Category: Southeast report

In Owerri High Court presided over by Justice S.I. Opara has struck out the aspect of the Imo State White Paper by the Commission of Inquiry  on Lands and other Related matters which barred former General Manager of the Owerri Capital Development Authority (OCDA), Chima Anozie, from holding any public office, or stand an election over alleged corrupt practices.

Anozie, in a writ of summon, approached the court seeking a declaration of null and void and of no effect, the aspect of the White Paper which indicted him and barred him from holding public office.

Joined in the suit are the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Justice Ukwuoma Duruohaigwe (rtd).

Justice Opara critically reflected on the terms of reference of the Commission and submissions of the plaintiff where he (Anozie) stated inter alia, that he failed to appear before the Commission of Inquiry set up by the government which, among other things, accused him of distorting the Original Owerri Master Plan, destruction of many buildings in some parts of the Owerri Capital City, illegal issuance of approval of building plans, aiding and abetting former Governor Rochas Okorocha over illegal acquisition and appropriation of public property, and failure to prosecute violators of government established laws.

As a general manager of the OCDA, Anozie was also accused of failure to use powers of the institution (OCDA) to curtail such illegality by not adhering to the original Owerri Master Plan, arbitrary approval and issuance of building permits and connivance in the acquisition of the premises of the Imo Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) at Orji in Owerri North Local Government Area.

The former OCDA boss denied all the allegations, and insisted he was not given a fair hearing to defend himself as, according to him, no invitation was extended to him. He subsequently approached the court to seek for justice.

Justice Opara argued that the defendants did not act in good faith and it is only a court of law that has the power to disqualify anybody from standing for an election or hold public office.

He also noted a contradiction and confusion in the writ of summon served the plaintiff, saying the finding of the court on the Writ of Summon was neither credible, cogent nor convincing. He further affirmed that the defendants denied the plaintiff of his right of fair hearing.

“Consequently the portion of the government White Paper which barred the plaintiff from holding any public office is hereby set aside and the government is restrained from implementing the said portion of the White Paper which is null and void and of no effect and each party shall bear the cost in this matter,” he added.

 

Over 1,000 poultry farmers in Cross River State have been supported with a grant of 40,000 birds to be grown in the ultramodern poultry farm called Calachika, owned by the government.

The farmers were grouped under seven clusters.

The 40,000 broilers is a grant from the World Bank assisted Agro-Processing Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) Project.

Deputy Governor Prof. Ivara Esu, who kicked off the initiative at the premises of the Calachika poultry farms limited, noted that the initiative with will ensure constant production and supply of matured birds to feed the chicken processing plant operational at the Ayade Industrial park.

He said the government is happy that many farmers in the clusters are youths because the governor has been passionate about youth engagement and empowerment.

Prof. Ivara noted that many have been engaged and made more efficient in the chosen agricultural value chain through different Appeals initiative.

He admonished the farmers to be attentive to measures to take against infection.

National Coordinator of the Appeals project  Alhaji Muhammad Jordi said bringing over 1,000 farmers together under different clusters to teach and help them manage their business is a commendable initiative of the state government. He maintained that Appeals project in Cross River has been exemplary.

State Project Coordinator (SPC) Marcel Agim noted that the farmers know what to do in different clusters and the 40,000 birds will be doubled in two to three weeks.

 

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra State has postponed the House and National Assembly Congresses over the sit-at-home order of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

The House of Assembly congress originally scheduled for Wednesday was shifted till Thursday, while the National Assembly congress salted for Friday will hold on Saturday.

A statement by IPOB’s National Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, said the dates to sit-at-home were Wednesday and May 26 because their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, would be appearing in court on such days. He added that the Monday sit-at-home had been cancelled.

The 41 academic programmes offered in the Akwa Ibom State University (AKSU) has been fully accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

Vice Chancellor Prof. Nse Essien stated this at a news conference, saying the management team is excited by it.

Prof. Essien said result of the NUC and Council of Registered Engineers (COREN) accreditation/re-accreditation exercise conducted last year October/November indicated that the university’s academic programmes were fully accredited.

According to him, the NUC accredited 16 of the varsity’s programmes in the faculty of Management Sciences, Agriculture, Arts, Education, Engineering and Physical Sciences. He added that Marine Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Agricultural Engineering have also obtained full accreditation.

He said: “The effective date of the accreditation of engineering programmes by COREN is November 18, 2021, and expires on the November 19, 2026. The result shows that all our engineering programmes have obtained 100 per cent full accreditation which will be valid till November 2026.

“The summary of the result of the NUC accreditation shows 100 per cent full accreditation for all the 16 programmes in six faculties that were assessed.

“With the COREN and NUC accreditation results, all the 41 academic programmes in our university have full accreditation status, no interim accreditation, no denied accreditation. It is pertinent to note that the full accreditation status is a climax of deliberate efforts and investments in ensuring that Akwa Ibom State University and its certificate is recognised globally.”

The VC thanked the visitor to the University, Governor Udom Emmanuel, and the Pro-Chancellor Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, for their support to the institution.

 

Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo has congratulated the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe, on his 81st birthday.

Soludo, who also congratulated Achebe for his 20th year on the throne, described the monarch as ‘a man of exemplary life and outstanding leadership qualities’.

Achebe clocked 81 on May 14.

Soludo, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Christian Aburime, said the people of Anambra were proud of the traditional ruler and thanked God for His grace upon him.

The statement reads: “Igwe Achebe is a worthy son of Anambra, and an elder statesman whose fatherly disposition to issues have continued to earn him the highest respect in the land.

“As Igwe Achebe marks his 81st birthday anniversary, I join millions of Nigerians and well-wishers in celebrating the auspicious occasion, and wish him many more years of good health, wisdom and selfless service to God and humanity.

“Governor Soludo also congratulates the monarch on his 20th anniversary as the Obi of Onitsha.”

Youths in Anambra State have received N100 million from the Federal Government, in conjunction with the World Bank, for development and empowerment.

The money was distributed during the first phase of a four-day training of youths under the Anambra COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (AN-CARES) project.

About 500 youths from the 10 pilot local government areas were trained in Ekwulobia council.

Each beneficiary got N200,000. The pilot areas were Aguata, Anambra West, Awka North and Chairman of the Steering Committee and Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mrs. Chiamaka Nnake, said the Prof. Chukwuma Soludo-led administration would always ensure that Anambra youths receive their share of any Federal Government’s largesse.

The commissioner called for appropriate implementation of the livelihood program, and ensure the start-up grants get to the right persons. She enjoined the participants to make judicious use of the grant to promote productivity and creativity.

The Head of State Cash Transfer Unit and AN-CARES, Raph Enukorah, encouraged participants to improve their knowledge of financial and business management during training, and make judicious use of the grant.

 

Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has said he will remain grateful to Justice Mary Odili for her timely intervention which saved his political career in 2004.

The governor said he cried to Justice Odili when his name was excluded from the list of contestants for chairmen of local governments. According to him, Mrs. Odili listened to him, and took the complaint to her husband, Dr. Peter Odili, who was governor then.

Wike spoke yesterday at a thanksgiving to mark Justice Odili’s 70th birthday and her retirement as Justice of the Supreme Court, held at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Chaplaincy, Catholic Institute of West Africa (CIWA) in Port Harcourt.

He praised Justice Odili for the 44 years of meritorious public service, which he described as no mean feat.

The governor explained that the manner Justice Mary Odili presented the matter got her husband acting on it immediately.

He said: “In 2004, when her husband was governor, and I was to run for second term as chairman of Obio-Akpor local government area but later learnt my name was removed from the list of contestants cleared for the election so I ran to the Government House.

“They were having lunch with her husband and State PDP chairman then, Prince Uche Secondus.  But she had finished and was entering the vehicle when I approached her to say ‘Mummy I’m finished, they’ve removed my name’.

“She ran back to inform her husband who orderd that Secondus be called back. That was how I secured a second term as chairman. For me, I can’t talk about my growth without mentioning her. Her being around that particular day saved my career in politics. And so that was how I grew from there to become what I am today.”

The governor said he learnt a vital lesson from Mrs. Odili, ‘the determination to build the capacity to be successful in one’s career while not ignoring giving requisite attention to the family’. He said Justice Odili maintained a good balance that made her succeed both in her career as a legal practitioner, a mother and wife.

“I have seen somebody who is very compassionate and very caring. The moment you’re around her husband, she takes care of you. She sees you as her husband’s person and so she will always relate with you. Some of us are direct beneficiaries of the care through our relationship with the husband,” Wike added.

Justice Odili described the joy she felt as unspeakable and a thing of honour to have Governor Wike do a vote of thanks in her honour.

She said: “”The good Lord knows that Peter and I don’t know how to properly thank God. Our journey in life has been such that the good Lord has always been there. There have been challenges no doubt, but the good Lord did not promise us that we will not have challenges, tribulations or difficulties, but he has always stood by us and made us prevail in all those trials and tribulations.”

 

Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has mocked former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dakuku Peterside for not getting the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship ticket.

According to Wike, despite Dakuku’s criticism of him, Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi refused to give him (Peterside) the ticket.

The governor insisted that Peterside’s motive for the verbal attacks against him was to convince Amaechi to give him the governorship ticket, ‘but despite the criticisms, Amaechi did not only deny him the governorship ticket, but he also refused to give him a second term at NIMASA’.

He said: “Somebody who cannot even get the ticket of his party, whom I defeated since 2015 thinks if he abuses me they will give him ticket, but they didn’t give him. Now you have abused me and your master refused to give you ticket. Your master refused to give you second term at NIMASA.

“Now they have promised to make him minister. Who will be president and give you minister. I will be the President of Nigeria, so I can’t make you minister.”

But Peterside explained that his criticisms of Wike over the years were neither driven by personal ambition nor pecuniary comfort, but borne out of his love for Rivers. He described Wike as ‘a colossal failure whose only legacy was unbridled tyranny’.

He said: “Maybe, Wike expected that I kept silent while he shamelessly and brazenly raped Rivers State that our founding fathers laboured to achieve, some with their blood? Or should I have remained silent, or hailed him, as he continued his unbridled and unexplainable greed exhibited in his continual, forceful seizure of developed and undeveloped public and private property which he converted into personal use?

“Or Wike thought that he had conquered Rivers and reduced her citizens to zombies and mannequins that nobody would raise their head to ask him appropriate questions on accountability?

“He said I have been criticizing him for the past seven years so I can get APC governorship ticket; nothing can be more run off at the mouth than this statement. Proud to say I am a patriotic stakeholder who cannot watch Wike’s maladministration and corruption in the last seven years. His incoherent and uncouth statement in the church shows clearly his poor upbringing, and that he was under the influence of alcohol, as always.

“I have consistently and constructively engaged Wike not for any personal ambition, but strictly for what he represents – gross incompetence, corruption, greed and lack of vision…”

 

Candidates for the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in Enugu State were stranded following the sit-at-home order of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) observed on Mondays in the Southeast.

The 2022 Computer Based Test (CBT), which began on May 6, was to end yesterday but an official of the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) said the exam was shifted to today because of the Monday sit-at-home in the Southeast.

Some of the candidates said they were not aware of the cancellation.

Ezekiel Okpara said: “There was no vehicle to convey my friend and I to TETFUND Centre at the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, (UNEC) where we are supposed to write the examination. My dad drove us to the centre, but we were disappointed to meet other candidates loitering around the hall and telling us the exam had been postponed till Tuesday (today).

“We went to a nearby cybercafe to reprint our slip and confirmed the shift.”

Another candidate, who identified herself simply as Chigozie, said JAMB should have informed them earlier about the change rather than allow them risk coming to the centre.

“It is risky to go out on Mondays in Enugu for fear of the unknown. But we did and the exam has been postponed. Personally I feel disappointed and stranded because my house is far from the centre. But what can we do than go home and return tomorrow (today),” she said.

Meanwhile, students writing the ongoing Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) have decried the stress they went through to write the Food and Nutrition paper due to non-availability of transportation.

Some of them said they trekked long distance to meet up with the exam. Nneka Ani said: “The exam was to hold by 9am, so I woke up early. I trekked a long distance but thank God I was able to get to the hall in time, though tired.

“The road was so empty with few vehicles. It was a challenge but I summoned courage and at the end, I succeeded,” she stressed.

She however appealed to enforcers of the sit-at-home to rescind their decision as it was affecting everyone and the state’s economy.

In Anambra State, candidates could not also assess their examination halls despite arriving as early as 7am. The halls were locked.

An official at the Integral Development Consult, Awka, Mrs. Ngozi Nwude-Nduka, said the centre was shut to ‘play safe’ and not jeopardise the security of candidates.

She said: “We want to ensure nothing happens to the candidates. Besides, possibilities of non-vehicular movement may be experienced and so hinder easy transportation for candidates who will come from distant places.

“This centre hosts 250 candidates at each session, comprising morning, afternoon and evening, and we cannot afford to jeopardise their security.”

She advised affected candidates to reprint their examination slips to enable them know their new examination dates.

But despite the cancelation of the order by IPOB, residents have continued to observe it for fear of being attacked.

In Onitsha, Nnewi, Ekwulobia, and some parts of Awka, business and commercial activities were grounded. Vehicular movements were skeletal while major markets, banks, petrol stations, motor parks, and other business premises were under lock and key.

 

Residents comply in Abia

Residents of Aba, commercial nerve of Abia State, stayed at home..

Although there are no restrictions on human and vehicular movements within the commercial city, operators of inter and intra-city motor parks and loading bays opened for businesses but recorded low patronage.

Major markets including Ariaria International Market, Cemetery, Shopping Centre, and other markets were shut.

While commercial banks and other corporate organisations remained closed, schools were devoid of academic activities. Gates of the Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, were open with few staffers at work.

At Main Park by Milverton and park road, commercial tricyclists operated freely. Some fuel stations, especially those within the main park area, were open but with few customers. Some street traders were seen around Ehi Road awaiting customers.

It was the same scenario in Umuahia, the state capital, as residents also stayed away from their offices, shops and businesses.Security agencies were also absent from their duty posts.

 

Low turnout as schools resume

Primary and post-primary schools in Abia State resumed yesterday for the third term of the 2021/2022 academic session, but there was low turnout of pupils in some schools monitored.

The Ministry of Education had directed all private and public schools to resume yesterday after one month vacation.

In Umuahia, the state capital, there was low turnout of pupils though teachers were at their duty posts. Some pupils tidied up their classrooms and premises, while others played around at Ibeku Junior and High Schools, Umuahia.

The Principal of Ibeku Junior School, Mrs. Erima Dike, decried the low turnout, and appealed to parents and guardians to bring their wards to school to cover the timetable.

At Amuzukwu Girls Secondary Schools, few pupils were seen in groups in their classrooms and within the school premises exchanging pleasantries.

Principal Dr Ngozi Alighili said they had resumed and were fully prepared for the third term. We have low turnout of students today but, as you can see, our teachers are present, ready to work. I urge the pupils to come back,” she said.

The Principal of St. Paul’s International Academy, Umuahia, Mr. Uchenna Ojiji, said they had fully resumed for the third term.

“By the grace of God, all the teachers have reported. We equally welcome a handful of our pupils and students. We tighten up our security, limit visitations on Mondays because of the weekly sit-at-home threat. We encourage parents to always release their children to us on Mondays without fear,” Ojiji added.

A parent, Mrs. Ijeoma Kalu, said she refused to release her children for fear of insecurity.

“I can’t allow my children to go to school on Mondays because of the sit-at-home order. My children will resume tomorrow, being Tuesday,” she said.

 

Civil servants shun Soludo, stay at home 

• Markets, commercial activities remain shut 

Civil servants in Anambra State ignored Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s order to resume work. Banks, markets and commercial activities were shut, but few tricycle operators moved around in Awka with caution.

At Nnewi and Onitsha, business activities did not hold for fear of the rampaging gunmen.

But the police spokesman, Ikenga Tochukwu, said the state was calm. He said residents should not allow fear ruin their businesses, adding that security operatives were on patrol always.

Some of the civil servants said they were not prepared to risk their lives for anybody. According to them, former Governor Willie Obiano allowed them stay at home on Mondays, so they urged Soludo to do same.

A driver with a popular transport company said his friend’s vehicle was burnt three weeks ago so he would not risk someone’s investment by listening to the government.

Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment Paul Nwosu could not be reached for comments as his number was not available. But another government official said he would not blame anyone for not coming out, ‘those boys are mean and deadly, nobody challenges his or her Chi,’ he said.

 

Bus burnt in Onitsha

A shuttle bus was set ablaze  in Okpoko area of Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State.

It was gathered the gunmen ordered the driver and passengers to disembark before setting the bus on fire. No life was lost but the hoodlums were said to have blocked the road linking the community with used tyres and iron bars before leaving the area.

 

Business as usual in Ebonyi

It was business as usual in Ebonyi State as all major and minor businesses opened. Security operatives were drafted to major parts of the city and commercial areas to provide protection.

Residents have long ago stopped observing the suspended sit-at-home following its cancellation by IPOB.

Banks, malls, schools, markets, private and public offices were all open.

However, transport services did not load to destinations outside the state. Security operatives in the morning hours carried out a show of force round the city in a long convoy of vehicles.

THE National Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Southeast, Dr. Ijeomah Arodiogbu has said that the party is now ready to liberate Enugu and Abia States by winning the governorship positions in both states come 2023.

Arodiogbu, made this known in his Easter message issued through the Southeast APC Media Directorate in Enugu, Enugu state capital.

He said, “APC in the Southeast Zone is ready to liberate Enugu and Abia States from the shackles of bad governance and misadministration presently experienced by the people of both states.

“We will deploy electoral winning strategies that will send the People’s Democratic Party in those states packing as ruling parties.”

The APC chief assured that candidates who would be fielded in those states and other states in the region for the governorship elections and other positions would have huge masses appeal with immense political capital that would ensure that both states join other APC states in enjoying numerous democratic dividends.

Arodiogbu called on Christians all over the nation and Southeast in particular to emulate the sacrificial life of Christ as well as pray for the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari as the world marks yet another Easter celebrations.

He said, “As we mark the spiritual holiday of Easter, it is important for Christians in Nigeria to seek to emulate in deeds and actions the sacrificial life of our Lord Jesus Christ who gave his life that mankind may have access to everlasting life.