Category: Southeast report

Souths of Ayakoromo, an Ijaw community in Burutu council area of Delta State, have endorsed the Deputy Senate President and All Progressives Congress (apc)  candidate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, for governor.

The youths who are drawn from three groups: Advocates of Credible Candidates Beyond Party Lines, Liberal Youth of Ayakoromo and Ayakoromo Federated Youth Movement, made this known  in a communiqué issued after an interactive session.

According to the statement which was signed by Ebolo Samuel, Ms Angozi Tamara, Boss Kenere, Arerebo Yerinmene and Kemewoun John-Kem for the groups, the youths made the decision owing to years of neglect of their community by the Peoples Democratic Party-led government in the state.

cy, Alapala Ebitonmo, was reached “on the ground of credibility and beyond party lines”.

It added, “we have no doubt about Omo-Agege’s developmental prowess. Therefore, with Omo-Agege’s victory, we are sure of productive representation and fair share of the dividends of democracy, youth inclusiveness, provision of basic amenities, good education, standard health centres and job opportunities”.

he queues caused by scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol, across Warri and Effurun metropolis in Delta State, are gradually easing off, following mass supply of the product to the state.

The Nation observed that the price of PMS, which was sold between N420 and N510 in most filling stations, has crashed, as it is being sold between N205 and N260 by marketers in the areas.

The development, it was learnt, followed the intervention of an indigenous oil and gas firm, Matrix Energy Group and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL).

Some major marketers reportedly entered partnership with some independent marketers to ease the distribution of the product, in line with the directive of the Federal Government.

It was gathered that the NNPCL had sent five additional vessels, totalling 100 million litres, to Delta State.

It was learnt that the five NNPC vessels would berth at fuel depots in the state latest this week and the product would be distributed to the depots at Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), Oghara and Koko, located in Ethiope West and Warri North local governments.

Checks by The Nation showed that some major marketers that owned retail outlets, including Matrix and Shafa, were already selling at the rate of N205 per litre in Warri and Effurun.

The Children, Sexual and Gender Based Violence Magistrate Court sitting in Awka, Anambra State, has sentenced Success James (35) to prison for child labour, abduction of children and child stealing.

Success James was tried on an eight-count charge, and was found guilty of seven.

Chief Magistrate Genevieve Osakwe found the convict guilty in count 1 and sentenced her to five years imprisonment, count two (five years); count three (two years); count four (four years), count five (two years); count seven (two years) and count eight (one year) prison term respectively. The sentences are to run concurrently with no option of fine.

The convict was arrested in Onitsha and arraigned last December for allegedly abducting four teenage girls from Akwa Ibom and using them for child labor.

The victims, aged 15, 14, 15 and 13 years, were rescued by the Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Mrs. Ify Obinabo, two days to Christmas.

The children said they were taken by one Auntie Success who claimed she had job opportunities for them in Agbor, Delta State, where they would be selling drinks, but later discovered the job was prostitution.

Mrs. Obinabo expressed joy over the judgment, saying the children had been enrolled in school and were also learning skills of their choice at the Skills Acquisition Center in Awka.

She warned that the government would not tolerate any form of crime, and promised continued justice for children and women in the state.

The Ebonyi State Magistrate’s Court in Abakaliki has remanded 19 persons in a correctional centre for their allegedly killing an Inspector of Police, Festus Akpan, and two civilians.

The accused persons – Kenneth Agha (aka Mukoro); Azubuike Okoro; Okporie Oti; Egwu Chinedu; Chimeremeze Umeh; Oburu Orji; Uka Orji; Orji David; Aku Sunday; Oledi Philip; Onyemuche Uka, among others, allegedly killed Akpan and the other two in Afikpo South Local Government Area on December 26, 2022.

It was learnt they also burnt two houses in the community.

They were arraigned before the Magistrate Court for felony, murder, arson, unlawful possession of firearms, among others.

Police prosecutor, ASP Chinagorom Eze, said the offences were punishable under sections 516A (a), 42, 319(1), 443 of the Criminal Code Cap. 33, Vol. 1, Laws of Ebonyi State of Nigeria, 2009 and Section 3 of the Robbery and Firearms Act, Cap R, 11, Laws of Federation of Nigeria, 2004, as amended.

The defendants were not represented in court and, therefore, no bail application was made on their behalf.

Chief Magistrate Mrs. Ogodo ordered that the defendants be remanded at the Nigerian Correctional Centre, Abakaliki. She also ordered that their case file be transferred to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for necessary legal advice.

She adjourned the matter till February 24 for report of compliance. 

•Seeks govt’s intervention

Residents of Uruagu-Nnewi community in Nnewi North Local Government of Anambra State yesterday protested alleged kidnapping and robbery caused by bad roads.

The protesters, predominantly youths and elderly men, carried placards, expressing their annoyance about the alleged neglect of roads.

They called for intervention by concerned authorities, to avert further calamities.

Some of the placards read: “Nnewi community has suffered a lot due to bad road network”, “Kidnaping and robbery are rampant in our community as a result of bad roads”, “Buhari, Governor Soludo, please come to our aid”, among others.

The protesters leader, Obiora Okeke, described roads in the area, especially Nnewi-Oba old road and St. John of the Cross Catholic Church axis as death traps.

He said the recent abduction of a woman and two young men in front of a church in the area was caused by deplorable roads.

He said: “Several roads in Nnewi, the commercial nerve centre of Anambra State, and the supposed Japan of Africa, have become deplorable. The majority of the roads are dilapidated and in a state of disrepair.

“Vehicles no longer ply most of the roads in Nnewi. During rainy season, traders from outside Nnewi hardly come here to transact business because of bad roads. Vehicles that dare come during rainy season hardly go back the same way they come.

“The worst aspect is that armed robbers and kidnappers take advantage of the bad roads in the commercial city to unleash mayhem on the public, especially strangers. “

The Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT), Ogoni Trust Fund, Michael Nwielaghi, has said the N95 billion remediation programme approved by President Muhammadu Buhari for Ogoni clean-up as recommended by the United Nations Environment Programme Report was ongoing.

Nwielaghi, hailing President Buhari for approving another N25 billion for power projects in the region, noted that livelihood programmes were also going on in Ogoniland.

Speaking during an interview on the sideline of a send-off dinner organised for the pioneer BoT of Ogoni Trust Fund in Abuja, he said 500 Ogoni youths have been employed to oversee the surveillance of the clean- up processes.

He said: “The clean-up of Ogoniland has started, we have been doing work. You know remediation goes underground so when these things take place people don’t know that it is not visible to the eyes. So, when people see grasses growing they will not know that that place has been remediated. To that extent you will say nothing is going on.

“We also have some water projects that are ongoing. Some of the projects have been inaugurated and they are working. There are 14 water projects that would have taken off since June, but because of litigation from folks around the place, the projects have been stalled.

“Recently, the president approved about N25billion for power projects for Ogoni and it has commenced. Another N95 billion for remediation has been achieved by Mr. President. As we speak, livelihood programmes are going on in Ogoniland.

“The Minister of Environment has awarded a surveillance contract for the whole entire process for 500 Ogoni youths. We call on our youths to stop breaking pipelines. We cannot be sinking money into the ground and they will be cutting pipes; they are spoiling the lands.

“The clean-up of Ogoniland is going on, but the problem we have is that of litigation that has stalled the process. If not, the whole of Ogoni would have been reticulated; the water projects would have gone to everybody’s home. The six that are going on now are being selected. Fourteen have been in the Bureau of Public Procurement since June last year and we cannot do anything.”

Speaking during an interview, Nwielaghi praised the pioneer Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT), Ogoni Trust Fund, Mr. Wale Edun, for laying a solid foundation for the operational take-off of the Trust Fund.

Nwielaghi said: “Mr. Edun was there for four years and he did the operational framework for the Trust Fund. Ogoni people will remain indebted to President Buhari and for Wale Edun and his board who single handedly laid the foundation. God will bless him.

“Ogoni people will continue to pray for Wale Edun because they set up all the processes for this work and so far no money is missing. We inherited a healthy account from him and till today there is nothing that is wrong.”

Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi, said the Federal Government remained committed to the clean-up exercise of Ogoniland.

He said the government would fulfil its commitment to the people of Ogoni.

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Don Etiebet, has restated his determination to work against the party’s senatorial candidate for Akwa Ibom Northwest, Sen. Godswill Akpabio.

Instead, Etiebet is rallying support for the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Emmanuel Enoidem, insisting it is the turn of Abak federal constituency to occupy the senatorial seat, which it has not occupied since 1963.

Our correspondent learnt that the former minister of petroleum met leaders of parties from Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District at his home on Ewet Housing Estate, Uyo at the weekend.

Also present at the meeting were past and current local government chairmen, past and present commissioners, past and current members of the National and State House of Assembly, past and present members of boards, commissions, agencies and parastatal at the federal and state levels, past and current party officials at the federal, zonal and state levels, elder statesmen, community leaders, heads of women groups, among others.

At the meeting, they resolved in a communique to back the PDP candidate, who hails from Abak federal Constituency.

A website to help residents calculate their life expectancy following the poor air quality in Rivers State has been unveiled. 

Tagged ‘SootCity’, it is put together by the city’s local Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Extra Step Initiative, in collaboration with X3M Ideas.

Founder and CEO of X3M Ideas, Steve Babaeko, said the website will awaken the public to the urgency of the situation, and jolt the government to take action and find lasting solutions to the menace.

Another partner of the initiative and founder of Extra Step Initiative, Eugene Abels, said after 60 years of Rivers State being the hub of the hydrocarbon industry, and with the damaging activities of the non-state actors, the state, with external support, must lead the charge to audit the damage of the flora and fauna particularly the respiratory health of the residents.

He said: “Other host communities from the activities of legal and illegal refining of crude oil to curb the rate of cancer and renal failure among children, indigent people and expectant mothers. It is also our belief that even the United Nations Ogoni Clean Up report is obsolete and should be updated by the Federal Government to reflect the current realities which a 10-year-old report does not capture.

A statement by the founders reads: “In addition to the government’s intervention in 2022 with raids on illegal refineries as well as the Senate’s 2022 motion titled: ‘Curbing Soot’s Particulates droppings, health Hazards concern and economic sabotage by illegal refining of crude products in Rivers State’, sponsored by Senator George Thompson Sekibo, among others, SootCity aims to proffer more specific and integrated solutions to what is considered an environmental, health and economic pandemic in the region.

“Some of the solutions being proffered include the collaboration of government at all levels with all stakeholders on clear and strategic activities like the identification and containment of pollution sites; ensuring that IOCs conduct their businesses in line with international best practices; and restructuring and empowerment of environmental and security agencies with the finance and equipment to implement and enforce environmental laws amongst others.

“First discovered in 2016, soot in Port Harcourt stems from illegal bunkering and oil refining activities resulting in the release of harmful toxins into the atmosphere, causing different forms of respiratory, skin, reproductive, and other life-threatening conditions.

“The timely nature of this intervention cannot be over-emphasised, considering the recent wave of soot-related illnesses. The state government itself, through the office of the former Commissioner for the Environment, Prof. Roseline Konya, in 2019, reviewed over 22,077 cases of respiratory diseases related to the presence of soot in the city.”

‘SootCity’ uses a data model embedded with decades of soot research across multiple countries and bodies like the United Nations, World Health Organisation and Umweltbundesamt – the German Environment Agency, as well as time spent in soot-affected areas, to predict Years of Life Left (YLL) based on each user input.

Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi has endorsed Uche Okonkwo as the party’s House of Representatives candidate for Idemili North/South Federal Constituency of Anambra State.

Speaking at a presidential rally in Onitsha, Obi described Okonkwo as ‘our star for Idemili Federal Constituency’ and urged the people to vote for him.

“Here is Uche Okonkwo, our star for Idemili federal constituency, vote for him,” he said.

Director of Youths Expressions for Service (YES), a youth for leadership mobilisation group in the state, Collins Ugonna, expressed happiness at Obi’s endorsement of Okonkwo.

“We are happily emboldened by this Presidential vote of confidence in Uche Okonkwo,” he noted.

Ugonna described Obi as ‘Nigeria’s second name for integrity and brilliance’, adding that ‘he will surely become president’.

Ugonna thanked the people for showing support Obi and Labour Party, and for their uncommon political maturity to go for competence, capacity, compassion and consistency evident in the Okonkwo candidacy.

“We cannot and should not glorify entitled incompetence in the face of a service driven star that Okonkwo represents,” he added.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State has said its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, did not insult Akwa Ibom people when he referred to Governor Udom Emmanuel as a ‘boy’.

State chairman of the APC, Stephen Ntukekpo, accused the Akwa Ibom State Government of twisting Tinubu’s comments made during his presidential campaign last Monday in Uyo.

He said the government was trying to stir the peoples’ anger and opposition against the party’s candidate ahead of the presidential election coming up on February 25.

In a statement issued to The Nation at the weekend, the state chairman of the APC hailed Tinubu for exposing the poor performance of the Udoh Emmanuel-led administration when he referred to him as a ‘boy’.

Ntukekpo noted that Tinubu actually exposed Emmanuel’s “financial mismanagement and Lilliputian performance”.

He said the situation had plunged the people into poverty and deprivation for nearly eight years of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leadership.

“Only recently, we were made to understand that payments in excess of N600 billion, being refunds from the APC-led Federal Government, were made from the federation account to Akwa Ibom State.”

The APC told the public that to date, the Emmanuel administration had been unable to satisfactorily explain how the funds were used.