The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ABA

  • Shopping mall for Aba residents

    A new shopping mall is on the way for Aba residents, the commercial hub of Abia State. Situated at Osisioma  Ngwa Local Government Area, the mega mall built on a 28-hectares of land and has about 100,000 square metres leasable space. The mall is said to become an Ultra Modern Mega Trade and Distribution Centre with e-commerce facility.

    The mall upon completion will have: fire station, cinema automated warehouse, gas station, continuous power supply, parking space for both shoppers and sellers among other facilities.

  • Aba people’s ‘riot’

    This is a writer’s rejoinder to his own article; a response to readers’ response so to speak. Last week on this page, I had written two articles, a main one and a strap. The major piece (Gov Amosun’s plaintive cry) is about the ruinously acrimonious Ogun APC while the five-paragraph short attachment ponders the soft underbelly of Abia politics. Though both are related in the sense that they are about Nigeria’s retrograde godfather-godson politics, the small piece turned out the star attraction.

    As at the close of work last Friday alone, nearly 50 messages had streamed in while quite a number called. Most were purportedly from Aba, the commercial city of Abia State, and a good number were rather virulent. Many not content with messaging called and took me on. I debated a particular reader for nearly 15 minutes and though we parted half-friends, it occurred to me, in deference to the worries of my dear readers that I needed to do a rejoinder to my own article in order to provide more perspectives; I also hope to be able to run some of those SMS below as space permits.

    Numerous issues cropped up but let’s try making some meaning of them: First, let me apologise to Chief Arthur Eze who I have since learnt was grossly, if not deliberately misrepresented in the original report in Daily Sun. Many people who were at the function whom I have spoken to affirmed that Chief Eze never said that Abia stank. He only bemoaned the state of the Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway through which he rode to Umuahia. He could not have said that Abia stank because he did not traverse the state. He is a friend of the house who was invited to a state function; he could not have come to pull down the house with such a comment as credited to him. This is the fact of the matter.

    What this means is that The Sun owes him an apology for deliberately misrepresenting him and deploying him as a fodder in the cross-fire of state politics. What could have been: “Arthur Eze bemoans the state of federal roads in Abia” is slanted and given a dangerous spin to become: “Abia Stinks!”, says Arthur Eze. This is unprofessional, to say the least.

    This singular, calculated mis-information has continued to be traded as fact in numerous other publications and by various segments of the population. One instance is the attendant report on page 6 of The Guardian (08/09/2014), quoting the National Chairman of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), Comrade Peter Ameh. Chief Orji Uzor Kalu has published under his name, a two-part treatise based on this falsehood.

    As was stated here last week, and by way of putting all this in perspective, discerning readers and Abians can tell the source of and motive behind this injurious reporting; it is all about the turf fight between former governor, Orji Uzor Kalu (OUK) and his successor and incumbent, Theodore Ahamefule Orji (TA). My friends and readers from Aba were full of abuses because I took a broad and detached view of the situation but many of them are, sorry to say, narrow-sighted and emotional.

    Let us try restating the facts: the story started in 1999 when OUK became governor of Abia State. It is a fact that he ruled for eight years up until 2007 and he installed and controlled TA for most of his first tenure, 2007 – 2011. It is also a fact that OUK’s was what could be described a voodoo government where cowboys held sway. The period was defined by chaos and disorderliness and there was hardly any structure to show for that era. It is true that roads in Aba are pretty bad as I have found out following the outcry of Aba people, but if they live by the truth, they will confess that none of the roads OUK built through out his 12-year reign lasted one rainy season. If he had been sincere with his people and worked in their overall interest, Aba and indeed Abia State would not be in such derelict state today.

    It is yet another incontrovertible fact that TA has effectively been in office in the last three and half years, yet many would want to heap upon him, all the woes of the State. Just because he is not a show man like OUK, people are full of hate and calumny irrespective of his modest efforts. Let us look at some more facts: 23 years after the creation of Abia yet the government still operates from some colonial sheds probably built by Lugard’s boys – it is perhaps the worst government house in the land. Somebody ruled for nearly 12 years; he didn’t deem it fit to leave such a legacy in the overall interest of Abia people, instead, what he built in one remote village called Igbere is bigger that Aso Rock Presidential Villa. This is a fact.

    It is also a fact that TA has in such a short period, built a befitting government house for Abians. It is also a fact that for 23 years, Abia civil servants were scattered in makeshift sheds and private houses. Today the state boasts of an imposing and befitting secretariat like every other state. Umuahia today has an international conference centre that would compete with the edifice in Abuja for conference and huge events revenues. TA’s rare feat of moving a major market out of the centre of the state capital to the outskirts is also a fact. But this is even a more salutary because he has not only created perhaps the biggest modern market in the southeast today with its huge revenues capabilities, he has freed up the hitherto ugly city centre for a befitting modern infrastructure.

    There are so many more facts of TA’s government today that every Abia man would be proud of and which wicked propaganda cannot obliterate. But perhaps most important is that he has brought order, civility, peace and security to the land. Before him, Abia was like a castrated man and indeed, no ‘big’ man dared to sleep in his country home and diokpas held traditional marriage rites in Lagos and Abuja. Today TA has liberated Abia from her dark past. These and more were done in less than four years. Love him or hate him, these are facts.

    A sample of voices from Aba?

    08032155670: I would have stopped reading your articles if not that I have known you these years otherwise how could you.. it is people like you who are confusing TA. What Arthur Eze said is true. 90 % of major roads in Aba are in total decay. Pls use your pen to save your fellow Igbo living in Aba.

    08026666901: Dear Steve, I read your submission on the comments made by Chief Arthur Eze. It is so disturbing that you who people hold in high esteem will come out to defend the indefensible. Have you taken a tour of Aba in recent times? Tell me one good street in Aba that is motorable.. Aba stinks, Aba is in a pitiable state. Steve you need to apologise to your fans. –Tob Anumaka

    08036700481: You seem to me like one of the problems of this country; people who call black white. What if Chief Arthur Eze had called TA to order in secret as you suggested and he did nothing, what do you expect Chief Eze to do? Pretend all is well? Abia indeed is an eyesore, go to Aba.

    08037959126: Steve, I read your piece on Arthur Eze’s comments and couldn’t help but shudder at your curious assertion that Gov. TA “has done more for Abia than all the past governors put together”

     08033716285: If you have visited Aba in the last two years, you will be a fool to defend TA Orji. Aba has the worst roads in the whole country. The governor is confused, history will judge him.

    08039165603: If Arthur Eze had attempted to come to Aba am sure he would have called for the stoning of Jonathan. All federal roads into Aba are impassable; the part of Umuahia he complained of is federal expressway. Please Eze tell Jonathan that we know that he hates Ndigbo but he should remember that Aba voted for him.

    Dimgba: fare thee well great soul

    If he were just a great journalist and a fine writer, perhaps his transition would be more tolerable; we might console ourselves that another professional has passed on. But Dimgba Igwe was a quintessential humanist. He seemed to have loved words the way he loved fellow humans and just like he loved the Word. Yes, he lived for his God, for humanity and for words. I never worked with him but each time we met at occasions, he was ever so respectable, so demure and so wise.

     There is no doubt that he worked so hard and lived well; that he gave life nearly all that was necessary, which was why he would make time to pound the road at dawn, seeking to further enrich life – his and others’. But as it has turned out yet again, we are in a killer country; an environment that extirpates with the audacity of the morning sun. Nigeria is like the ghoulish stalker who kills at dawn… here we are marinated in our daily blood-fest. They tell us that our GDP keeps increasing but that must mean Gross Death Products.

  • Kidnappers abduct mother,children in Aba

    Fear has gripped residents and Ohuru villagers in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State after unknown gunmen abducted one Mrs. Ogochukwu and her two children (Chika and Favour).

     Report has it that the abductors after blocking the woman and her children at about 8:30pm on their way home in a Honda Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) drove them away to an undisclosed location.

     While information about the kidnap remains sketchy at press time, unconfirmed information has it that the hoodlums later established communication with the victims’ family demanding an undisclosed amount of money for ransom.

     No member of the family could be reached for comments at press time.

     The Abia State Commissioner of Police Adamu Ibrahim when contacted disclosed that the SUV was recovered Saturday morning by his men at Owerrinta in Isiala Ngwa South Local Government Area.

     Adamu stated that efforts were already intensified by police to ensure that the woman and her children were released unharmed and unconditionally.

  • Aba set for Pastor Kumuyi

    Aba set for Pastor Kumuyi

    Plans for the visit of the General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry Worldwide, Pastor William Kumuyi, to Aba, Abia State, have been concluded.

    Kumuyi is expected to be at the ministry camp, Umugo, on  the Aba section of the Enugu/Port Harcourt Expressway for a three-day visit.

    Security has been strengthened in the area.

    The state’s Overseer, Pastor Damian Umeh, who spoke with reporters in Aba, said although God provides security for his people, the ministry decided to engage security agents “to keep people’s mind at rest”.

    Umeh said: “In view of the security challenges facing our nation, the church is in close touch with all the security agencies – the army, police, Directorate of State Security (DSS) and other para-military organisations – to ensure a smooth and hitch-free programme”.

  • ‘We want new master plan for Aba’

    ‘We want new master plan for Aba’

    When town planners gathered in Aba, Abia State, only one thing was on their minds: how to make the Enyimba City one to adore. SUNNY NWANKWO reports

    What do you not know about Aba? Home of creativity and showpiece of local technology, where virtually everything made can be re-produced.

    But what do Aba people think of their famous vibrant city? They want a new face, one with beauty and allure. They want the commercial hub of Abia State restored to the master plan and beautified.

    Once a farmers’ town, Aba has grown into an economic giant in the Southeast, serving as a gateway to some Southeast and Southsouth states.

    This growth has overstretched its amenities, building pattern and distorted the colonial master plan. People now build on every available space including waterways, leading to flooding during torrential rains.

    The distortion of the original master plan has not only contributed in defacing the city, it has equally affected the aesthetics of the eastern commercial pride.

    It will be recalled that the state governor Theodore Orji in 2012 during a press briefing, threatened to pull down 1,800 buildings allegedly built on sewer lanes which were obstructing free flow of water through the canals.

    Orji said that efforts he had made to build the city had been stalled by flooding, which resulted from the blocking of drains and sewer lanes, alleging that those whose houses were built on drainages did not get approvals before erecting such structures.

    The state governor, did not stop at making such policy statement, he went further to constitute a taskforce on environment and allied matters headed by Rtd. Capt. Awa Udensi whose legal framework or mandate was to demolish all manner of illegal structures in the state, including houses or structures built on waterways which are still ongoing.

    Apparently worried by the ugly sight and reported cases of economic loss associated with occasioned flooding Town Planning Practitioners who are trained in the science and art of spatial ordering of land use for the purpose of creating a well ordered, beautiful and functional environment in the state initiated annual luncheon to brainstorm and foster ways of assisting the government in making the state habitable and conducive for its citizenry.

    In a lecture “Urban Planning in Nigerian Cities” delivered at the event by Dr. Kingsley Chijioke Ogboi of the department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Nigeria Enugu Campus, he examined the overwhelming challenges of urban planning in Nigeria and the consequences of planlessness, mirroring Abia State situation.

    According to Ogboi, the situation in Aba reflects vividly the environmental conditions in many Nigerian cities which has led to “wild” sprawl and disorderly urban growth in many Nigerian cities despite the existence of urban laws, he attributed to poor infrastructure (or lack of them), uncontrolled housing developments and land uses.

    Ogboi, listing disorderliness and chaotic urban settlements, poor sanitary condition, urban congestion compounded with traffic gridlocks, crime and urban violence, threat of disease outbreaks due to squalor conditions, environmental degradation among others as some of the consequences of planlessness and poor urban development said that Aba as a city that has laid its foundation on commerce and with huge potentials including population and development, it needed to improve on its business environment and city management, develop adequate infrastructure.

    According to the guest speaker, cities like London, Paris, Frankfurt, Dublin etc have been able to stand the taste of time because they are well planned and effectively managed, adding that the more a city improves in planning and basic infrastructure and amenities, the more it will continue to attract investment that will in turn accelerate the growth of that city.

    He expressed hope that a joint partnership of private sector experts/entrepreneurs and government in planning and would help to meet the challenges posed by urban development.

    The chairman House of Representatives Committee on Climate Change, Hon. Eziuche Ubani and chairman of the occasion lauded the group for such initiative, adding that the event has provided room for intellectually-stimulated discussions that could turn around the fortunes of the city.

    Hon. Ubani in a paper titled “Mainstreaming Climate Change Response in Urban Planning”, recalled “Going back in time, we can say, in relation to the question, we can say that urbanization proceeded in a deliberate and orderly manner in the 1940s. Early patterns of development in Aba for example, indicate that the chaos in spatial management was not envisaged by colonial administrators as clear roles and powers were given to planning professionals by extant ordinances and statutes. The crisis we have in urban management cannot be divorced from the general crises of growth and development of Nigeria, where decay hugs development in equal intensity.”

    The lawmaker who noted that the issue of climate change could be addressed through a planned housing system or arrangement called on town planning practitioners to use more techniques of planning human settlements and land use practices to address issues of climate change in the country.

    Abia State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Renewal, Elder Godwin Nna, represented by the permanent secretary, Elder Bernard Ogbonna however expressed the desire of the state government to partner with stakeholders/professionals in the planning and development of cities to tackle the challenges of physical planning in the state and the country at large.

    Elder Ogbonna, the permanent secretary of the ministry stated that it has become imperative for government to synergize with individuals in the private sector to bring development into the state.

    “All the years, physical planning and implementation of plans in this country have been left in the hands of successive governments, coupled with total loss of political will to plan, and lack of proper awareness of the public on the gains of physical planning have left a yawning gap between urbanization and committed efforts to arrest its challenges.

    “Involvement of the private sector and collaboration among stakeholders in the practice of the physical planning will inject new impetus towards catching up with the demands of the livability of our settlements. This approach will undeniably, capture the whole essence of physical planning which is to create human settlements that are orderly, functionally efficient, economically viable and esthetically pleasant for living, working recreating and circulation.

    “It will also lay credence to the necessity of a comprehensive approach to tackling the challenges of physical planning development in the state and perhaps in the country as a whole.”

    In an interview the chairman Local Organizing Committee, Elder Nelson Nwaosu said that the choice for the theme “Consequences of planlessness in our cities” was to “beam our searchlight on the implications of absence of not having planned cities and its resultant effects on economic and physical development.”

    The LOC chairman said that in line with the vision of NITP, “we  remain committed to our vision, which is provide aesthetically pleasing and very functional cities, as to create employment, draw investors that will usher in improved economic status of the state in particular and the country in general.”

    Earlier in an address, NITP Abia State chapter chairman Mr. Lekwa Ezutah listed four cardinal functions of town planners as people trained to arbitrate between activities and space, deal with the physical layout of communities; make proposals and initiate policies designed to make life comfortable, enjoyable and profitable, project future space needs and accommodate them to ensure the environment created today will meet the demands of tomorrow and people that places public interest over individual interest with respect to location of various land uses.

    Ezutah however expressed hope that the luncheon would provide the needed platform for planning professionals to brain storm and interact well on how to develop a planned physical environment and also to see the need to protect same.

    In a unanimous resolution at the end of the event, they agreed as thus; that the city of Aba can be improved to its former glory that will attract investors, be security friendly and as such, orderly planned if all the stakeholders join hands with government and town planners to make it achievable.

    It was also agreed that master plan is the pre-requisite of orderly development of major towns in the world; Aba in Abia State inclusive, adding that the old master plan by the colonial masters is no longer dependable because it has been overtaken by the present population.

    According to them, the old Aba master plan cannot cope with the population which has been swallowed by the number of people that settled in Aba and as a result overstretches social amenities.

    “We are asking and requesting for completely fresh and new Aba master plan that will take recognizance of the present population of Aba as to provide the required facilities.

    “When the master plan is operational, we will upgrade some the areas that presently exist without adequate access road and facilities. So that they will be upgraded and of course those that cannot be upgraded completely can now be relocated to a more appropriate place.

    “It is presently being done in Abuja today whose suburbs were not completely planned before people overwhelmly entered to settle their. So what FCDA are doing today is to upgrade, that is what we may do to those areas that are presently built without proper plan.

    “We are not going to embark on the demolition of peoples’ houses because they built ignorantly, we are rather going to upgrade; upgrading means, if you don’t have access road around your area, access road will be provided for to the best of the ability of the environment,” a spokesman of the group stated.

  • Aba after Boko Haram suspects’ arrest

    Aba after Boko Haram suspects’ arrest

    The arrest last month of 486 persons suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect has altered the security equation in Aba, Abia State’s commercial hub, with security agencies stepping up surveillance as residents tread softly. SUNNY NWANKWO reports

    Most of the 486 suspects have been freed, but that has brought little relief to residents of Aba, the economic nerve of Abia State. One of the remaining suspects still in detention is said to be on the wanted list of the military. That is cause for concern, even though nothing is proved yet. Even the release of most of the suspects has been criticised, especially in the Southeast, with some arguing that it was hasty.

    Residents of the   commercial city have become jumpy and are looking out for themselves. Security agencies have also scaled up their surveillance in order to prevent any push down south by violent elements wreaking havoc in the North.

    The military arrested the suspects  along Aba-Port Harcourt expressway last month, triggering wide media reportage.

    Since the Director of Defence Information, Gen. Chris Olukolade issued a statement alleging that a “terror kingpin on the list of wanted terrorist of security forces in Nigeria has been detected in the ongoing screening of the 486 suspects nabbed while travelling in over 33 buses at night on the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway” on June 15, residents of Aba have been living apprehensively, a throwback to the days of  kidnapping in the state.

    Though the said Boko Haram kingpin who was identified among the suspects has been relocated out of Abia, residents of the state, especially Aba, including security agencies in the state, have been vigilant since the arrest.

    This situation has caused security and para-military organisations in the state to engage in one form of counter security measures or the other to ensure that the people’s agitations are dealt with.

    At the gate of Aba South Local Government Area, security personnel including the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) security personnel mounted a stop-and-search operation on vehicles going into the council’s offices.

    A military source, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said they were instructed to stop and search vehicles in order to avert any possible security breach in the Area.

    Though the personnel refused to comment further when quizzed by the reporter, he however attributed their actions and presence at the council’s gate to the outcome of a security meeting after the army arrested 486 suspected members of Boko Haram insurgents in the state.

    Efforts to speak with the Divisional Officer of NSCDC, Aba South Paul Nze failed, but the Public Relations Officer of the agency, Mr. Victor Ogbonna said that the officers would not have been carrying out the stop and search operation at the Aba South gate without any operational manual.

    According to Ogbonna, “Aba South itself can have an operational manual given to them. So, what you need to do is to go and find out where the operational manual is coming from. It can be done. If the local government authority demand that, I think it is suppose be done. Find out if they are given that mandate. We cannot do without mandate. Before it is done (stop and search) we must get an operational manual. You must tell us what to do. If they tell us what to do, we might decide to put it down on paper as evidence, which is how we work. We cannot just come out like that and begin to work. There must be an operational manual given to us; there must be an agreement

    A check around churches, police station and other corporate offices show that security has been tightened in such places.

    Parishioner in some of the worship centers in the commercial city told our correspondent that after the news of the suspected Boko Haram members’ arrest, their churches have made moves to install Close Circuit Cameras (CCTV) within their church compound.

    Another source however disclosed that security officials in their church now use metal detector to search even parishioners thoroughly before they could gain entrance into the church premises. This development the source said though they were not comfortable with, they have to accept in good fate because it was for their own security as “no one prays to die while coming to receive salvation from God.”

    Checks by our reporter around police stations in Aba, Enyimba City has it that security has equally been improved as station guards quizzes and thoroughly scrutinize any person whose movement in and around police stations look suspicious.

    It was also gathered that because of the economic importance of Aba to Abia, State, south east and indeed, the Igbo nation, virtually all the security agencies in the state have deployed more intelligence personnel out in the streets of Aba, including markets for prompt security and intelligence gathering reports.

    The Aba Area Commander, Nigerian Police, ACP Peter Wagbara had assured residents of the commercial city and its environs of their safety.

    Wagbara who was reacting over the tension and fear being expressed by some residents after soldiers intercepted the said suspected members of Boko Haram disclosed that the command has increased its intelligence gathering and patrol within and outside Aba.

    According to the Area Commander, the command has equally redesigned its operational strategies in crime fighting and to further beef up security of lives and property in the densely populated business community.

    “We don’t want to take chances, not with the reported escape of two buses in the convoy of the travellers intercepted by soldiers somewhere close to Aba. We have deployed our officers and men to some flash points in and around the city to fish out criminals and strange elections.”

    He added that police was intensifying its stop and search operation especially among the tricycle operators which according to him had in recent times become the major operational means of criminals particularly kidnappers.

    He said that in addition to the already taken measures, in order to strengthen security inside the area command, that all illegal structures within the premises had been demolished.

  • Aba traders tell GSM operators to shape up

    Aba traders tell GSM operators to shape up

    The 63rd edition of Consumer Outreach Programme organised by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in Aba, Abia State has given GSM service providers something to think about, and work on.

    Participants at the event, mainly  business men and traders called on GSM network operators to address issues of perennial  network failure and general poor service delivery usually experienced by telecommunication subscribers in the commercial nerve of the state.

    They called for improved service delivery by the network providers, alleging that inconsistency in network signals and poor service delivery by majority of the network providers in the commercial city have adversely affected their business.

    Some of the stakeholders including the chairman, Ariaria International Market, Elder Lucky Akubueze lamented that congestion and inability of traders in Ariaria and other markets in Aba to communicate easily with their customers and suppliers of goods and products remains a threat to their businesses.

    Akubueze thanked NCC for providing mobile phone users the opportunity to meet their operators and expressed hope that the meeting would yield to better services as it has as well provided the operators firsthand information on the areas where they needed to improve their services to the Aba business community.

    Earlier in a welcome address, Mrs. Maryam Bayi, Director Consumer Affairs Bureau represented by her deputy Mr. Joseph Atoyobi  described the theme “Customer Care Help Lines: A Veritable Platform For Effective Service Delivery” said that the aim of the stakeholders’ meeting was to provide a platform for stakeholders to deliberate on topical communication issues as it affects the interest of consumers, adding “to address this concern, the Commission decided to host this consumer forum today at Aba to deliberate and proffer solution on ways of improving the accessibility of the service providers’ customer-care help lines by the consumers.”

    Atoyobi, blaming network operators of self-centered said “The industry growth shows that there is incredible emphasis by the service providers to connect new consumers because of the available untapped markets in the country. However, the same level of emphasis not seen in the provision of after sales support to existing consumers” and further alleged “Report from survey conducted by the Commission on the accessibility of Service Providers Customer Care help lines and complaints received from Consumers via NCC Call center and Consumer Outreach Programmes revealed that the Service Providers’ Customer Care help lines that we expected to be the first call for a Consumer in distress are either not easily accessible or not dysfunctional.”

    NCC deputy director stressing the need for more rural service center outreach lamented “Even in situations where the help lines are accessible, the waiting time for a consumer who opted to speak to a live agent remained unending and most often results into drop call and more worrisome are the difficulties experienced by the rural consumers who reside in remote locations where there are no provisions for walk-in customer contact centres by the service providers. This is not acceptable to the Commission and has to be addressed with a great sense of urgency.”

    Various service providers’ representatives who spoke in turns at the event explained how they have been able to tackle some of the problems raised by consumers and assured of improved and quality services for their customers not only in Aba, but the country as a whole.

  • Truck kills two in Aba

    Truck kills two in Aba

    Two persons were at the weekend in Aba, Abia State feared dead in an auto crash.

    A beverage drink truck with registration number Lagos FST 796 XC and a tricycle with registration number Imo KGE 920 QA were involved in the accident.

    The incident it was gathered occurred along Aba-Ikot Ekpene near Bata round about on Sunday afternoon when residents of the commercial city were returning back from church services.

    Nation gathered that the driver Marizu Nwankpa apparently lost control while he was negotiating into Aba-Ikot Ekpene road from Aba-Owerri road.

    It was learnt that while he knocked down a man reading newspaper in a news vendor’s stand near the junction before he collided with a tricycle that was coming from the opposite direction.

    Report has it that a commuter inside the tricycle also died on the spot, leaving three others including the tricycle operator severely wounded.

    An eye witness who was still in shock told our correspondent at the scene of the accident that the identities of the victims could not be ascertained as the victims’ bodies were crushed beyond recognition.

    The bodies of the accident victims had been evacuated and deposited in an undisclosed mortuary by Police officers from the Eziama Police Division. The injured person were also said to have been taken to a hospital where they were said to be receiving medical attention.

    The driver of the truck is in the custody of Eziama Police station. The tricycle until the time of filling this report was still at the scene of the accident while the truck has been towed to the police station.

    Unconfirmed report has it that one of the dead victims was a final year student of Abia State Polytechnic Aba.

    When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the polytechnic, Mr. Anyalewachi Chigozirim said that they were yet to receive report from police or any other source about their student being involved in auto crash.

  • Gunmen steal 6-month old male child

    Unidentified gunmen have reportedly stolen a 6 months old male child at Amapu Umuaja village in Isiala Ngwa South Local Government Area of Abia State.

    Sources from the village said that the incident happened around 9:30pm Monday evening when most of the villagers had already gone to bed.

    Nation learnt that the gunmen who came to the victim’s parents compound in a motorbike, after forcefully breaking into Mrs. Peace Chikezie’s house, snatched away her child and her mobile phone, apparently to stop her from contacting other members of her immediate family.

    A source who pleaded not to be mentioned confirmed the incident and however stated that the gunmen were yet to make initial contact with the victim’s family.

    The source said that the villagers got to know about the incident after the mother of the child raised the alarm after the gunmen had left their compound after which a search team was set up for a possible recovery of the baby and apprehension of the victims that yielded no result.

    Another source added that though reasons for which the gunmen struck the Chikezie’s compound remained unknown to the villagers, said it was the first time such a thing was happening in their area.

    The source who spoke bitterly however described the actions of the gunmen as barbaric and satanic and called on the hoodlums to release the baby to the mother with immediate effect.

    The source wondered why the gunmen should be so wicked to have taken away a child of six months from his mother and further added that the emotional and psychological trauma the child and his mother would be subjected to by the gunmen were undeserving.

    The matter Nation learnt has been reported at the Umuoba Divisional Police Headquarters for proper investigation into the matter.

    Efforts to reach Abia State Police Public Relations Officer, Geoffrey Ogbonna failed as calls put to his mobile phone rang repeatedly without any response. However, a senior police officer who spoke on anonymous confirmed the incident and added that the police were already on top of the matter to recover the child and also to apprehend the culprits as well.

  • Yola reassure on Pillars progress

    Yola reassure on Pillars progress

    Chairman of Kano Pillars Football Club, Aba Yola has assured fans of the club and Nigerians that the 2012/2013 Glo Premier League champion will overturn the 3-1 deficit suffered away at AS vita club of DR.Congo.

    Yola posited that he is looking forward to the return leg, which will be played next weekend with Pillars needing to score at least two unreplied goals to qualify for the first round of the competition. Yola described the game as a good match for his team but rues the first leg defeat on profligacy on the part of his players even as he gave assurances that they will sail through.

    “It was quite a very good match, we lost some scoring chances yes in the first half, eventually they were able to lead us 3-1 which was quite a good result going by what we have seen there and the way the players played. I’m sure we can overcome the two goal deficit when they come to Kano insha Allah.”

    Yola also described the team’s treatment in Kinshasha as a good one as he hailed the locals in Congo DR.

    “They were really very friendly, honestly they’re quite good, they were even cheering and waving at us even after the match, there was no hostility at all.” Yola concluded.

    Meanwhile, Assistant technical director of the Nigeria Football Federation, James Peters has predicted a tough and dicey contest after the contrasting fortunes recorded by Nigerian clubs in the Preliminary stage of the CAF champions league.

    Peters reckon that the away goal recorded by Kano Pillars makes winning two goals to zero an obtainable results for champions league easier while stating that the Aba warlords have a tight fixture to negotiate away from home.

    “The hope for kano PIllars is there, but at home we must be very careful to make sure that we can win by 2-0 which is obtainable but for Enyimba playing 3-1 at home, it is very tight for the team,” Peters told Brila FM.