Category: Southeast report

Vice Chairman of the Abuja chapter of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Tonte Ibraye, is Rivers State governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the 2023 general elections.

Of the 188 votes, Ibraye, who is an advocate for maternal, newborn and child health, scored 187 votes to defeat Joyce Barida and Dr. Warmeth Wright.

A representative of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Emmanuel Isong, who monitored the exercise, described it as free and fair.

Ibraye, who attributed his victory to God and the party, called for the full implementation of the Electoral Act in all processes leading to the general election, especially enforcement of the provision for electronic transmission of results. He called on INEC to execute all penalties against rigging and other electoral sharp practices, threatening that the party would report any attempt to manipulate the election to the international community.

Chairman of the Labour Party in Cross River State Chief Baron Eyo has said Peter Obi remains the only candidate to bring about the ‘impossible’ change Nigerians yearn for.

Eyo, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar yesterday, dismissed the notion that the former Anambra governor stood no chance of winning the 2023 presidential election.

Eyo, who also chairs the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in Cross River State, said Obi’s antecedents as governor and businessman was already working for him. According to him, Obi’s acceptability by the majority of Nigerians has made him the candidate to beat at election.

According to him, Nigerians need a vibrant young person that can coordinate the country in areas of security and education, among other sectors.

“It is not about just being a president, but the president should be someone who can be called upon at any time and he will take up the challenge. Obi has come to rekindle the winning spirit of the Labour Party. We have structures across the country.

“Members of the LP are die-hard ones. They are here because of the ideals of the party and not what they can get to make ends meet politically; they are here because they want to bring about that change that we all desire.

“Obi’s candidacy is already becoming a movement; you can see many Nigerians donating their resources, money, vehicles and buildings to be part of the movement,” he noted.

The Abia State House of Assembly has approved financial autonomy for the 17 local government areas of the state.

The lawmakers also approved financial autonomy for the state Judicial Commission and House of Assembly during yesterday’s plenary presided over by the Speaker, Chinedum Orji.

This is the first sitting after the House adjourned indefinitely following attempts by some members to impeach some of the principal officers.

After exhausting the items on the order list, sitting was adjourned till today.

Edo State Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu has called for peace and mutual coexistence among residents in resolving the lingering boundary dispute.

He made the call yesterday at the Government House in Benin when he met with leaders and representatives from Auchi, Warrake, Avbiosi and Okpohumi in Edo North Senatorial District, as part of efforts towards resolving the boundary dispute that threatens the peaceful coexistence of communities.

Shaibu admonished leaders of the feuding communities to return home and have more discussions to proffer lasting solutions to the challenges, devoid of government’s intervention.

He said: “We are giving them another three weeks to resolve the challenges themselves. Failure to do this, latest July 1, the government shall take a stand in line with the state boundary demarcation rules. We want Edo State to remain peaceful, to sustain our efforts at bringing in investors.”

Teachers engaged by the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) during the administration of former Anambra State Governor Willie Obiano have protested their sack at the House of Assembly.

According to them, they were recently converted to permanent staff in state schools but were sacked by Governor Chukwuma Soludo without reason.

The protesters, who displayed placards with various inscriptions, barricaded the entrance of the House of Assembly in Awka.

Some of the placards read: “Give us back our job”; “Why terminate our appointments after seven months of work without pay?”; “We met the criteria, we were duly employed, Please reinstate us”.

Their spokesperson, Uche Eze, appealed to Soludo to reconsider his position on their termination. He also called on the legislature to prevail on the executive to reinstate their jobs.

He said: “We are teachers engaged by the PTA to address the acute shortage of teachers in state primary and secondary schools. Some of us had worked for over 10 years before the last administration decided to hold a recruitment and conversion exercise to make us permanent staff.

“About 1,000 of us were shortlisted and we got our appointment letters in November 2021 to resume fully. But, for over seven months, we have not been paid, and we have just been told that our appointments have been terminated.

“We were asked to go and re-apply in the ongoing online teachers’ recruitment. This is not fair, we were not paid off and we are stranded because they are sending us back to the labour market after we were duly employed.

“We are appealing to speaker of the House to intervene and save our jobs.”

Speaker of the House Uche Okafor promised to discuss the matter with the governor. “We have heard your complaints and appeals. As your representatives in the Assembly, we are your ears and mouth piece, so whatever affects you, affects us.

“I assure you that we will take this matter to the governor and discuss it so that you get that which is duly yours,” he assured the protesters.

Delta State Commissioner for Information Charles Aniagwu said the government has received over N1 trillion in the last seven years contrary to the figures bandied by Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege.

Aniagwu, who spoke yesterday at a briefing in Asaba, said Omo-Agege has displayed poor understanding of statistics and ability to analyse data.

He said: “I read somewhere, where he said we have received over N700 billion in the last seven years and that we couldn’t account for that, and I begin to wonder N700 billion as what? It shows that he does not understand how governance runs because the data that is available shows that we have received more than that.

“I say so because he thinks what we use to run government alone in a year is N100 billion, that’s our wage bill alone, the recurrent side of the budget is even far more than what he was mentioning.

“As a government, we have added value to the people of Delta, whether they live in the creeks or in the upland, so for Omo-Agege to say N700 billion is not accounted for, you begin to wonder whether he understands governance.

“I thought that as a member of the National Assembly he should be able to do some calculations because there has never been any year where we drew up a budget that is less than N360 billion.

“We have always performed 100 per cent in the recurrent part of our budget, which is why we salaries are paid as and when due, and we have also performed significantly on the capital side of the budget. All these projects have led to the many milestones we have recorded in road construction, building of schools, bridges and other infrastructure, such as the storm water drainage here in Asaba and Warri…”

Senator Obinna Ogba (Ebonyi Central) has won the governorship primary rerun of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which held on Sunday at the party’s secretariat in Abakaliki.

The accreditation of delegates and voting began about 8pm and ran into the early hours of yesterday.

About 513 delegates from the 171 wards of the 13 local government areas took part in the rerun.

Chairman of the Electoral Panel Chief Chris Okolo said Ogba polled 253 votes to win the election. According to him, Edwin Nwonu, a member of the House of Representatives representing Ishielu/Ezza North Federal Constituency, came second with 110 votes, while Sylvester Ogbaga, another House of Representatives member, came third with 63 votes.

He added: “Fidelis Nwankwo got 44 votes, Chukwuma Nwazunku, representing Ebonyi/Ohaukwu Federal Constituency polled six votes and Austin Edeze secured three votes. Senator Paulinus Igwenwagu got two votes and Augustine Nwazunku secured one vote. Ifeanyichukwu Odii got one vote, while Chris Usulor and Sunday Opoke abstained. 14 invalid ballots were recorded.

“I, Chris Okolo, conferred with the power to chair this panel, hereby declare Senator Obinna Ogba winner having polled the highest number of valid votes and meeting all the requirements for the election, he is hereby returned elected.

“The exercise was counted openly and witnessed by agents of the aspirants, party leaders, as well as security agents.”

Ogba, in his acceptance speech, extended his hand of fellowship to other contestants and declared his victory as ‘victory for the PDP’. He thanked the delegates, party members and leaders for entrusting him with their mandate to fly the party’s flag in the 2023 election.

He said: “I feel very happy and I thank God who made the event very successful. To my fellow contestants, I extend my hand of fellowship to them; this is a sport and one person must win. I call on them to join me so we can take our party to the highest level.”

Party Chairman Tochukwu Okorie hailed the delegates for the peaceful and orderly conduct of the exercise. He also commended the electoral panel for conducting a seamless and credible exercise, and urged those who lost to team up to ensure victory for the party in 2023.

The PDP National Working Committee (NWC) had annulled the May 28-29 primaries held by the Silas Onu faction.

Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (rtd) has mandated contractors hired by the scheme to turn ex-agitators who will be sent to their firms into entrepreneurs, in line with the novel Train, Employ and Mentor (TEM) model.

He insisted that each ex-agitator must receive enough training that would make him an employer of labour and owner of a functional enterprise at the end of the programme.

Dikio, who spoke at a one-day sensitisation workshop in Abuja to teach contractors the TEM model, warned that vendors must stick to their terms of reference. He explained that the model was developed as a paradigm shift to change the narrative of past failed training methods, with the key objectives of transforming ex-agitators into successful business owners or employable citizens that would contribute to the economy of the Niger Delta.

A statement by Dikio’s media aide, Neotabase Egbe, reads: “There is no excuse for poverty in the Niger Delta; the days of blaming people are over, and it is time to get your hands in the soil. One of the essential goals is to turn our ex-agitators from being dependent on stipends and handouts to entrepreneurs and employers of labour, and train them to be equipped to take advantage of all opportunities in the oil and gas sector, maritime and agriculture sector in the Niger Delta.

“Over the years, everybody in the Niger Delta has raved about crude oil, but right under our nose is palm oil, which is more expensive than crude oil. So, the bottom line is that there’s no excuse for poverty in the Niger Delta. We must find ways to maximise the opportunities there in.”

The firma are expected to train over 2,500 delegates on metal works, solar, plumbing and woodwork, psychometric assessment on oil and gas, rice, fish and poultry farming as well as oil spill control and remediation.

Others are marine-related skills, cassava processing and starch production and livestock farming.

Niger Delta youth leaders have flayed critics of Interim Administrator of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Effiong Akwa, describing them as unscrupulous elements.

The youths, under the aegis of Coalition of Niger Delta Youth Leaders (CNDYL), passed a vote of confidence in Akwa.

Their spokesperson, Nwokocha Anayochukwu, debunked allegations against Akwa, saying those behind them were ‘enemies of the Niger Delta parading as youth leaders’.

He also described the critics as ‘self-seeking individuals who are working against the overall interest of the people of the region in collaboration with their Abuja-based pay masters’.

Anayochukwu listed some of Akwa’s achievements as completion and opening of the NDDC headquarters which was abandoned for 25 years, and the ultra-modern hostel at the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, providing accommodation for over 1,050 students.

According to him, Akwa was behind the completion and opening of the Chief Ambakaderemo road in Kiagbodo, Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State, saying Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark hailed the interim administrator for his uncommon dedication and commitment towards actualising the Master Plan of the Niger Delta.

Another project identified by the group was the Police Special Protection Unit Barracks at Omagwa, Rivers State, which Anayochukwu said had significantly improved security infrastructure in the region.

President of the Coalition, Anthony Josiah, appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to reconstitute the NDDC’s Governing Board.

Traders in Anambra State markets have urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to extend voter registration centres to the markets.

A spokesperson for the concerned traders and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Suzuki Don International Business Ltd, Chinedu Igwe, regretted the difficulty traders encounter in getting registered at the local government secretariats due to crowds.

He appealed to Governor Charles Soludo to take the traders concern to the INEC chairman so the needful can be done before the exercise closes.

Igwe, who is also President of Imo General Assembly (IGA), noted that most traders who squeeze out time to get registered always get disappointed after spending the whole day at the secretariat and are not attended to still. He said: “I call on relevant authorities to please take voter registration closer to the market population. We really want to participate in the election, but due to time and large number of people wishing to register at the council areas, we find it difficult to get registered.

“The traders are passionately committed to be part of the 2023 general elections, but the authorities should ensure voter registration points are taken closer to them.

“As it is generally known, there is always pressure on the time of businessmen and traders. We don’t mind paying a token to get listed so far the registration points are closer to us and we won’t have to waste precious time.

“The level of awareness among the business community to participate in the election process has never been this high, I think they should be encouraged to perform their civic responsibilities without wasting so much time.

“I’m aware that in certain parts of the country, voters registration points are normally cited close to worship centers for ease of registration, this kind of privilege should be extended to the teeming business community in Igboland.”

Anambra Governor Chukwuma Soludo has been urged to assist the State secure up to $20 million in climate change adaptation funds during his tenure.

Climate experts, under the aegis of Peace Advocacy and Sustainable Development Outreach (PASDO), made the appeal during an outreach to commemorate the World Environment Day tagged, “Only one earth”.

Addressing reporters in Awka, the group’s Organising Secretary, Chidimma Uwakwe, said the exercise was targeted at drawing Soludo’s attention and to prevail on him to take climate change adaptation seriously.

She said the adaptation funds were funds developing countries could access to assist them tackle impacts of climate change in their areas.

According to her: “It is sad that Anambra State suffers the worst impacts of climate change in Nigeria and Africa, but doesn’t make efforts to access the international climate change adaptation funds to help it tackle the problems.

Delivering the lecture titled: “Harnessing adaptation funds for tackling climate change effects in Anambra State”, a climate change expert, Elochukwu Ezenekwe regretted the negative impacts of climate change across most government ministries in the state.

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“We encourage the Governor to set a target of securing up to $20million in climate change adaptation funds for people of the State during his tenure. He should not be scared to set an ambitious target and challenge the experts to work,” he said.

He pledged volunteering his expertise acquired through years of handling climate change-related assignments for several international organizations, including the world’s largest climate change research body, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Commissioner for Environment, Engr. Felix Odimegwu agreed with the experts on the need for the State to go after such opportunities.

He said: “I know about climate change. It is something that is affecting everyone and it is a big issue internationally. We have a Climate Change Desk in the Ministry and I have had several discussions with the staff.

“But this is the first time I am hearing about the Adaptation Funds. I didn’t know such funds exist but I will like to make my own investigations.

“We need to change from being passive, from waiting for these things to come to us; we need to start going after these funds and opportunities wherever they are.”