By Nwanosike Onu, Awka; Sunny Nwankwo, Umuahia and Emma Elekwa, Onitsha

Security was beefed up in Anambra and Abia states on Monday following a plan by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to stage a protest in the Southeast and Southsouth.

IPOB had on Sunday urged members to join the peaceful protest, during which cities would be cleaned up.

But the group, through its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, said its Anambra Command had already cleaned up the mess caused by the miscreants that held the state hostage for the past one week.

“Residents of Nnewi and Onitsha are asked to go about their businesses while waiting for further directives from the supreme leader.

“We are also disassociating ourselves from the faceless viral video threatening to attack prisons in Anambra State.

“It is cowardly. We do not hide our faces while making our statement. We are fearless. We are not in support of such cowardly statement,” IPOB said.

Read Also: Five soldiers killed as Wike declares war on IPOB

The protest or clean-up also did not hold in Aba and Umuahia, Abia State, as earlier announced.

When our reporter visited parts of Umuahia, people were seen going about their business.

There was no sign that the clean-up exercise and the peaceful protest took place anywhere in the city.

Stern-looking security personnel were seen at strategic places as the state government had earlier assured it was going to protect lives and property.

In Anambra, security patrol teams made up of the Joint Task Force (JTF) were seen moving around major the towns of Awka, Onitsha and Nnewi as directed by Governor Willie Obiano.

They were also seen at strategic locations, especially government establishments, wielding sophisticated weapons.

IPOB has threatened to disgrace corrupt politicians whenever they are found outside the country.

Its leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, in a live broadcast, said there would be no hiding place for looters anywhere in the world.

He said: “Any day any corrupt Nigerian political office holder is sighted in any foreign country, such a person will be publicly disgraced and humiliated.

“From today, October 25, 2020, if we get you abroad, we will disgrace you. Stay at home until you meet the 23 demands of the youths,” he said.

Kanu blamed the infrastructural decay and endemic corruption in Nigeria on the avarice of the politicians.

He said politicians let schools collapse while funding their children’s education abroad with stolen funds.

“The children of such politicians schooling abroad will be chased back home by the diasporan Nigerians to enrol in schools which their parents failed to renovate and fund at home,” he added.

The IPOB leader said he was aggrieved by the shooting of youths who were protesting against police brutality at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos.

Agency Reporter

The people of Okpoama Community in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State have reported an oil spillage at an oilfield operated by Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC).

A community spokesman said the pollution was causing untold hardships to the predominantly fishing population in the community.

The spokesman, Chief Inikio Sele-Dede, who is also the chairman of Okpoama Kingdom Chiefs’ Council, raised the alarm in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Yenagoa.

He described the community as where the Minister of State, Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, hails from, saying youths in the community were being restrained from resorting to violence.

He disclosed that youths had threatened to attack the Agip CudenTerminal in Brass over the leakage, which occurred along the 243  Ogoda-Brass Trunk line operated by NAOC at Ikuiku, near Ewoama-Brass in Bayelsa State.

Sele-Dede said the spill, the second in the area since last May, was discovered on October 8 and that it had continued to discharge crude into the creeks and damaging the environment.

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He lamented that the leaking oil had spread to Fantuo, Canus Kiri Okpongbokiri, Inibomoye Kiri, Alafurughakiri and Inengigha kiri because of tidal currents.

The community leader said, however, that officials of NAOC had visited the scene of the spill but were not able to stop the flow.

“In May this year we had a similar incident not far from the current spill site.

“In this case, just like the previous case, Agip officials came secretly to attempt to stop the leakage, but were overwhelmed by the pressure.

“You can imagine the quantum of oil that has gone into the creeks, given the number of days of leakage from October 8.”

Sele-Dede described Ikuiku community as an area where women go to harvest periwinkles, saying people no longer go to the area to fish because of pollution.

“I understand the anger of the youth because the company which provides power in the community has not provided power to the community in recent times.”

Sele-Dede pleaded with the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency to intervene in the management of the spill.

Contacted on the development, Eni, the parent company of NAOC, in a statement, confirmed the spillage, but regretted that its response had been hampered by denial of access by host communities.

“Preliminary findings show that the event is a minor spill, estimated in less than two barrels and containment measures have been deployed.

“However, community disturbances linked to issues of land ownership involving multiple communities have been delaying our access to the area.

“Regulators and authorities have been duly informed and we are continuing to engage the community to get access to the area,” said Eni management.

Our Reporter

The curfew imposed on Port Harcourt and its environs has compelled the Rivers State University and the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education to postpone their ongoing examinations.

No new date has been announced for the resumption of the examinations.

Rivers State Government imposed the curfew last week after hoodlums hijacked the #EndSARS protests.

The Registrar/Secretary to the Senate of the Rivers University, Dr. Sydney Enyindah, said in a statement in Port Harcourt on Monday that the suspension of the examinations became necessary to allow candidates comply with government’s directives on the curfew and to ensure their safety.

Read Also: NECO postpones SSCE exams indefinitely

“Following our earlier announcement postponing some examinations in the ongoing first semester examination, it has become necessary to postpone the remaining parts of the first semester examinations,” he said.

In another statement, Mrs. Hope Kue-Ikoro, registrar at the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, said the Senate had approved the postponement of the final year examinations earlier scheduled to hold between October 26 and November 2.

She added that a new date for the examinations would be announced soon.

By Nwanosike Onu, Awka

The Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone 13, Ukpo, Anambra State, Danmallam Mohammed, on Monday visited 17 police stations attacked by EndSARS protesters in the state.

He regretted the killing of four policemen by hoodlums and urged them not to be deterred.

Mohammed urged them to be gallant and protect armouries under them at all costs.

In a statement on Monday at Ukpo in Dunukofia Local Government, the command spokesman, Nkeiruka Nwode, said the IGP’s tour was in line with the directive of the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu.

Read Also: Police abandon streets in Lagos, Abuja

Nwode said: “AIG Mohammed has visited some police stations in Anambra State and the Anambra State Revenue House in Awka, Anambra State capital, to ascertain the level of damage by the hoodlums.

“The places the AIG visited include: Ogidi Divisional Station, Central Police Station, Awka, B. Division, Awka, Revenue House and the Anambra State Command Headquarters, Amawbia among others.

“The AIG addressed officers on ground to be gallant in the discharge of their duties and protect their armouries at all costs.

“He cautioned them not to be demoralised by the turn of events recently in the country and in Anambra State, precisely.

“He hailed the DPOs for their firm stand against the vandalism of their stations by the assailants.”

Nwode said the AIG admonished officers to take the opportunity of the current situation in the country to give the force a new face in all ramifications

By Sunny Nwankwo, Umuahia, Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba and Chris Njoku, Owerri

Abia State government has announced plans to relax the ongoing dusk to dawn curfew in all the parts of the state.

Our correspondent gathered that the government took the decision after due review and consideration of the current security situation in the state.

The Governor Okezie Ikpeazu after reviewing the security situation directed that the dusk to dawn curfew be relaxed to now take effect from 6pm to 6am from Sunday, 25th October, 2020.

All markets by the latest development are therefore to be reopened during the day while market committees and security teams mobilize adequate security to watch over the markets at night and during the day.

The Abia State Government also disclosed that it has received reports that strange individuals are moving into the state en masse with possible nefarious intentions and wish to direct hotel proprietors and managers to properly scrutinise new guests and report suspicious persons to security agents for appropriate review.

“We also wish to inform the general public that we have received reports that some yet to be identified enemies of Ndigbo are planning to unleash mayhem and burn down some major markets in the state in order to cause sorrow and tears to the hardworking people of the state and possibly provoke mass uprising.”

A statement by the Information Commissioner, John Okiyi-Kalu said “We further appeal to those behind the dastardly plot aimed at frustrating the livelihood of Ndigbo who are still struggling to recover from the devastating effects of CovidI-19 pandemic to have a rethink.

Read Also: #EndSARS, anarchy and a wave of curfews

“While security agencies have also been mobilised to protect the markets and key public and private infrastructure in the state, we call on our people to allow good sense prevail and not engage in any activity that will further harm our lives and wellbeing.”

In a related development, Delta Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa has reviewed the curfew imposed on the state.

Okowa said the curfew will now only be observed between the hours of 6pm to 8am daily.

Earlier, Okowa had imposed a 48 hour curfew across the State that was due to lapse today at 6.00 p.m.

With this development, residents can now resume and go about their lawful duties beginning from yesterday from 8am to 6pm.

Okowa made this known yesterday while inspecting the Event Centre, in Asaba, the state capital, where palliatives donated by Coalition Against COVID (CA-COVID) to the state government were earlier kept for distribution.

CA-COVID-19 palliatives is a private sector initiative supporting the fight against the effects of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.

Okowa said the state had already distributed the palliatives to indigent Deltans long before the #EndSARS protest across the state.

Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma yesterday also relaxed the 24 hours curfew imposed on the state following the wanton destruction unleashed in some parts of the state during #EndSARS protest across the country.

The governor who announced this during a state broadcast on Saturday, said as the situation in the state and the country gradually returns to normal, “it is necessary to relax the curfew announced on Wednesday.”

Consequently, he said the curfew will now start from 6pm to 6am everyday for now, adding that those on approved essential services are however exempted from the curfew.

He commended the youths across the country in general and in Imo State in particular for heeding to President Muhammadu Buhari and his calls to end the protests.

Governor Uzodimma lauded the youths from Imo State in particular and youths from across the country in general for comporting themselves responsibly during the #EndSARS protests by pulling out after making their grievances known, noting that the unfortunate destruction of government facilities and private property in Imo in the guise of protests afterwards was the handiwork of mercenaries hired to wreak havoc in the state.

The governor also announced the immediate release of N2 billion as take-off fund for the training of the first batch of the beneficiaries of a comprehensive youth empowerment scheme in the state.

The money will be taken out of the N6 billion the government has earmarked for an accelerated youth empowerment programme in Imo.

By Emma Elekwa, Onitsha

Traditional ruler of Nnewi, Anambra State, HRH, Igwe Kenneth Orizu III has expressed worry over the burning and vandalisation of police stations and other security formations in the area.

He warned those who burnt and carted away arms and other property in the formations in the industrial city to return the loot or face the consequences.

Read Also: Police arrest suspected looters, recover items in A’Ibom

Orizu who spoke through the Crown Prince, Obi said the leaders in the area were carrying out intelligence gathering on how to fish out who and where the looters were to plead with them or otherwise for the recovery.

He explained that he was not against the protest as it was nation-wide to address a nagging issue that bordered on police brutality but could not understand why the property of the community would be destroyed in the name protest.

By Nwanosike Onu, Awka

The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB),says any person or group inciting  the Yoruba against Igbo in the name of protest will never succeed.

The group condemned the Young Yoruba Freedom YYF, led by one Adeyinka Grandson for posting an offensive video calling Igbo to quit Lagos or be killed to desist from such act.

In a statement Saturday by the leader of MASSOB, Uchenna Madu, which was made to The Nation in Awka, the pro Biafra group said YYF should preach peace instead of inciting regions against each other.

Madu, said MASSOB had worked and still working in alliance with Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) and other notable Yoruba self-determination and pressure groups for the betterment of the respective regions, adding that it was shocking to receive such red signal from its Oduduwa brothers.

Read Also: Nigeria can’t afford another war, Igbo group warns

According to MASSOB, “It is well known that Ndigbo and Yorubas have lived, interacted and socialised in harmony with each other.

“MASSOB stands for the self-determination emancipation for all regions of Nigeria. Igbo political leaders are in alliance with their counterpart in Yoruba land clamouring for true federalism and restructuring of Nigeria.

“MASSOB advised the Young Yorubas for Freedom (YYF) and their collaborators to stop fanning the embers of discord and calumny among the southern brothers.

“Ndigbo have never declared any aggression against the Yorubas or any other indigenous tribe in Nigeria. Ndigbo did not attack or destroy any government or private properties in Lagos.”