuring that nothing distracts us as we work for victory in the Anambra State Governorship election.”

The APGA chairman urged all party members to reach out to other aggrieved members all over the country about the need to continue to work together for the growth and development of the party.

He said: “We need everybody on board as we work to reposition our party for 2021 and 2023. APGA remains the preferred destination for any genuine lover of democracy. We will continue to open up the space for equal participation by all genuine members of the party.

“Rest assured that we will be magnanimous in victory, because we believe that leadership comes from God. We thank the Judiciary for their doggedness in defending the cause of democracy and shutting out those whose activities are inimical to national development and ethos.”

The Nigeria Police Force has said it will deploy 34,587 police personnel and three helicopters during the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State.

Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Usman Baba announced this in Abuja at the second Strategic Police Managers’ Conference involving police officers from the rank of Commissioners of Police (CPs) and above at the Force Headquarters in Abuja.

Baba said the deployment would comprise conventional police officers, Police Mobile Force (PMF), Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTU), Special Forces Personnel, Explosives Ordinance Unit (EOD), Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB), INTERPOL and Special Protection Unit (SPU) as well as Police Medical Teams.

He said the deployment of the three helicopters would enable the police to monitor the poll from the sky for effective aerial surveillance.

Baba also said the detachments of Marine Police operatives would ensure a safe, secure, and credible electoral process in the riverine areas.

According to him, the police have also implemented adequate forward and reverse logistics arrangements for a seamless operation across the state.

Baba said the deployment followed the outcome of the election security threat analysis conducted by the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) ahead of the governorship poll in Anambra State.

He said: “Based on the outcome of the analysis, we have developed a strategic election security operation plan which will involve the mobilisation of 34,587 police personnel to the state.

“Let me use this opportunity to assure all citizens and stakeholders, including the international community, of our determination to work with other security agencies to stabilise the prevailing situation in Anambra State ahead of the election.

“The idea is to create a conducive and enabling environment that will guarantee peaceful conduct of the election. We are also committed to partnering the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) within the dictates of the Electoral Act to deliver a credible election in Anambra State.”

The IGP advised the police commissioners to strengthen security architecture in their commands to prevent anticipated security threats as the year moves to an end.