Category: Southeast report

An explosion has occurred in Eburutu Barrack in Calabar Cross River State where some nearby buildings were rattled amidst fear of a possible terror attack and some residents seeking medical attention..

But the Army authorities at the 13th Brigade, covering the Eburutu Barracks issued a statement after the explosion on Friday saying they were carrying out a disposal of expired explosives in the Barracks.

A statement issued by the Information Department of the 13th Brigade headed by Captain Aluko Tope read in part:: “The 13 Brigade Nigerian Army would be conducting a disposal of expired explosives at  the Shooting Range Calabar from 14 to 17 October 2021.”

The statement further explained that the exercise was a routine military exercised aimed to detonate expired explosives.

It urged residential members around the Eburutu Barrack, particularly, those in Ikot Effangha, Ikot Ansa,and Lemina communities. advising those in the said areas “to stay off range area during the exercise.”

It then urged the general public not to panic from sound of explosives but go about their lawful daily activities.

Reacting, residents of the area described the Army’s statement as belated.

A resident identified simply as Edet, who lives at the Lemina community lamented that the explosion affected his building, saying: “Why are (Army) they bring the statement today 15th to announce that the started on the 14th. they should be more honest.’’

Bayelsa State Government has clarified that the enumeration of lands and property it has embarked upon is not a means to collect taxes from indigenes and residents of the state.

The government had commenced the property and lands enumeration in Yenagoa, the state capital and its environs during the week.

The state government declared that the exercise was for the purpose of proper planning and economic growth in the state and not for tax purposes as being insinuated in some quarters.

The state government, through the Bayelsa State Geographic Information System (BGIS), however, denied that the exercise was designed for tax collection.

The government insisted that the exercise was to further promote the urban renewal project of the present administration in the state and that it would last for three months.

Deputy Governor, Lawrence Ehwrudjakpo, while speaking during the kick-off of the exercise at the BGIS headquarters, said the property enumeration was long overdue in the state to assist in accurate planning and growth.

Ewhrudjakpo, who was represented by the Commissioner for Lands and Housing, Mr Esau Andrew, noted that the exercise would be the first attempt by the state to get the accurate data of properties in the state capital

“For Bayelsa to achieve greatness, it must get the accurate data needed for growth,” the Deputy Governor said.

Also speaking, the Managing Director of the BGIS, Igo Assembly Goin, said the land and property enumeration was the answer to years of yearnings for accurate data for planning, socio-economic activities and development.

He stated: “The exercise is to correct the shortfalls noticed in the needed accurate data of the state.

“The property and land enumeration exercise is meant to create data base for lands and property, break old records and create new ones. The exercise is basically a property and land assessment project which seeks to provide accurate and up-to-date information on lands and properties in the urban towns across the state for planning and development.

“It will further facilitate the urban renewal programme of the present administration.”

Former militant leader, Chief Kingsley Muturu, has warned the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, to stop playing politics and facilitate the inauguration of the substantive board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

Muturu, a peace ambassador and Delta state chairman, Phase 2 of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, gave the warning, yesterday at Bomadi, Delta state, saying that Akpabio was playing on the intelligence and strength of Niger Delta youths.

He said: “Our critical examination of Akpabio and his politics shows that he’s playing on the strength and intelligence of Niger Delta youths in his tactical delay in inaugurating NDDC’s substantive board, despite the series of calls.

“We have given him enough time according to his earlier plea to allow him put things in order, but that time has already elapsed without Akpabio showing any sign of compliance with his promise.

“This deliberate act of Akpabio is certainly politicking with fortunes of Niger Deltans for personal gains, and we have decided that it will not be condoned by ex-agitators whose agitations facilitated birth of the Commission.

“The under-development of Niger Delta is not a generational curse, it’s the handiwork of bad leaders and I advised Akpabio to stop politicking with NDDC, he should face his job at the ministry.

“I urge President Muhammadu Buhari to end the nightmare by ordering Akpabio to do the needful for the inauguration of the board without further delay, else all blames should be heaped on Akpabio if the situation gets out of hand”.

The police in Akwa Ibom State have rescued a one month old baby and another six month old from kidnappers.

The babies- Daniel Jackson Ekwere and Goodness Effiong were stolen from their parents at gunpoint and by trick, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Odiko Macdon disclosed during the third quarter media briefing on Friday.

MacDon noted that at the time of rescue of the six months old, the abductors had concluded the plan to sell the baby at the rate of Four Hundred Thousand Naira(N400,000).

Police spokesperson said “based on a tip-off, operatives of anti-child theft ambushed and arrested four robbery/child stealing syndicate namely, Emmanuel Sunday Effiong, Ibanga Sunday Effiong, Editi Ibanga Effiong, and Miss Idorenyin Etim Iron of Ikot Okubo, Ibesikpo Asutan and rescued a six months old baby.

“Investigation revealed that the syndicate used motor bike on 8/10/2021 at about 9:00pm, masked their faces and invaded the house of Mr/Mrs Effiong Okon Udo of Ikot Okubo Ibesikpo Asutan LGA on gunpoint, beat the couple inflicted them with various degrees of injuries and abducted their six (6) months old baby girl by name, Goodness Effiong Okon. Both Ibanga Sunday and Emmanuel Effiong Sunday are ex-convicts for robbery/Cultism.

“As at the time of the rescue, arrangement had been concluded to sell the child for four hundred thousand naira(N400, 000.00).”

Speaking on the one month and six weeks infant,  MacDon said, ”the suspect,  a forty year old  Margaret Friday Akpan of Ekpene Ukim Uruan, went to the house of the  mother’s victim, Mrs. Blessing Jackson Ekwere pretending to be sick and thereafter sent the said Blessing Jackson Ekwere to buy drugs for her.

“The suspect ran away with her one month, three weeks old baby boy by name baby Daniel Jackson Ekwere before the mother, Blessing Ekwere returned from where she went to buy the drugs for her.”

He noted that the two infants have been rescued and reunited with their parents noting adding that all the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.

However, in an interview ,  Mrs. Effiong Udo, the mother of the six months old baby said she still suffered excruciating pains on her spinal cord as one of the suspects kicked her at the back to let go of her baby even as she expressed joy that her child was reunited with her.

Also, the mother of the one month, three weeks old baby explained that when she called the suspect on phone asking the whereabout of her baby, the suspect claimed she didn’t see her baby that she only  went to the hospital as her stomach ache became unbearable.

“When I called her she denied carrying the baby and said she had to rush to the hospital that the pain was becoming unbearable. I quickly called my husband who informed the police.” Blessing narrated.

She said when it became obvious that the suspect could not hide due to the calls she received; she packaged the baby in a Ghana must go bag and took to her daughter’s house in Ekpene Ukim, where she was nearly mobbed before the police arrived and she was arrested.

Meanwhile, the PPRO noted that the command has arrested  136 suspects within the period under review among who were: 11 murder suspects, 47 armed robbery and stealing suspects, 10 defilement and rape suspects, 21 suspected cultists, 16 suspected vandals,  7 kidnapping suspects and 24 others including child theft and other criminal activities.

The Police spokesperson, while noting that the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded stressed that the Commissioner, CP Andrew Amiengheme has remained committed in making the State unsafe for criminals to stay.

A former governorship candidate in Rivers State and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prince Tonye Princewill, has condemned the People;s Democratic Party (PDP) for opposing direct primaries.

Princewill, who is the Prince of Kalabari Kingdom, said the PDP was kicking against direct primaries because it was only interested in vote-buying against deepening democratic culture in the country.

The APC chieftain, who spoke in Port Harcourt on Friday, said the direct primary method remained the only way to ensure participation of individual members of a political party in electing their candidates.

He said: “I saw the comments made by the PDP official spokesperson and I couldn’t help but smile at their mindset. They said it would financially bankrupt the political process.

“They said smaller parties cannot afford it. Since when did they care about the smaller parties? The truth is they see elections as a time to buy votes by cash or by instructions and in a direct primary there will be not only too many people to pay but too democratic to hand out instructions as they would in a delegate election.

“The sooner they submit to the will of the people and not the will of their people, the better our politics will be. Win by convincing the majority and use superior arguments, not superior spending power.

“In 2007, I won an establishment candidate in the Action Congress primary, because in 23 local governments in the entire state, people came out and cast their votes at the same time in the full glare of local media. I did not have more money and my opponent has the entire party structure. That is democracy.

“It’s democracy in motion. To paraphrase the President from earlier, the country needed leaders who are there for everyone and stooges to no one particular group.

“A direct primary allows for proper participation of individual members. All our voices can now finally count. If you say one person can not make a difference try direct primaries”.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed its readiness to conduct a near-perfect governorship election in Anambra State on November 6.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, announced this yesterday at a workshop for reporters on Election Processes and Procedures in Awka, the state capital.

Mahmood, who was represented by the commission’s Director of Publicity, Mr. Victor Aluko, said the November 6 election would enjoy the deployment of modern technology which would make it more improved than all previous exercises.

He said the entire process – from registration to transmission of results – would be fully automated, including the use of bimodal, which took care of unimodal identification processes that only verified voters by fingerprints.

The INEC chairman said there were a total of 2,525,471 registered voters in the state after an additional 77,471 generated during the just-concluded Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.

Mahmood urged reporters to help the commission disseminate the right information as this would be crucial to the success of the election process, adding that sending the wrong information could inflame the society.

INEC’s Head of Department (ICT) in its Awka Office, Mr. Chuwkuemeka Nnaji, said the commission improved on its system using indigenous team of engineers.

Nnaji said the process was such that human interference was greatly reduced and that data uploaded online would be highly secured from cyberattacks and hackers.

He said the prospective voter would be identified by various fractures, including their faces, and that nobody would be able to vote twice as the registration had been cleaned up.

According to him, INEC’s desire of having credible elections is sacrosanct as technology deployment has proven to be an effective tool in achieving the set objectives.

“The need to have one-person, one-vote is what has necessitated the deployment of a Bimodal Voter Authentication System (BVAS).

“The need to ensure the credibility and openness of the Commission has necessitated the deployment of the IReV Portal, so we ask for the cooperation of all to enable the Commission meet its set objectives,” he said.

Anambra State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Dr. Nkwachukwu Orji, said the workshop was meant to update reporters on the progress made ahead of the election.

Orji, who was represented by the Head of Voter Education and Publicity in Awka, Mr. Samuel Nimem, urged the media to report facts and avoid engaging in interpreting what they do not understand.

The Supreme Court has upheld the election of Charles Soludo as the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State.

A five-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice Mary Odili, was unanimous in holding that the appeal filed by the Jude Okeke factional leadership of APGA was without merit and dismissed it.

The court held that the issue of party leadership and the election of party’s officials were internal affairs of a political party over which courts lacked jurisdiction.

Justice Odili, in the lead judgment, returned Victor Oye as APGA National Chairman and upheld the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Kano, which earlier affirmed Oye’s leadership and dismissed Okeke’s suit.

The apex court held that the appellants abused the process of court by engaging in forum shopping and awarded N1 million cost against the appellants, to be paid to APGA and Oye.

The court took a swipe at Okeke and some lawyers in the case for attempting to mislead the court by filing multiple cases on the same subject matters.

Justice Odili held that the appellants, in a desperate bid to abuse the court’s process, moved their cases from Anambra State to Imo State and later to Jigawa State, where they eventually got a judgment in their favour on March 31, 2021.

Also, Oye has described the Supreme Court victory as a call to greater service to the party.

In a statement in Abuja, Oye said: “Today, the Supreme Court of Nigeria reaffirmed the leadership of APGA under me by unanimously dismissing the twin-suit filed by Jude Okeke and his cohorts.

“We thank God for His mercifulness and compassion and for seeing us through the intense legal battles. By this victory, we have been called to greater service to our great party.

“The November 6, 2021 Anambra State governorship election is drawing closer and this places an additional responsibility on us collectively and individually as members of the party. We must guard our loins and take up the gauntlet for the task ahead by ensuring that nothing distracts us as we work for victory in the Anambra State Governorship election.”

The APGA chairman urged all party members to reach out to other aggrieved members all over the country about the need to continue to work together for the growth and development of the party.

He said: “We need everybody on board as we work to reposition our party for 2021 and 2023. APGA remains the preferred destination for any genuine lover of democracy. We will continue to open up the space for equal participation by all genuine members of the party.

“Rest assured that we will be magnanimous in victory, because we believe that leadership comes from God. We thank the Judiciary for their doggedness in defending the cause of democracy and shutting out those whose activities are inimical to national development and ethos.”

The Nigeria Police Force has said it will deploy 34,587 police personnel and three helicopters during the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State.

Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Usman Baba announced this in Abuja at the second Strategic Police Managers’ Conference involving police officers from the rank of Commissioners of Police (CPs) and above at the Force Headquarters in Abuja.

Baba said the deployment would comprise conventional police officers, Police Mobile Force (PMF), Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTU), Special Forces Personnel, Explosives Ordinance Unit (EOD), Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB), INTERPOL and Special Protection Unit (SPU) as well as Police Medical Teams.

He said the deployment of the three helicopters would enable the police to monitor the poll from the sky for effective aerial surveillance.

Baba also said the detachments of Marine Police operatives would ensure a safe, secure, and credible electoral process in the riverine areas.

According to him, the police have also implemented adequate forward and reverse logistics arrangements for a seamless operation across the state.

Baba said the deployment followed the outcome of the election security threat analysis conducted by the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) ahead of the governorship poll in Anambra State.

He said: “Based on the outcome of the analysis, we have developed a strategic election security operation plan which will involve the mobilisation of 34,587 police personnel to the state.

“Let me use this opportunity to assure all citizens and stakeholders, including the international community, of our determination to work with other security agencies to stabilise the prevailing situation in Anambra State ahead of the election.

“The idea is to create a conducive and enabling environment that will guarantee peaceful conduct of the election. We are also committed to partnering the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) within the dictates of the Electoral Act to deliver a credible election in Anambra State.”

The IGP advised the police commissioners to strengthen security architecture in their commands to prevent anticipated security threats as the year moves to an end.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Wing, Enugu State Chapter and  Human Rights Defenders (HURIDE)  have expressed concern about the health of an Ebonyi State-based journalist, Godfrey Chikwere.

The groups, in reactions to the arrest of the broadcaster last weekend, said nothing untoward must happen to him.

They called for his release or arraignment before a competent court of law.

Chikwere was taken to Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki (AE-FUTHA) after he slumped at the police station. He was as at yesterday still on admission.

Ebonyi State Commissioner for Information Uchenna Orji defended the arrest of the journalist, saying his activities on the social media were capable of breaching the peace in the state.

He said Chikwere’s actions were against the state’s Cybercrime Prohibition Law 012, 2021, which came into effect on September 15.

The journalist, who is widely known in the state as Baby Mouth, was a technical assistant on Media to Governor Dave Umahi and master of ceremony at most government programmes.

In its statement, the Enugu State chapter of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Wing gave the Ebonyi State Government 24 hours to release the radio presenter.

The statement by the group’s Leader, Nnamdi Odo, warned that it would mobilise youths to protest the arrest of the journalist if the government failed to heed its request.

It said:  “Failure to adhere to the above requests will lead to something that Ebonyi State Government will live to regret.  Twenty-four hours from now, we will mobilise 10,000 youths that will protest in Ebonyi State against this injustice.”

Ebonyi State office of  (HURIDE)  said  it was  concerned about the arrest, detention and consequent hospitalisation of Chikwere.

“We have studied the content of the petition, but we are yet to find any reasonable grain therein capable enough to warrant the ill-advised arrest and possible torture of Mr Chikwere,”  the human rights group said in a statement by its Chairman, Sampson Nweke and spokesperson, Chinasa  Okereke.

The group  warned that nothing “untoward should happen to  Chikwere” and called on the  government   to note that it was   interested in the matter.

“ HURIDE will ensure Chikwere’s rights are duly enforced and justice adequately dispensed,’ it added.

But Information Commissioner Orji said the government was enforcing the law of the state as passed by the House of Assembly.

According to him, Chikwere published on the social media among others things that “it is clear that the Army is seriously losing respect from the public’’

He said that the journalist also wrote that politicians would use the youth to kill their perceived enemies and decline to give them money to invest in business.

Orji noted that the posts by Chikwere, which he maintained were fake news, hate speeches and inciting comments were capable of pitting the Army and the government against the people.

Going by Section 4 of the Cybercrime Law, the journalist faces seven-year imprisonment with an option of a fine if found guilty.