Category: Southeast report

Our Reporter

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia has said there are no fake Ward Congress Nomination Forms in circulation in the State.

The party, in a statement by its chairman, Enyinnaya Harbour and Secretary, Chidi Avajah, urged interested party members to pick up the forms after payment to designated banks.

READ ALSO: Ex-PDP lawmaker defects to Abia APC

The statement reads: “This does not require validity or endorsement from anyone in the state. Any information with regards to the ongoing sale of forms for Congresses should be directed to the National headquarters of All Progressives Congress.

“Interested party faithful should ignore all distractions, particularly from a sinking ship and approach designated banks to pay for their forms. Soon, Abia shall be free.”

By Sunny Nwankwo, Umuahia

Workers of the Abia State College of Education (Technical), Arochukwu (ASCETA) have protested the inability of the institution to pay them their 31- month salary arrears.

The Nation learnt that the workers, who marched on Arochukwu, carrying placards, vowed to continue the protest in Umuahia, the state capital, next Thursday, to press home their demands.

The Chairman of ASCETA, Mr. Kelvin Onyema, said: “We have just finished the part one at Arochukwu where the college is situated. Next Thursday, we will go to Umuahia to protest.

“We are demonstrating because of the 31-month salary arrears and non- implementation of the salary structure that has been in existence since 2011.

“The protest will hold daily till next Thursday. The ‘grand finale’ will hold next Thursday in Umuahia.”

He said they had given a warning letter to the management led by Dr. Phillips Nto, demanding that their needs must be met, or else they would embark on an indefinite strike.

He implored the government to pay the workers and give subvention to the school to enable it implement a salary scheme called CONTAD and CONTIDIS.

A source close to a member of the management said the governing council was doing everything to ensure that the demands of the workers were met.

All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo State yesterday ruled out the possibility of extending the ongoing nationwide registration of members.

APC started its two weeks extension of the exercise on July 14, to end on July 28.

Former Governor Rochas Okorocha and Senator Ifeanyi Araraume were among prominent APC members that did not register before the extension of the exercise on July 14.

The state Chairman of the party, Marcellinus Nlemigbo, told The Nation that the APC would not extend the registration ad ni finitum.

He said those who failed to meet the registration deadline in the state should consider themselves as not members of the party.

“If they fail to register after the deadline, it means they are not members of the party,” Nlemigbo said.

He expressed surprise that some people complained of difficulty in locating registration centres in the state.

Said he:  ”President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Hope Uzodimma and my humble self went to our units in our council areas to register. So, whoever that does not register or could not locate registration centres in his location, deliberately does not want to register.

“I have volunteered to make myself available anytime Okorocha and others want to register by being at the registration centre to attend to them .The governor is also willing to do same to ensure peace and harmony in the party.”

Nemigbo dismissed insinuations in some quarters that the party cannot win election without Okorocha.

”We won many elections in the state without him, and we are going to win again with or without him. APC has better opportunity now, as many people have joined the party in Imo State,” he  said.

APC announced the extension of membership registration and revalidation in Imo, Kwara, Ogun, and Rivers for another two weeks.

By Bassey Anthony, Uyo

There is widespread anger and frustration among business owners, following the demolition of select shops and containers around the annex campus of the University of Uyo (UNIUYO), in Akwa Ibom State.

The Nation gathered that a demolition team of the institution led by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Nyaudo Ndaeyo, on March 11 stormed the area and allegedly pulled down some container shops said to be illegal.

It was further learnt that the victims were not given the opportunity to evacuate their property, as the VC allegedly instructed the bulldozer operators to pull down the containers with the contents.

Investigation showed that the school management had pasted  a two-day notice on the  fence directing owners of ‘illegal structures’ to vacate their shops or face the consequences.

One of the victims, Treasure Okon, who spoke with reporters in Uyo, alleged that her computers and photocopiers were destroyed during the exercise.

She expressed surprise that many other shops in the same vicinity with extensions as alleged by the university authorities as reason for the demolition still had their containers and shops intact.

“Officials of the university, including the Vice Chancellor, came with a bulldozer and demolished everything. I was even working when they came, they switched off my generator, they brought a caterpillar and destroyed everything,

“It was not only my place, it was up to 15 places, they said the place is illegal and before I knew what was happening, the Chief Security Officer directed the bulldozer to destroy the shop.

“So the next day I went to the CSO, he said my place was illegal and I showed him all the receipts. He said I should go and meet the VC. That he was the one that gave the directive. Since then I have been looking for somebody to help me because they destroyed everything in the shop, they didn’t even allow me to remove anything from the shop,” she said amidst tears.

But the Registrar, Aniediabasi Udofia, in a letter to Okon’s lawyer, said she acted against the directive of the university for owners of illegal structures in the university premises to remove them.

“It is correct that your client, Mrs Treasure Okon, applied to the Registrar for a space at the Annex Campus to build a container for a business shop. She was correspondingly issued with a business Venture Payment Permit by the Directorate of General Administration to operate her business at the Annex Campus.

“From the representation in your client’s application, she wanted a space to build a container for her business. She therefore had permission, though impliedly to erect a container and nothing more, to do her business. Your client, by erecting something else other than a container, has rendered that structure illegal. She was so informed`            .

“In any case, the university had issued adequate and sufficient notices to business owners/operations in the institution, your client inclusive, to remove all illegal structures on the university land. Your client had enough time to have acted wisely, but she blatantly disregarded the notices,” the letter had explained.

The registrar, who was later contacted through the phone, noted that the only people affected were those who did not get direct approval from his office before erecting shops and have not been paying directly to the university coffers.

By Elo Edremoda, Warri

The Delta State wing of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), has lamented the non-implementation of the national minimum wage in the salary of primary school teachers.

It urged Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to intervene.

The NUT also warned of “imminent collapse” of basic education in the state, considering the high shortage of manpower in public schools.

The union spoke at the opening of its 7th Quadrennial State Delegates’ Conference held at the College of Education, Edjeba, in Warri South Local Government.

Delegates from the 25 local governments participated at the conference with the theme: ‘Adequate Personnel: An imperative for the sustainability of our educational system’.

Decrying the delay of the government to implement the new minimum wage for primary school teachers, the NUT state Chairman, Titus Okotie, said the development has become worrisome to the union.

By Simon Utebor, Yenagoa

There is a looming fear of defection of stalwarts of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State.

The aggrieved members were said to have expressed disenchantment with their wards’ leadership over alleged persecution and show of wickedness.

In Southern Ijaw, one of the local governments that have the highest votes in the state, many party faithful who are also kinsmen of the former Chairman of the PDP, Senator Moses Cleopas, were alleged to be unhappy with him.

There were speculations that Cleopas, the senator representing Bayelsa Central in the National Assembly, had always allegedly favoured his Koluama 2 constituents, immediate brothers and neglected those of Koluama 1.

A source alleged that Mr. Sele-Epri Mathew, a member of the PDP Presidential Campaign in 2019, is one of those planning to dump the PDP.

The source, who spoke in confidence, alleged that Mathew, who is also the PDP Ward Leader in Koluama 1 community, Southern Ijaw Ward 17, may be perfecting plans to defect with his supporters.

According to the source, his reason for considering the idea of abandoning the PDP he had toiled for over the years was due to perceived persecution by Koluama 2 PDP stakeholders under the alleged supervision of Senator Moses Cleopas and Dr. Nimibofa Ayawei (DNA).

Trouble in the ward was said to have begun after the conduct of the Keffes Rural Development Foundation (KRDF) elections, which had Mr. Sele-epri Mathew and Mr. Tibe-ebi Amadein, a nephew to Sen. Cleopas, as contestants.

Cleopas was said to have pitched tent with his nephew, who later lost the election.

Findings showed that Sen. Cleopas was alleged to be using security apparatus against Mathew in a bid to install his nephew and lobby oil companies to fund his perceived governorship ambition.

Mathew was also discovered to be a major financier of Cleopas’ senatorial quest.

The source alleged: “The people of Koluama 1 are crying of marginalisation. They are saying that political and economic benefits accruing to the ward are hijacked by Senator Moses Cleopas and Hon. Nimibofa Ayawei from Koluama 2, leaving their kinsmen from Koluama 1 as political beggars.

“What is happening in Southern Ijaw now were the same reasons that led to the defection of a foremost ex-militants’ leader, Pastor Reuben Wilson, to the APC.”

It was learnt that if Matthew should leave the party, it would not bode well for the PDP in Southern Ijaw and by extension, the whole state.

It was also gathered that the intervention of Governor Douye Diri is the only way the impending defection can be averted.

By Bisi Olaniyi, Benin

An industrialist, Kenneth Imansuangbon, who hails from Ewohimi, Esanland in Edo Central Senatorial District, has said the attacker of Oba of Benin, Omo N’ Oba N’ Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II, over the looted 1,130 Benin artifacts being expected from Germany, requires mental evaluation.

He condemned a trending video where the man, of Esan extraction, poured invective on the first-class monarch.

Imansuangbon, a lawyer, yesterday in an online statement, said that the Esan and Afemai people of Edo State held the Oba of Benin and Governor Godwin Obaseki in high esteem.

He said: “There is no doubt that the Esan and the Afemai people of Edo State draw their linage from the respected Benin Kingdom, thereby making us brothers and sisters.

“The viral video is provocative and the comments do not represent the Esan people or other well-meaning citizens of Edo State.

“I was shocked while watching the viral video and hearing what the man was saying. The Esan and the Benin people are brothers and sisters. It is a fact passed to us from generation to generation. Nothing can change it. Whatever the man said should not be taken seriously. He should just be ignored.”

By Mike Odiegwu, Port Harcourt

The Management of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (IAUE) has suspended six students for engaging in examination-related offences.

The students in a statement signed by the Vice-Chancellor of the school, Prof. Ozo-mecuri Ndimele, were punished for engaging in impersonation and misconducts during the examination.

One of the affected students, Faith Omie from the Department of Political Science was said to have hired one Sunday Ajie to write POL 214 for her.

The statement said Ajie was suspended for impersonation following the allegation that he was hired by Omie to write the examination.

Others from Political Science department were Augustine Owen, who was caught in an examination hall copying from a smart phone; Godwin Prince Chiduga caught with copied materials relevant to the course and Marvelous Wokoma caught for committing a similar offence.

The statement also said that John Rich Dike from the Department of Health, Human Kinetics & Safety was punished for his involvement in cult-related activities on campus, causing bodily harm to a fellow student.

“All the cases have been sent to the Students Disciplinary Committee for further investigation. Their names have also been sent to the Department of State Service (DSS) for profiling,” the statement said.