The Nation Newspaper

Category: Southeast report

  • Appeal Court reinstates Ugochinyere as Ideato Reps member

    Appeal Court reinstates Ugochinyere as Ideato Reps member

    The Court of Appeal, sitting in Lagos has unanimously affirmed the election of the member representing Ideato North and South Federal Constituency of Imo State, Hon. Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere Ikeagwuonu, as the validly elected member of the House of Representatives.

    The judicial triumph has brought to an end the political battle of almost two years, which has been as intriguing as it has been bloody, claiming lives of his family members and supporters who lost their lives following a deadly attack on his residence on January 7, 2023 shortly before the February 25 National Assembly elections.

    In a unanimous judgment, the panel headed by Justice Abubakar Babandi Gumel overruled the judgment of the Imo State National/State Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal, which had disqualified Ikenga and nullified his election on a pre-election matter of the primary election of the PDP despite plethora of authorities by the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal to the effect that Election Tribunals do not have jurisdiction over pre-election matters.

    As news of the judgment reached Ideato, there was instant jubilation, with markets and streets instantly turning into carnivals for the celebration of the legal victory. 

    Speaking after the judgment, counsel to Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, Emeka Ozoani, SAN, described the judgement as victory for democracy and an end to political rascality. 

    He said the travesty of the Tribunal judgement led to the filing of nine appeals before the Appeal Court, the highest number of appeals ever against a singular judgement in the nation’s election petition jurisprudence.

    Read Also: Mass protest rocks Plateau over Appeal Court judgments

    While commending the President of the Court of Appeal and the three members of the Panel, Barr Tochukwu Ohazuruike said: “The President of the Court of Appeal and the three Panel members deserve all the commendation for resisting the attempts of Hope Uzodimma to undermine them like he did to Justice Akpovi who has lost all his respect for such strange judgment he delivered after the Tribunal hearing. It is only those who that Hope Uzodimma stops at nothing when he wants to desecrate the judiciary that will understand why this commendation is necessary and apt.”

    An excited Hon. Ugochinyere said God always vindicates the innocent while reacting to the judgement. 

    He said this was not the opportunity cost for those that were killed in the battle, but it will, at least, show they did not die in vain. 

    “We can now start the burial arrangements for my uncle who was murdered in cold blood on 7th January so he can now rest in peace having been here till this final victory.” 

  • Chairman De Palms Hotel Don Okonkwo hosts CDS

    Chairman De Palms Hotel Don Okonkwo hosts CDS

    The Chief Executive Officer of De Palms Hotels Ltd, Port Harcourt Chief Prince Donatus Okonkwo has played host to the Chief of Defence Staff, Christopher Musa in the garden city. 

    The Defence chief and his team were in Port Harcourt, Rivers State for an official engagement, from where he paid a visit to his long time friend, Chief Okonkwo at his hotel and spent two nights at the world class hotel. 

    Chief Okonkwo, a former governorship and chieftain of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), was full of thanks for the visit. 

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    His business interests have been at the forefront in advancing their corporate social responsibilities in the areas of supporting the security of lives and property. 

    Those who accompanied the CDS include Major Gen Jamal Abdussalam GOC 6Th Division;  OPDS Naval command Balysa Rear admiral Olusegun and the Flag officer commanding Eastern Naval Command Gen Solo O. 

  • ‘We adopted Tinubu’s stakeholders’ approach’

    ‘We adopted Tinubu’s stakeholders’ approach’

    The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, has said the commission adopted the stakeholders’ engagement approach to develop the region in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administrative style.

    He said the commission would remain steadfast in executing its mandate of fast-tracking development for the benefit of ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta.

    Ogbuku spoke when he hosted a delegation from the Itsekiri Ethnic Nationality, led by Chief Ayiri Emami, at the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt.

    The NDDC boss  said President Tinubu’s administration was putting emphasis on stakeholders’ engagement, and that the commission had adopted that approach.

    He said the commission would soon organise a stakeholder’s summit to give  groups in the region the opportunity to be part of the development process.

    Ogbuku said besides NDDC’s engagement with stakeholders, the commission also visited the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III, to get his buy-in on the completion of the Omadino-Escravos Road, in Warri North Local Government of Delta State.

     Ogbuku in a statement signed by the commission’s Director, Corporate Affairs, Pius Ughakpoteni, noted that the project, when completed, would link Warri to Escravos, the hub of oil and gas activities in Warri Kingdom.

    He stressed the importance of Warri in the economy of Delta and the country, saying NDDC also met Chevron officials to discuss collaboration on the Omadino-Escravos. 

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    He said: “We are working out the details of the partnership with them because we are committed to seeing to the completion of the project.”

    He said the commission was open to  ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta in line with its mandate to serve the people and ensure sustainable development of communities in the region.

    Ogbuku said: “We all face the same challenges. Therefore, we must work together to address our challenges, regardless of our ethnicity. These challenges, like underdevelopment and ecological problems, bring us all together.”

    The Secretary, Itsekiri Leaders of Thought, Sir. Sunny Mene, described Ogbuku as “a detribilised Niger Deltan with conscientious tendencies, clear vision for the region, and a committed mission to turn our communities around in a way never before seen in the history of the commission”.

  • LP members protest  Whip’s sack

    LP members protest  Whip’s sack

    Members of the Abia State chapter of the Labour Party (LP) yesterday marched on the streets of Umuahia, to protest the sacking of Senate Minority Whip Darlington Nwokocha by the Appeal Court last weekend.

    The court, sitting in Lagos, declared the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Col. Austin Akobundu (rtd), the winner of the February 25 Abia Central Senatorial District election.

    LP members, who wore black clothes, carried placards, describing the judgment as pervasive.

    The protesters, led by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, Augustine Meregini, marched from the party secretariat on Ikot Ekpene Road to Aba Road.

    Some of the inscriptions on their placards read: “Judicial impunity must stop”; _we voted for Darlington Nwokocha and not Col. Austin Akobundu”, “Darlington’s mandate must be recovered.”

    Read Also: Appeal Court upholds Orji Kalu’s election

    Addressing the protesters, the state party Chairman, Chief Ceekay Igara, said he wondered why the panel of the appeal that sacked Nwokocha also upheld the election of the member representing Isiala Ngwa North and South Federal Constituency, Chief Ginger Onwusibe, who had a similar case with him.

    He said: “We are in shock about the judgment because Section 77 of the Electoral Act, which the panel relied on to deliver the judgment that dealt with the membership of a party, has been decided by the Supreme Court as an internal affair of the political party.

    “We are demanding details of the judgment to enable our lawyers study and decide on the next line of action”.

    Reacting, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) through its Vice Chairman, Abia North and acting Publicity Secretary of the party, Amah Abraham, said in a statement: “It is unbecoming of a party to make a public declaration to reject the judgment of a court of competent and final jurisdiction and ask it to review its judgment because that is nothing but a call to anarchy.”

  • Military dissociates self from raid on Uwazuruike

    Military dissociates self from raid on Uwazuruike

    Leader of Biafra Independence Movement (BIM), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, yesterday alleged that uniformed men suspected to be soldiers stormed his Okwe country home in Onuimo Local Government of Imo State and kidnapped four of his security guards.

    A statement quoted Uwazuruike as saying that the abduction occurred on Sunday night.

    “Some Nigerian soldiers stormed my Okwe country home and abducted four of my security details guarding MASSOB Freedom House in Onuimo Local Government.

    “No provocation led to the abduction and no explanation was offered by the soldiers,” Uwazuruike said in a statement signed on his behalf by the Director of Information, Mazi Chris Mocha, yesterday.

    Uwazuruike, who is also the founder of Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), urged the Commander of 32 Artillery Brigade, Obinze, near Owerri, to ensure release of his security men.

    He said members of BIM-MASSOB had never been indicted or found wanton by security reports, “because of the peaceful approach to our agitation for Biafra.”

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    Uwazuruike added: “The soldiers arrived at Freedom House in a Navy blue Sienna car sighted the MASSOB security men in front of the gate to the MASSOB Freedom House. The five soldiers walked straight to my security men and started flogging them without any explanation or provocation.

    “The soldiers, after beating my members, blindfolded them with clothes and whisked them away to an unknown destination.”

    The BIM leader, who demanded their immediate release or be handed over to any police station nearest to them, gave their names as Comrades. Enoch Chukwuemeka, Joseph Ekpeyong, Sunday Osulor and Goodluck Chukwuemeka.

    Contacted, Army spokesman Joseph Akubo said soldiers don’t abduct, but only arrest people who have questions to answer.

    He, however, said other sister security agencies such as Navy and Air Force wear Army uniform.

    Said he: “You should also know that Navy and Air Force wear the same uniform like that of the Army. I will, however, verify and get back to you later.”

  • President backing indigenous production of arms, ammunition, says DG DICON

    From Bassey Anthony, Uyo

    The Director General, Defence Industry Corporation of Nigeria (DICON), Maj.-Gen. Aniedi Edet, has said Nigeria would soon be self-reliant in the production of arms and ammunition.

    Speaking with The Nation yesterday in Uyo, Maj.-Gen. Edet said the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration had provided funds for DICON to manufacture arms and ammunition for the military and other security agencies.

    He said the intervention of the current administration had helped in the fight against insurgency, banditry and other security threats facing Nigeria.

    “We know that insurgency has been the bane of security and one of the challenges of the Nigerian nation over the years.

    “You will also recall that our forces are doing so much in that regard. What DICON does is to provide the materials that sustain the effort of the armed forces and to this extent; we are producing arms and ammunition.

    Read Also: Appeal Court upholds Orji Kalu’s election

    “As I speak to you, I have orders to produce for the Nigerian Army, even State Security Services. We can’t just put on papers what we do. But across the nation, I can tell you that no fewer than four states have already placed orders for what we produce and this is just going to go into fighting insurgency”

    Maj.-Gen. Edet, who last weekend was conferred with the award of Knight of Saint Wesley by the Methodist Church of Nigeria, said: “The government of President Tinubu is already having a focused intervention to put DICON where it is supposed to be.

    “In the past we used to have problem of funding. The work of DICON and what it does is strategic intervention. I want to put it on note with all appreciation that the President in less than the few months he has been in the office has already done that.

    ‘We have programmes intervention under the direction of the two ministers of Defence. Just two days ago, I was in China to discuss with our partner in this regard.

    “About two weeks ago I was in Turkey for the same regard. So, my challenges are things that should be discussed in the past, not in the present.”

  • Women protest husbands’ abduction, killing of sons

    Women protest husbands’ abduction, killing of sons

    Women of Ogwuaniocha community in Ogbaru Local Government of Anambra State have protested alleged abduction of their husbands and killing of their sons by a militant group.

    They accused the group of daily invasion and attack on them at the camps they were taking refuge in, calling for Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s intervention.

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    The protesters carried placards with inscriptions such as: ‘Stop attacking us with Naval personnel’, ‘Gov. Soludo come to our rescue’, ‘Release our abducted husbands, stop killing our sons, enough of these destruction of lives and property’, among others.

  • Eno urges court to dismiss Akpan’s appeal

    Eno urges court to dismiss Akpan’s appeal

    Akwa Ibom State Governor Umo Eno has urged the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos to dismiss the appeal brought before it by the governorship candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Senator Bassey Akpan.

    He also asked the appellate court to uphold the decision of the lower court, which declared him winner of the governorship election held on March 18, 2023. 

    In appeal filed by the candidate of the YPP, Senator Akpan, and his party, against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Eno and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the governor held that the Governorship Elections Petitions Tribunal in Uyo was right in upholding his victory in the 2023 governorship election after Akpan failed to establish his claims of forgery and electoral malpractices. 

    When the appeal came up at the Appeal Court, Lagos Division yesterday, the governor through his lead counsel, Paul Usoro, SAN, faulted the arguments by the appellants that the judgment of the Supreme Court in the matter of certificate forgery against the 2nd respondent, by Mr. Akan Okon, was different from the certificate forgery case brought before the tribunal. 

    Read Also: Appeal Court upholds Orji Kalu’s election

    Usoro averred that “the appellant’s submissions amount to mere sophistry and are entirely erroneous and misconceived”, adding: “That judgment in rem is a judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction determining the status of a person or things distinct from the particular interest of a party to the litigation.”

    “My lord, when the court gave the judgment, it clearly decided that the said document is not forged but belongs to the 2nd respondent. It implies that the judgment is applicable to PDP, INEC, the court, or any establishment for that matter”, said the counsel for the 2nd defendant. 

    The appellants, represented by Tunde Falola, held that they were dissatisfied by the ruling and judgment of the tribunal upholding the preliminary objections of the respondents and dismissing the petition, hence the appeal.

    Counsel for INEC, Kolapo Kolade,SAN, said the petitioners never produced either a true owner of the certificate, which they claimed did not truly belong to Pastor Eno, and that they never produced any document to buttress their claims of forgery. 

    “My lord, for any case of forgery to be established, the petitioners have to produce the original document and place it side by side with the alleged forged document. This was never done by the appellants at the lower court”, the INEC counsel said. 

  • NUP hails Tinubu for reappointing Ejimike PTAD executive secretary

    NUP hails Tinubu for reappointing Ejimike PTAD executive secretary

    The Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) has  hailed President Bola Tinubu for reappointing Dr. Chioma Ejikeme as the Executive Secretary of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD).

    In a statement  by its NationaI President, Godwin Abumisi, the union added that Ejikeme’s reappointment was one borne out of merit as she had in her first tenure as PTAD executive secretary rejuvenated the hopes of pensioners all over the country by her leadership style and professional disposition to the job. 

    The pensioners’ union distanced itself from rumours of a planned protest against her reappointment by some pensioners.

    The NUP added that “whoever the group of pensioners protesting her reappointment are, they are being used and sponsored by arch-enemies of the entire Nigerian pensioners.”

    The statement reads: “This sterling reappointment is indeed well merited and gladdens the hearts of the over two hundred and fifty thousand pensioners managed by PTAD, considering the diligent work she has so ably done for the pensioners ensuring the prompt payment of our monthly pensions and attendance to other challenging issues in the last four years.

    “I wish to state that in the NUP, there exists no objection to her appointment. Any talk of protests against her reappointment exists in the hollow minds of persons obviously sponsored by arch enemies of the Nigerian pensioner. I hereby call on all members of the NUP to rally around Dr Ejikeme in order to ensure she continues the good works of restoring the dignity of the Nigerian pensioner.”

    Also, the General Secretary of the Federal Parastatals and Private Sector Pensioners Association of Nigeria (FEPPPAN) Franklin Enrile, said his members feel disappointment and “very bittered” that any pensioner would think of kicking against Ejikeme’s reappointment for any reason.

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    He stressed that her achievements in the “administration of pension management in the country in the recent past that eased the stress and undignified treatment pensioners went through in the past was such that no right thinking person will wish contrary to her reappointment.”

    He said no member of FEPPPAN was “against her reappointment, let alone protest against it in any capacity.”

    “We in FEPPPAN are so shocked to hear that someone somewhere is kicking against Dr. Ejikeme’s reappointment. I wonder what whoever those pensioners stand to gain by protesting. We are rather grateful to President Tinubu for bringing her back to us. Her innovative ideas made our lives easier.

    “President Tinubu, in honesty, did us a favour by reappointing her and we appreciate him. In fact, the entire leadership of FEPPPAN celebration her reappointment with a paid advertorial just express out happiness for her reappointment.

    “Meanwhile, I want to believe that Mr. President examined her track records and found her worthy to continue the good work she started at PTAD. Therefore, we urge President Tinubu to ignore the noise,” he added.

  • Why more Nigerians are adopting healthy living, by  expert

    Why more Nigerians are adopting healthy living, by  expert

    An expert in the wellness and leisure industry, Lanre Akinmusire said more Nigerians are adopting healthy living and fitness.

    The Chief Executive Officer  of Ecofitness Hub said people are recognizing the importance of holistic wellness, and seeking comprehensive solutions for physical, mental, and emotional health.

    Akinmusiru stated that urbanization is driving demand for fitness facilities in Nigerian cities which has opened a space for stress management through fitness and relaxation to become a priority.

    He said this in Abuja at the official launch of the Ecofitness Hub, equipped with eco-friendly fitness equipment, a therapeutic spa lounge, restaurant,  café experiencesand karaoke pods.

    He said, “The launch, represents a bold step towards enhancing the well-being of individuals while offering an unparalleled leisure experience. It has as its mission the promotion of a holistic approach to wellness and leisure, through a diverse range of services.

    “Ecofitness Hub is not merely a fitness center but rather a comprehensive eco-friendly destination where individuals can experience the synergy of a healthy lifestyle.”

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    He further identified three key trends that are driving the desire for fitness and healthy living. Firstly, People are recognizing the importance of holistic wellness, and seeking comprehensive solutions for physical, mental, and emotional health. Secondly, urbanization is driving demand for fitness facilities in Nigerian cities which has opened a space for stress management through fitness and relaxation to become a priority.

    He added, “Thirdly, digital health tools like fitness apps and wearables are gaining popularity and social media’s influence is inspiring fitness engagement and community building. These trends he said shows why many Nigerians are now placing a higher value on their fitness, health and well-being, this shift is contributing to healthier lifestyles and improved overall quality of life.

    “Ecofitness Hub is designed to resonate with the well-being aspirations of people, and it goes beyond just serving individuals. Our holistic approach extends its reach to corporate bodies, including Banks, HMOs, Insurance Companies, and more.

    “It’s a place where you can ‘Feel Fit’ by engaging in exercise and ‘Feel Good’ while indulging in our restaurant, spa lounges, café, and karaoke pods. Our commitment is to consistently create an environment that aligns with the healthy lifestyle preferences of our patrons, making wellness and leisure accessible and enjoyable for everyone,” He said.