The police in Enugu State have arrested a gang of hoodlums said to specialise in hijacking fully loaded lorries and selling the goods before dismantling the vehicle and also selling the parts.
Information from the state police spokesman Ebere Amaraizu, identified the suspects as Nwabueze Ogbonna; Solomon Okafor; Igwenagu Ezenwa, Obiora Nebe and Fidelis Ozofor.
They are being detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department where they are providing more information on the alleged crime.
The suspects, according to the police, made confessional statements, admitting to the crime.
The police said the suspects regretted their actions and revealed that they operate in Delta, Abia and Enugu states as well as any other place depending on where they can get their target.
They added that they hijack the slow-moving vehicles at gunpoint on hills and tie up the drivers and other passengers.
Thereafter they will move with the truck and the consignment to Kano State and sell off the goods and the parts.
One of the suspects, Solomon Okafor disclosed that he used be a lorry transporter.
He said he sold off his lorry as it was getting old and joined the business of hijacking of lorries parked at the expressway or finding it impossible to climb hills.
Once without any sign of growth, a community in Anambra State now boasts modern amenities. NWANOSIKE ONU reports on the transformation, which started barely seven years ago
There used to be little to celebrate in Nkerehi, a 120-year-old community in Anambra State nestling on its border with Abia. Its people had neither paved road nor healthy water nor electricity. The people quartered in Orumba South Local Government Area lived in the dark, if not in the past. There were, to be fair, only two noticeable industries: a stone quarry and traditional medicine.
That has changed. In 2008, they jettisoned their name, Nkerehi, and adopted another, Umuchukwu. The name-change was not without opposition. A few indigenes thought it wrong, almost a sacrilege, to throw away the name given by their forebears. Some youths took up arms, reportedly sponsored by some well-heeled folk. Shots were fired and a few lives were lost. The community’s traditional leader, Igwe Michael Ukaegbu was abducted but has since been released.
Things have changed. Over 70 respectable homes for widows have sprouted in the community. Anglican and Catholic worshippers also have decent auditoriums. There are computer-equipped schools, accommodation for civil defence personnel, a market, police station, post office, high court, a befitting palace for the king, even monasteries for those dedicated to Christian service. Umuchukwu also has two smooth road, built by former governor Peter Obi.
The community has Dr Godwin Maduka, a spine surgeon, to thanks for most of these facilities built by a foundation named after him.
Fifty-eight-year-old Johnson Ezeji said Dr Maduka, who lives abroad, is a godsend. “Only few [elements] in the community who are also abroad and do not come home, are against the progress this community is making through this our illustrious son,” he said.
“They opposed the change of name from Nkerehi to Umuchukwu; nobody knew whether it was that name that was impeding progress in this area, while the community became a laughingstock to other communities.”
“We are happy today because the name of the community was changed to Umuchukwu (God’s own land) to suit the revelation of God in the land; nobody knew the meaning of Nkerehi given to the place by our forefathers.”
Mr. Ikechukwu Omelazu, 48, a community leader, told The Nation that other communities are now yearning to have somebody like Maduka, adding that Umuchukwu has been blessed through him.
He urged the rich in the state to join forces and build their communities. “If the politicians…go to their communities to invest, Anambra State would soon be like Dubai.
At the burial of the community’s traditional Prime Minister, Chief Sylvanus Maduka, the Catholic Bishop of Awka, Most Rev Paulinus Ezeokafor urged Ndigbo to reduce their expenses at funerals and emulate people like Dr Maduka.
The burial of the late Prime Minister attracted the presence of former Governor Peter Obi, the state Governor, Chief Willie Obiano, his Deputy, Dr Nkem Okeke and Mr. Godwin Ezeemo, a philanthropist, among others.
Dr Maduka said, “I want to tell the people that this community is not cursed. I prayed God to give me the means to alleviate the sufferings of my people, and I thanked God He has given me small ammunition to fight poverty in this land.
“It was the desire to help the people at home after my education that made me to come up with a creative idea and I once more thank God again that it has started working in Anambra State.
“When I travelled out of the country, I vowed and prayed to God that I was going to fight poverty in the land. The first time I came home after many years, I cried because the people were looking sick. It was a town in decay without hope.”
The wife of Ebonyi State Governor, Mrs Rachel Umahi has kicked off a project aimed at providing skills for women and youths.
The project called “Family Succour and Uplift Programme,” focuses on health, education, economic empowerment of women and youths as well as women liberation.
She said, “On health the programme aims at achieving an effective and efficient primary healthcare…On education, the…programme has the mandate to achieve 100 per cent girl-child education in the state…which aims at giving the girl-child the deserved opportunities.
“The economic empowerment for women and youths aspect of the programme targets achieving sustained economic empowerment and creation of jobs for women and youths, through entrepreneurship and agriculture to put food on the tables of their families, in addition to addressing the problem of poverty”.
“In the area of liberation, the…programme intends to liberate Ebonyi women from all vices against the female folk and ensure the uplift and enhancement of their general living status.
”In view of the harsh economic realities of our time, it is pertinent to harp on the importance of the programme on entrepreneurship centre for women and youth empowerment.
“It is a well known fact that the major challenges facing families, especially women and children revolve around poverty. Statistics have shown that most of the social malaises prevalent in our society today are a result of poor or inadequate healthcare, school dropout syndrome, delinquency among youths, waywardness among our girl children such as prostitution and other anti-social behaviours all stem from poverty”.
“Economic empowerment is a solution to poverty and this informed my determination to improve upon the family income of our people through entrepreneurship and job creation for women and youths”.
She said the programme will utilize the entrepreneurship centre at the Women development Cengtre (WDC) ion Abakaliki to achieve the goals.
“The centre provides such skills such as palm oil processing and palm kernel oil extraction, shoe making, hair dressing, fabric weaving/weaving of cardigans, fish farm, soap making, IT-software development, and system maintenance for youth empowerment and entrepreneurship development training among others.
“The major activities of the centre includes; production /product development, processing and marketing, training retraining and capacity building as well as micro credit programme of the state government, it will provide graduates of the centre with micro credit to establish their micro credit programmes outside the ones provided by the state government, and other government agencies such as the Central Bank”.
“It is pertinent to note that this programme is part of my effort at using my position as wife of the governor to mainstream certain issues that will improve upon the productivity of our women and youths; so as to reduce the burden of poverty among our people’.
Representatives of various international agencies at the occasion promised to partner with Mrs Umahi to achieve the aims and objectives of the programme.
The partners include IFAD, UNIDO, USAID, UNICEF, WHO, FAO, Un-Habitat, SFH.
The Governor of the state, Dave Umahi assured of both personal and governmental support to the initiative adding that the project will bring succor to Ebonyi people.
He noted that the programme is a prayer answered as it will assist the state government to cater for Ebonyi women, and youths as promised by his administration.
The wife of the governor later distributed 464 bags of fertilizers, and other agro products to Ebonyi farmers. The other product includes cartons of vespamil plus chemical for clearing weeds from the farms, philo-16 sprayers and other agro chemicals.
The hugely subsidized products were procured and distributed in conjunction with IFAD one of the partners of the programme.
The grim memories of the 2012 overflow are still fresh, but a fresh deluge is threatening to reenact them in the state. NWANOSIKE ONU reports
Barely three years ago, much of Anambra State was washed away, as were several other parts of the country. Farmlands and homes were swept off. So were barns and livestock, to say nothing of human lives lost. 2012 was the year of the floods. Sadly, residents are getting a hint of a repeat.
In such communities as Awka, the state capital, Onitsha, its commercial hub, Obosi, Oraukwu, Nise, Nibo and Abatete, there is a sense of the deluge all over again. The bridge along Oraukwu-Abatete Road in Idemili North Local Government Area of the state has collapsed. Ezigbo River has overflowed its banks. In Awka, Amikwo community has been flooded, while some of the residents have started moving out of the area for fear of drowning.
One of the residents of the area, Comrade Obi Ochije, who chairs 20 villages of Ezinano, was in tears when he spoke with The Nation, saying that a security man nearly drowned.
Most shops have been destroyed.
No fewer than 10 houses, farmlands and an electricity transformer have been submerged in Agu-Awka community.
Speaking with TheNation, the state chairman of Labour Party (LP), Chief Luke Ezeanokwasa from Umuchu in Aguata Local Government Area said the Mili Ezigbo Bridge between Abatete and Oraukwu has been submerged.
He said that the danger is that people who ply the route could be drowned anytime because the bridge is no longer visible.
Ezenokwasa said that the people of Anambra expect Governor Willie Obiano to use the N75 billion cash and in investments left by his predecessor Peter Obi to alleviate the sufferings of the citizens, but so far, that is not the case.
He said if the state government fails to give urgent attention to the Oraukwu-Abatete Bridge, the death toll in the area will be very alarming.
Another area of concern is a 1km road in Amawbia and Nise, behind the Governor’s Lodge, which has become impassable every time it rains.
The eight-hour rain in the state on Monday, which spilled to Tuesday, exposed all the leakages in the state, with most of the residents rendered homeless.
Ezeanokwasa said, “Fear has gripped the residents of Amikwo, in Awka South Local Government Area as gully erosion and flooding are threatening buildings.”
“Many no longer drive into their houses as roads have become impassable, even the popular Keke Napep and commercial motorcycle no longer ply the area and residents park outside to trek to their homes”
“Some of the streets mostly affected in Awka are Obi Ochije avenue, Rebecca Nwobu road, Evans Ebbe street and Annunciation road”
a boy wading through flood water at an erosion site in Amikwo
“Our party frowns that after increased illegal and multiple taxes orchestrated by agents masquerading as government revenue collectors in Amikwo and other parts of the state, the government in Anambra could not clean the perennial drainage channels, it is shame” Ezeanokwasa said.
For Comrade Obi Ochije, it was an appeal to Obiano to come to the aide of the residents as some of the people are finding solace in nearby villages.
“Building flyovers by Obiano is good in Awka, but it will be suicidal after building the flyovers there are no persons to ply on them when flood [would have swept off] everybody.”
“The governor is trying his best but he should not allow the people to all die through flood; the Obunagu Road links Amawbia Bypass which is an important road to the people.”
Governor Obiano defied the rain to visit one of the flooded areas in Ngozika Estate in Awka where the house belonging to the retired Assistant Inspector General of police (AIG), Ikemefuna Okoye was submerged.
Obiano sounded a note of warning that his administration would not hesitate to pull down structures erected on water channels in the state.
Again, he threatened to enforce the prosecution of anyone whose structure causes such blockages.
The governor, who was disturbed by the situation of resurgent flooding in the state, said that his administration would look into its causes.
“We have cautioned our people to observe basic rules and guidelines when embarking on the construction of their buildings.
“We can see that the rain are here and is causing havoc here and there. People should desist from dumping refuse and blocking drains because it contributes to what we are witnessing. Anyone caught in the act will contend with relevant laws and where found guilty will be punished.”
The governor expressed sympathy with the retired AIG, Ikemefuna Okoye whose house was among the ones submerged and instructed that the occupants be lodged in a hotel for few days, while remedial measures were made to check the flooding.
A chieftain of All Progressive Congress [APC] in Abia state Prince Paul Ikonne has said that the reception accorded President Muhammadu Buhari in the United sates of America shows that Nigeria is on the path to greatness.
Ikonne said that it is also a clear indication that Nigeria is no longer viewed from the negative point, but ranked among honourable nations of the world.
He called on Ndigbo to support the administration, adding that soon, positive results of his visit would begin to unfold for the benefit of the people of the country.
He congratulated the President for what he described as a successful trip to the U.S. and expressed happiness over his recognition by the international community.
Speaking with The Nation in Umuahia after a meeting in Enugu as a member of a ix man committee set up to organize World Igbo Conference, Ikonne said that the President’s visit to America will open new vista of opportunities for the country.
Ikonne said that the conference is a concept of Igbo Stakeholders that will come together to deliberate on how to move the Igbo nation forward for the benefit of the people of the zone.
According to the former governorship candidate of the defunct ACN, the Committee has been making consultations with different stakeholders across Igbo land, with the mandate to bring Ndigbo together to seek the way forward politically, economically and socially.
Ikonne said, “One of the basic questions we will want answers to during the conference, is the place of the Igbo man in today’s Nigeria and how to ensure that the political wind that is blowing
across nation is favorable to the Igbo nation.
The history of the Ndigbo places them as a people who have little or no regard to kingship, but this group is of the opinion that the Ndigbo of this generation can now appreciate the place of a King, where the king has been known to have been tested and trusted by the people”.
He described Dr Ogbonnaya Onu as the rallying point of an Igbo man, stressing that he has never stop to praise Ohaneze Ndigbo for their steadfastness and poise to move the Igbo nation forward.
Ikonne said that he told the Committee that Igbos in the North massively voted for president Muhammadu Buhari and called all Igbos to support the government of Buhari which he described as the best thing that has happened to the Igbo man.
On why they visited Dr Onu, Ikonne said that it is because he has been rated as an outstanding Igbo personality who can be seen as a symbol of Igbo identity and integrity.
He said, “Though we have a lot of Honorable Igbo sons across the globe, Onu’s integrity is second to none, which is the reason why we called on him first to tap from his wealth of experience and fountain of knowledge and wisdom”.
On the nature of the conference, Ikonne said that their mandate was to ensure that all Igbo stakeholders are consulted over the plan to hold the World Igbo conference, which will be the first of its kind.
A group of All Progressives Congress (APC) members has hinted of the party’s bright chances in the next elections four years away, saying it will win most of the seats in the region.
Comrade James Chibuzo Chikwendu, chair of a new association, the All Progressives Congress State Assembly Candidates Forum, Southeast Zone, said this in Aba, Abia State’s commercial nerve, during the inauguration of the group’s state leaders.
Chikwendu who was the Obingwa West State Constituency candidate in the last election, said the group was set up to garner support for the President Buhari administration and ensure the party did not lose its supporters at its various ward.
He said it has become necessary to carry their supporters along on the activities of the party to enable them work collaboratively ahead of 2019 general election.
Chikwendu regretted that the party did not have a good showing in the Southeast in the last elections, but he lauded party members for doing their best in the elections.
The zonal chair of the group also praised President Muhammadu Buhari’s drive to recover looted funds.
Those elected to positions in the new organisation’s Abia branch include: Hon Odoemelam Chidiebere Victor (State Coordinator); Hon. Chibuzo Chima Zaccheus (Assistant State Coordinator); Hon. Mrs. Kalu Ifeyinwa Victoria (Secretary), and Hon. Ochemba Ugochukwu (Publicity Secretary).
Others are Hon. Uba Omenazu (Assistant Publicity Secretary); Prince Ibekwe Victor Okpara (Treasurer), and Hon. Ben Ezuma (Financial Secretary).
Chikwendu urged the officers to be committed to the party and work in harmony with its leadership in the state.
A N200m facility is to be built at Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, where business people can acquire skills and be certified.
The centre will be set up by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), said its Southeast Representative Mr Chinedu Onu, a lawyer, who led a delegation from the agency to the institution.
Onu said the project will be private sector-driven, the centre managed by a director appointed by the agency, while the teachers will be drawn from the state polytechnic.
He said, “After carrying out a research, we discovered that most of the male folk in the southeast in business lack formal education. They enjoy doing business than going to school. You know that Aba is the centre of commerce and business activities where majority of these young boys come to exercise their technological prowess and that is why we thought it wise to partner with the Abia State Polytechnic management to establish the center here which is very close to the business community.
“We hope that the project when completed will help the young boys doing business in Aba and its environs to get proper training on the modern way of doing business and improve their skills on how best to produce some of the things that they are producing in order to remain relevant and the aim for which TETfund wants to establish this center is to sharpen their skills and promote boy-child education through skill acquisition. It is expected that the students at the end of their training will be awarded with a certificate which will enable them have the capacity to bid for job offers and have a certification that will back their skills.
“We hope that this venture will reverse the trend in the southeast; where boys in the region prefer doing business than going to school. It will make them think with their brain and as well, use their hands to earn a living for themselves.”
He further used the opportunity to plead with the Abia State Government to award contracts to the institution’s graduands and to sponsor a few of them and encourage more persons to embrace the exercise and pointed out that their area of focus would be on engineering; mechantronics, building tech among others.
In his response, the acting rector of the Polytechnic, Prof. Uche Ikonne thanked the team for choosing the institution as a preferred place to site the project.
Ikonne said that he would do everything within his power to ensure that project was sited on the institution’s campus and thanked TETfund for the numerous projects they have helped the school to build.
The rector later took the team round the institution’s engineering, fabrication and entrepreneurial labs where the prospective students were expected to have a practical knowledge of the areas they would be trained on.
The Abia State police command has mounted a campaign against vice by sensitising secondary school pupils on cultism and other anti-social behaviour.
It was in compliance with the Inspector General of Police Solomon Arase’s directive.
The State Police Public Relations Officer, Udeviotu Ezekiel Onyeke who represented the Commissioner of Police, Joshiak Habila during the sensitisation in Umuahia schools.
In an address entitled The Devil Called Cultism, Onyeke listed the dangers of cultism to include truancy, pain, permanent disability and death, among others.
Onyeke who described cultism as an ill wind that blows no good, said students who engage in it end up losing their lives. He added that the sensitisation exercise was part of proactive strategies of the police to tackle vice.
He said that the anti-cultism campaign would continue in all schools in the state, noting that there is a high rate of cult activities in communities where High Schools and tertiary institutions are located.
He advised the students to report suspected cult activities in their areas and within the school environment to the nearest police station and their school authorities who will invite the police to come and take care of the situation, stressing that registering with known social and humanitarian organisations like Red Cross Society, Scripture Union, among others, would help them use their time to contribute meaningfully to the society.
Principals and students of some of the schools (Ibeku High School, Government College, Umuahia, Isieke Model High School, Amuzukwu Girls Secondary School, among others, expressed their happiness over the gesture of the police, describing it as impactful and timely.
Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has authorised the upgrade of three hospitals in Enugu North senatorial zone (the Old Nsukka District) to enable rural dwellers receive adequate medical care much quicker.
The state Commissioner for Health Dr Samuel Ngwu made said this when he led a delegation of the state health management board to some of the hospitals in the zone. They were on a fact-finding mission, it was said.
Ngwu said both the Nsukka District hospital at Nsukka and Comprehensive Health Centre, Amalla Orba in Udenu Local Government Area would be upgraded to the status of General Hospital, so as to better cater for the health needs of the people.
Enugu Ezike District Hospital will be upgraded to a specialist hospital.
The state commissioner for Health assured that work would commence in earnest as the state government intends to leave no stone unturned in actualizing its focal agenda of providing basic health facilities to the citizens and other Nigerians residing in the state.
•Another hospital to be upgraded
He said the affected hospitals after the upgrading would equally provide relief for commuters travelling to and fro the East to the Northern part of the country, in emergency health situations.
He demanded the cooperation of both the traditional rulers and council authorities of Nsukka, Udenu and Igbo Eze North local government areas in securing the equipments and properties of the contractors that will handle the projects as soon as they move to site.
Ngwu who was accompanied on the tour of the fact finding mission by some management staff of the state health board including, Dr Nnamchi Roberts, Dr Okechukwu Osai, Dr Hillary Agbo, Dr Ossai and Mr Emeka Nebo, the public relations officer, of Enugu Ministry of Health, lamented the dearth of facilities and equipments in most of the hospitals and restated the commitment of Governor Ugwuanyi in ensuring that the state hospitals are adequately equipped.
His words: ’We have seen and we have been briefed of the challenges of electricity and water supply bedeviling these hospitals. I assure you that the present administration in the state under Governor Ugwuanyi will tackle all the challenges head on, the health of the people is one the major focus of his government’.
The Chief Medical Director of Nsukka District Hospital, Dr Joseph Nnamani disclosed to the commissioner and his team that they go through hell in fuelling the hospital generator set on a daily basis for use, since power supply from PHCN was cut off, based on the hospital’s over N2.3m indebtedness to the organisation.
The Chairman, Nsukka Local Government Area, Hon Charles Ugwu and Hon Cornelius Ezeugwu of Igbo Eze North council area pledged to ensure the safety of the project contractors as well as that of all site equipment.
A man, simply identified as John, who reportedly staked a N500 bet to prove he could drink 20 sachets of rum, died before spending the money.
John who was said to favour a particular brand of rum, reportedly said he could indulge his tastes and make some cheap money in the process.
He died in a suburb of Aba popularly called Amanmong.
An eyewitness said everything seemed to be going well as John started drinking and that people even cheering him on with hand-claps. The witnesses said the man kept going, his eyes on the N500 prize money.
At the tenth sachet, John was said to have asked for a break. He was obliged and later continued.
“At the 15th sachet he sat down and leaned on the wall of the shop where the competition was taking place,” it was said.
John was said to have taken the 20th sachet and staggered home. He was declared dead in the morning.
His corpse has been deposited at a nearby mortuary.
Sources said they were not surprised that the drinker died that way.
A friend of his, who refused to give his name, said John succeeded in embalming himself with the hot drink, adding that poverty in the country had a part to play in his friend’s suicidal demise.
He said that people have been having such competitions around the suburb.
“However, we have never seen or heard of anyone drinking 20 sachets of [that rum] before”.
If the economy had been in good condition I don’t think any right-thinking man would like to embark on such a dangerous venture just to earn some money to feed his family.”
