Category: Southeast report

The decision by Ebonyi State Government to impose N5million payment on political parties wishing to use schools and other public arenas of government to hold rallies ahead of next year’s election has attracted condemnations from opposition parties.

Two leading opposition parties in the state, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have described the decision as undemocratic and backward.

Governor Dave Umahi last week signed an executive order, which stipulates that parties must write to and get permission from the Education Commissioner before being allowed to use school premises for campaigns.

The order also stipulates that N5million down payment must be made before the approval, to be used to repair damaged items that may occur during the rally.

Read Also: Umahi bans APC, PDP, LP from using Ebonyi schools for campaign rallies

Reacting to the order, a chieftain of the PDP, Abia Onyike, in a statement said Governor Umahi was making a mockery of democracy.

Onyike, spokesperson for Anyichuks Grassroots Support Organisation, a support organisation of the PDP governorship candidate, Ifeanyi Odii, said the ruling APC wanted to stop other parties from campaigning, so as to have upper hand during the election.

APGA spokesman Chibuike Nwanchor said the order was against the tenets of democracy.

PDP governorship candidate Ifeanyi Odii described the restriction as undemocratic and unconstitutional.

There is a new lease of hope that the name of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom State, Obong Akanimo Udofia, will be on the ballot in next year’s general election.

The Nation learnt at the weekend that stakeholders of the party in the state were engaging in reconciliatory talks with aggrieved aspirants, who were in court against Udofia’s emergence as the party’s candidate.

For instance, the former Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Ita Enang, is challenging in court the validity of the nomination process, which produced Udofia.

The petitions to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the court cases instituted by Ita Enang and other aggrieved candidates have caused legal impediments, barring Udofia’s name from being published by the commission.

The implication is that the APC may not have a governorship candidate in the state if the court cases linger, a situation stakeholders of the party are working assiduously to avert.

But speaking with The Nation at the weekend, the candidate of APC for Eket federal Constituency, Mr. Eseme Eyiboh, said there were engagements to pacify aggrieved aspirants to possibly withdraw the cases against Udofia.

Read Also: Are engages Ladoja, inaugurates Southwest APC presidential campaign directorate

Eyiboh said there might be an out-of-court settlement to the pave way for INEC to list Udofia on the ballot and for APC to proceed with its governorship campaigns.

“There are a lot of engagements at the stakeholders’ level. So, the leaders and stakeholders of the party are sensitive to the goings on. You in the public that feel that this thing has gone to a point of no return, there are a lot of strategic engagements.

“All sorts of people involved in conflict resolution are engaging and the party will come out stronger. Almost all the political parties are in court over one issue or the other.

“Enang is a party man, a very experienced public officer, and a lawyer who understands alternative dispute resolution as a viable process in peace building.

“I am thinking that he is litigation-weary. All he did was as a result of anger, but I think anger is not a forever thing. So, I think a time has come that he is going to appreciate his position in the party and take some steps backwards and reversal to enjoy the respect he has been enjoying from party members across divides.

“Senator Godswill Akpabio and I are involved in peace and team building. Akpabio is a very critical team builder. I am not in doubt that his efforts along with others will not be in vain,” he said.

The crisis-ridden National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Edo State chapter, is enmeshed in fresh crisis, over 2024 governorship election in the state, as some of members yesterday called for the removal of Edo Commissioner for Youth and Gender Issues, Adaze Emwanta, for alleged attempt to foist his crony as head of the new leadership of the council.

Our reporter, who was at NYCN’s state secretariat, tagged: “Youth House,” on Akpakpava Road, Benin, saw fully-armed policemen, operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), and men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), who took strategic positions, to prevent the breakdown of law and order.

It was gathered that the deepening crisis had to do with the successor to Governor Godwin Obaseki of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who would be completing his second tenure in 2024, with some top political office holders in his administration strategising to install youth leaders that would support their aspirations.

The Chairman of five-member transition committee, set up to conduct election into Edo chapter of NYCN in the next two months, Ehis Osagie, called for immediate sack of Emwanta, the immediate past Edo Commissioner for Communication and Orientation.

Osagie said: “NYCN, Edo State chapter, has been witnessing a rift in the past few weeks, following the failure of the suspended executive committee, led by Comrade Osahon Davison Obasuyi, to put machinery in place to usher in a new administration.

“The management committee, which is the second highest decision-making organ of NYCN, after congress, in its wisdom, constituted a five-man caretaker committee, to put in motion, modalities for the conduct of an election in 60 days, which the dissolved executive failed to achieve.”

A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), in Rivers State, Joe Korka-Waadah, has appealed to the new Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Johnson Alalibo Sinikiem, to ensure every vote counts in next year’s elections.

Korka-Waadah, gave the charge after the swearing-in of Sinikiem and 18 other RECs in Abuja by Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Yakubu Mahmood, Thursday.

Sinikiem, a former Cross Rivers state REC is among the five RECS reappointed ahead of 2023 general 3lections in the country.

Speaking, the oversea based politician urged the new State REC to be , “Wary in officiating on your new turf. If you’ve been superintending in Cross River which is not so far away, you should know that Rivers is a complex, volatile field to supervise elections.

“Your INEC team on ground in Rivers will sure intimate on how the shades of pressures a Rivers REC can be subjected has unsettled carriers of some previous RECs and team leaders in INEC Rivers. It’s up to you to leave a positive legacy or bow to pressure and leave in shame.

“So my advice to you, Mr Commissioner, is Rivers people have one expectation and one expectation only from you. That is to ensure that every vote cast for the 2023 elections count. The only way you can achieve that is by being as honest and transparent as possible in managing the process.

“Don’t yield or be moved by dictates of the state government or inducements from desperate politicians. Stick to your oath of office in good conscience to conduct an election that would record your name in the history books in glittering ink.”

Furthermore, he said, “We also expect Sinikiem to boost voter education on resumption, particularly in ensuring that Rivers voters come forth to pick up thousands of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) yet uncollected at the INEC Rivers.

“With BVAS, we believe 2023 is the year for APC to takeover Rivers, because we are assured the votes will count, the days of electoral robberies in Rivers are over. With this assurance, Tony Cole, our APC guber candidate, Oji Ngofa (Rivers South East senatorial flag bearer) and all other candidates will triumph to transform Rivers our dreams.”

At least two yet to be identified young man and aged woman, were said to have been killed in Evwreni and Unenurhie communities both of Ughelli North local government area of Delta state following an argument that involved money.

The aged woman was said to have been burnt alive by aggrieved youths in Unenurhie community, while the young man said to have been shot dead in Evwreni community of Ughelli North local government area.

Though while reason for the killings is still sketchy, a source who pleaded anonymity while speaking to The Nation said they two friends having an issue of money and one of them who is from Unenurhie community but residing in Evwreni community ran into his house, came with a gun and shot his friend to death for refusing to part with the money is supposedly for him.

The source said having shot the young man dead, the suspect immediately absconded, and in the course of searching for him, went Unenurhie community where the suspect’s mother lives, brought her out and was burnt alive for not finding her son who is on the run.

All effort to speak with the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Bright Edafe failed as he was not picking his calls, but a police in A Division Ughelli Police Station confirmed the incident but said the police are see the body of the burnt woman.

Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State has decried what he calls marginalisation within marginalisation in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), appealing to the new leadership to revisit the original intention for setting up of the Commission.

He made the remarks on Friday when the Acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Eng. Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua led a team of his top management staff on a courtesy call to the Governor at Government House, Owerri.

During the visit, the Commission presented some drugs to the government which the Managing Director said were meant for designated hospitals in Imo State.

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the Essien Udim State Constituency seat in Akwa Ibom state, Prince Akpabio says the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) will greatly enhance the credibility of the 2023 polls.

Akpabio also said that the BVAS thuggery and violence will be greatly reduced against what characterised previous elections in the constituency.

Akpabio who stated this on Friday in Essien Udim LGA while inaugurating the AkeminiAwasi Campaign Council to oversee his 2023 House of Assembly campaigns, noted with delight that the introduction of BVAS by INEC is one innovation that has further confirmed that the deployment of technology in our electoral process as well as other aspects of our national life is the surest way towards achieving sustainable electoral reforms and accelerated national development.

The House of Assembly hopeful explained that BVAS will help achieve the verification of the genuineness of the PVCs and the fingerprint or facial authentication of voters during accreditation and also replace the Z-pad for uploading the polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) in real-time on election day, as the device also serves as INEC Voter Enrolment Device (IVED) during voter registration and eliminates the use of incident forms during accreditation on election day.

Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has invited stakeholders of the state at the local government and community levels, including the clergy, traditional rulers and youths, to an emergency zonal meeting with the leadership of the Nigerian Army.

In a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Information, Steve Oruruo, those invited to the meeting expected to hold across the three senatorial districts of the state today, are chairmen of the 17 Local Government Councils, all traditional rulers of autonomous communities, all presidents-general of autonomous communities and all youth leaders of autonomous communities.

Others are members of the clergy, all heads of Neighbourhood Watch and Forest Guards from autonomous communities and heads of various youth organisations.

The statement further added that the meeting will hold in Enugu North Senatorial District at Nsukka Local Government Council Headquarters, and simultaneously across Enugu West Senatorial District at Awgu Local Government Council Headquarters at 11am and at 2pm in Nkanu West Local Government Council Headquarters for Enugu East Senatorial District, respectively.

The PDP presidential spokesman Mr Charles Aniagwu has accused the opposition Delta APC  of hiring local government retirees to demonstrate against the Okowa administration.

Aniagwu, who spoke to reporters yesterday in Asaba, Delta Capital, said the objective of the protest billed for November 8 is to portray the Okowa government in bad light.

Aniagwu, who doubles is Delta Information Commissioner, said sponsored protests, notwithstanding, the PDP government will not be distracted from its welfare commitment to the people.

According to him, the state government has continued to assistance to local councils to the tune of N600 million monthly to augment pensions of affected retirees who are mainly teachers, including the N10 billion grant to retirees.

He carpeted the APC in Delta State for making political capital of the misery of floods victims, adding that government would continue to assist flood victims without making noise about it like APC does.

The Urhobo apex socio-cultural body, Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) Worldwide, has lauded the Deputy President of the Senate and Delta state All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Obaisi Ovie Omo-Agege for his quality representation at the upper chamber.

UPU also lauded Omo-Agege for attracting projects across the nooks and crannies of Delta Central Senatorial District and beyond, adding that he is eminently qualified to lead the state as governor in 2023.

The President-General of UPU, Worldwide, Olorogun (Dr) Moses Taiga stated this on Friday when the lawmaker paid a consultation visit to UPU executives at Okpare-Olomu.

Taiga who spoke on behalf of the Urhobo nation, said the entire Urhobo has observed with satisfaction the quality representation of Omo-Agege, saying that, “I wish to commend Omo-Agege, on his services to Urhobo nation and to Nigeria. I must commend you for the great achievements over the seven years in the senate, it shows you are a worthy son of Urhobo nation.

“We thank you for attracting federal Polytechnic and other federal institutions to Orogun in Urhobo land and also other projects, so we are proud of your role in the past constitutional review exercise and impressed with  efforts in the Nigeria electoral Act 2022 that has brought new hope in the country electoral processes.”

Speaking earlier, Omo-Agege thanked the UPU for their warm reception and promised to turn things around when he assume the position of Delta state governor in 2023, even as he called on Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to withdraw from the presidential race having betrayed the Southsouth.

“Okowa-led administration is amassing loans every day. When Governor Uduaghan left office, he left N80 billion debt and people were shouting that he almost destroyed the state. Today, it’s about N400 billion.  These loans are used for something you cannot see, and nobody will quarrel about that. It is not a crime to take loans. America is indebted. It is one of the biggest indebted nations in the world.”