The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ABA

  • UNICAL’s chancellor escapes assassination in Aba

    The Chancellor and Governing Board Chairman of the University of Calabar (UNICAL), Senator Nkechi Nwaogu, has reportedly escaped assassination by five gunmen in military camouflage.

    The incident, it was gathered, happened on the Enugu-Aba-Port Harcourt Expressway while Nwaogu, who is running for the Abia Central Senatorial District under the All Progressives Congress (APC), was heading to Aba with her team.

    They were said to be returning from Umuahia, the state capital.

    The former lawmaker reportedly said her security detail repelled the gunmen when the hoodlums attempted to break into her home.

    Luck ran out on the gang when a combined team of policemen and soldiers attached to Ngwa High School Forward Operation Base, Charlie Coy of 144 Battalion in Ukwa West Local Government Area, raided a popular hotel on Kamalu Street, off Aba-Owerri Road, near Nwaogu’s home, where the suspects reportedly lodged.

    While it was not clear if any weapon was recovered in the raid, it was gathered that the combined security agencies recovered a Mercedes Benz 190, which the gunmen allegedly drove to the scene.

    Some residents said the joint operation took place between 11 p.m and 1 a.m on Monday night.

    Contacted, Nwaogu told our reporter on phone that the gunmen were arrested after she alerted Police Commissioner Anthony Ogbizi.

    According to her, she contacted the police chief when she heard that the gang lodged in a hotel sharing the same fence with her home.

    The senatorial aspirant said the gunmen were arrested by a combined team of security operatives from Aba Area Command and Ngwa High School’s Army FOB.

    Sources at the Aba Area Command and 144 Battalion of the Army, who spoke in confidence, confirmed the arrest of the suspects by the sister security agencies.

    It was gathered that the suspects were taken to 14 Brigade headquarters to ascertain if they are genuine soldiers or not.

    Efforts to reach the spokesman for the 14 Brigade, Major Oyegoke Gbadamosi, were unsuccessful last night.

     

  • IPOB Sit-at-home: Aba residents shun security directives

    Despite assurances of safety of lives and property of residents and visitors to the state by heads of various security agencies in Abia State, residents, traders, private and government workers in Aba, the commercial nerve of the State on Friday stayed away from their shops and offices as the Indigenous People of Biafra ( IPOB ) hold sit-at-home across the southeast states.

    A release by the spokesman of the secessionist group, Emma Powerful had urged the people to stay away from their offices and shops in honour of their late colleagues who were murdered in Afaraukwu, the country home of their leader and Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu by soldiers.

    Our correspondent who monitored compliance to the sit-at-home order by the IPOB, reports that while there was compliance to the order in Aba, it was business as usual in Umuahia, the state capital as the people were seen going about their businesses without any harassment by anybody.

    According to our reporter, while the gates of major markets in Aba including Ariaria International market, Cemetery, Shopping Plaza, Ahia Ohuru, Bakassi among others were open, traders however stayed away from their shops.

    While some commercial banks at the time of this report were running skeletal services, some of the staff interviewed disclosed that they were open for business because they didn’t get official memo from their headquarters directing them to stay away from work today. Offices, shops along Okigwe, Azikiwe, kent, Market, Aba-Owerri roads respectively were however devoid of their usual hustling and bubbling.

    Police patrol vans were spotted stationed at Sameck by Faulks, Market road by Shopping Center and other strategic places in the commercial city.

    Read Also: IPOB: Sit-at-home fails in Enugu

    In a chat with a senior police officer in Abia State Police Command who pleaded not to be mentioned said that they were stationed at various flash points in Aba and other parts of the state in order to forestall any breakdown of law and order by any group of person who would want to capitalized on the IPOB sit-at-home to foment troubles or stop citizens of the state from going to their normal duties.

    Some members of the pro-Biafra group members who spoke to our reporter thanked the people and residents of Aba for complying with the orders of the group.

    The respondents, including Ifeanyi Okafor described the day as a day of sober reflection and also used the opportunity to call on world bodies including the United Nations to investigate the killings in Afaraukwu in 2017 by soldiers.

    Okafor said that no amount of intimidation from the federal government and security agencies would deter them from continuing with the peaceful agitation for the sovereign State of Biafra.

  • Mixed feelings trail IPOB sit-at-home order

    …as Aba markets, banks witness large turn out

     

    Residents, visitors and shop owners in Aba, the commercial nerve of Abia State and Umuahia, the state capital have expressed mixed feelings over the planned sit-at-home directives by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) which is expected to be observed in parts of the Southeast Friday.

    Our reporter who visited some major markets in Aba, the Enyimba city and the State capital reports that economic and business activities were on the increase as many even until the time of filing this report were trying to make last minute shopping before the markets close for the day.

    Read Also:Sit-at-home: Ebonyi Police Commissioner, Ohaneze Youths warn IPOB

    Some branches of commercial banks in Aba witnessed high patronage as customers who said that they wouldn’t want to risk their lives and that of their staff came to carry out different transactions which they said would have taken place tomorrow.

    An official of one of the banks who spoke anonymously told our reporter at the time of the visit that they were yet to receive official memo from their headquarters in Lagos asking them not to come work Friday.

    According to the bank source, they would be open for business tomorrow in the morning where they would be running skeletal banking services to customers and if nothing happens thereafter, they would commence normal banking activities.

    Some of the respondents who spoke to our reporter in Umuahia and Aba expressed optimism that the presence of the police and other security agencies in the state who paraded the streets of Umuahia and Aba on Wednesday in a show of force would be capable of arrest any situation that could lead to unrest or breach of peace.

    According to the respondents including Mrs. Grace Okeke, a shopper at Cemetery market in Aba, said that they were in the market to shop ahead of the sit-at-home order.

    “Tomorrow is Friday and we can’t predict what will happen which could affect opening of market on Saturday. So, I am being pro-active so as not to be caught in the web of any eventuality.”

    An official of one of the markets in Aba disclosed that they would be opening the market for business tomorrow (Friday) despite the IPOB order, stressing that they would not force people to come to market.

    Meanwhile, the spokesman of the IPOB, Emma Powerful in a statement urged their members to remain at home in adherence to the directives, alleging that investigation gathered by the group has it that plots have been made by security agencies to kill people and hang it on IPOB.

  • Man kills lover’s son over N20 biscuit

    It was a black Saturday for residents of Agbaraevo Street off No. 147 Omuma Road, Aba, Abia State as they woke up to the shock of the death of a 12-year-old by the mum’s lover. This is even as mob who had gathered at the location angrily lynched the lover to death.

    The man identified as Amadi, 45  was said to have killed the lover’s child over twenty naira that the deceased was said to have used to buy biscuit.

    Our reporter gathered that crowd was attracted by the alarm raised by other tenants when they noticed that Amandi had killed the lover’s son.

    A source in the area who spoke anonymously told our reporter that Amadi who got to know the family through the husband moved in with the widow few years ago after the demise of her husband and has since been having sexual affairs with her.

    According to the source, “The matter is too flimsy to result to the killing of that boy. Amandi has been sleeping with the woman since the demise of her husband.

    “When he was beating the boy, people asked him to stop, but he refused. It was when the boy died that he wanted to run away and we learnt the boy’s offense was just that he eat his own mother’s twenty Naira biscuit. And the mother’s lover didn’t like it.”

    Read Also: Man burns teenager’s face with hot iron over N3000

    Another resident said that the deceased identified as aboy was the youngest child of the widow.

    The source added that Amadi who runs a shop where she sells dry gin and also a weight lifter sees the widow who is said to be several years older than him as the only source satisfying his sexual desire.

    “The man is too old to beat that boy. Even the woman he’s sleeping with is older than him by many years. He is a weight lifter and sells dry gin. He surprised all of us when he moved in with the woman after her husband’s death.

    “Most people who were beating him thought he was dead and left him only for us to hear that he is still alive in a nearby hospital after his supposed dead body was moved away by the police.”

    It was learnt that residents of the area are leaving the area in droves to evade impending police arrests.

  • NDLEA raids illicit drug base in Aba

    The Abia State command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) led by its commander, Bamidele Akingbade has raided a notorious base used by illegal drug peddlers and users in Aba at Orji Uzor Kalu Bridge near the popular Good Morning Market.

    Akingbade and his team also demolished shanties where the hoodlums engaged in their illicit indulgences.

    The NDLEA commander said that despite several efforts to raid the place, the hoodlums often escaped arrest, regrouped and continued their business.

    Though no arrest was made this time, the agency recovered hard drugs such as cocaine, cannabis and heroine in the process of destroying the shanties.

    The NDLEA boss appealed to members of the public to provide the command with credible information about activities of drug peddlers in their neighbourhoods, adding that the war against sale and consumption of illicit drugs in Aba and other parts of the state remains in force.

    He said, “With the demolition of the structures, drug traffickers and armed robbers will have no place to hide to commit any crime. We are equally going to establish an outpost there like we did at York Street to ensure that they didn’t come back.

    “I want to use this opportunity to thank the authorities of Nigerian Army and other sister agencies in the state for the assistance that they have been able to give us so far which resulted in the successes we have been able to record so far. We are equally appealing to the state government to help provide us with logistics to enable us function well and effectively. For us, the war against sale and consumption of illicit drugs in the state is total.”

     

  • Sit-at-home call grounds Enugu, Aba

    The sit-at-home call by outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to mark the “Biafra Day” yesterday recorded partial compliance in many cities in the Southeast.

    Many people stayed away from their business premises in Enugu and Aba but it was a flop in Imo and Ebonyi States.

    In Asaba, Delta State capital, and some parts of Port Harcout in Rivers State, compliance was partial.

    Major markets, government and public institutions in Aba closed for business in compliance with the order.

    Ariaria, Cemetery, Ahia Ohuru (New Market), Shopping Centre, Ehi road, Ama Ogbonna, Uratta, Afo Ule, Ahia Nkwo and other markets were devoid of their usual hustling and bubbling.

    Major roads, such as Azikiwe, Faulks, Okigwe, Asa, Port Harcourt, Aba-Owerri, Ikot Ekpene and Osisioma junction, and major motor parks witnessed a drop in traffic.

    Banks on Okigwe road, Aba-Owerri road  carried out skeletal operations; those on Faulks road and near Ariaria were closed.

    This is even as private and public school pupils stayed away from their schools.

    Although police patrol vans were sighted at the headquarters of the three local governments of Osisioma, Aba North and South, civil servants, in fear, stayed away despite a circular from the Head of Service, Sir Onyi Wamah, directing permanent secretaries to take staff attendance.

  • Dismissed policeman arrested in Aba

    A dismissed policeman, identified as Emenike, has been arrested in Aba, Abia State.

    Emenike last worked under the Mobile Police Force unit of the Imo State Command.

    It was gathered that Emenike would always extort money from motorists in Ama-Ogbonna, Aba.

    Sources said Emenike’s excesses were reported to the command and an intelligence team was raised to track his activities.

    He was arrested at the weekend while extorting money from motorists in mobile police uniform.

    Police spokesman Geoffrey Ogbonna, who confirmed the arrest, said the suspect was paraded in Umuahia by the Commissioner of Police, Anthony Ogbizi.

  • NAFDAC confiscates N5m expired drugs from Ariaria Market

    The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control ( NAFDAC ) has confiscated expired drugs worth over N5 million from a drug dealer in Ariaria Market, Aba, Abia.

    The state Coordinator of NAFDAC, Mr Olisa Okeke, disclosed this in an interview with the News men on Tuesday in Aba.

    Okeke said that the agency got information that the dealer ( names withheld ) was used to stocking expired drugs, changing their expiry dates and selling same to unsuspecting members of the public.

    According to the coordinator, NAFDAC officers investigated the shop, swooped on it and successfully confiscated many common drugs with March 2017 expiry date and awaiting re-validation.

    Okeke, who said that the dealer ran away, gave the assurance that NAFDAC would do its best to ensure his arrest and prosecution. “We are working hard to clean Aba; so, we are asking the residents to come forward and give us information on persons who do suspicious businesses.

    “We got a tip-off concerning expired drug sale in Ariaria, and successfully investigated a particular shop we heard stocked expired drugs awaiting revalidation.
    “When we went, we got many cartons of expired drugs earmarked for re-validation by the suspect; the drugs are worth over N5 million,’’
    he told the News men.

    Read Also: NAFDAC warns against fruits ripened with carbide

    According to him, the expired drugs include common drugs such as antibiotics, anti-emetic and anti-malaria drugs.

    “The investigation is ongoing but the shop owner has been on the run.

    “We are monitoring the market; immediately we arrest him, we will move him to our Enforcement Office in Lagos.
    “To him for a product that expired in November 2017 to be changed to November 2019 will be very easy for any clever artist.

    “Such information is not what NAFDAC will joke with,’’ Okeke said.

    Okeke also said that the agency had sanctioned more than 50 bakeries in Aba for claiming to be out of operations while functioning secretly and refusing to renew their NAFDAC licences.

    He said that some of them had operated for four years without renewed licences.

    “Hence, they have been given commensurate administrative charges to pay for failing to abide by the rules.’’

    The coordinator said that NAFDAC had also begun inspection of water-producing factories in Abia to promote good health.

    NAN

  • Gunmen rob warehouse owner in Aba

    Gunmen rob warehouse owner in Aba

    Gunmen numbering four on Thursday attacked a clothing warehouse located at No. 70 St Michael’s road by York in Aba South Local Government Area of Abia State.

    The gunmen who operated using a commercial tricycle were said to have made away with cash of over N100, 000 from the warehouse which they collected on gunpoint.

    The gunmen also escaped death by the whiskers as they drove into a crowded area on sighting army patrol team ahead of them.

    According to an eye witness, “the armed men had finished robbing the warehouse successfully, but while they were heading towards St. Michael’s by Adazi, they saw army patrol vehicle ahead of them and turned immediately to navigate into a busy road (York street) which made it difficult for the soldiers to shoot at them because of the population of people on the area. In fact, the way it happened, we don’t know because initially when they arrived, we thought that they were coming to buy clothes in bell, not knowing that they were armed robbers.

    “I suggest that they (shop owners) should install CCTV to enable the security agencies to use it to track the hoodlums anytime they struck.”

    Read Also: Gunmen kidnap NDDC contractors in Bayelsa

    Our reporter gathered that it was not the first time the warehouse was being robbed by gunmen in such a similar manner and had carried out their operations successfully without being caught.

    Meanwhile some of the warehouse owners have called on the security agencies in the state to strengthen security around their facilities and Aba in general stressing that they have encountered losses in the hands of hoodlums who attack their members’ facilities and robbed them of cash almost on weekly basis.

    When contacted, one of the soldiers who went after the hoodlums said that they were on routine patrol some distance from the area of the incident when they noticed people running towards their direction.

    According to the source who pleaded not to be mentioned said on noticing the surge, some members of the team alighted and rushed towards the direction of the crowd, but the robbers who had sighted them turned their tricycle and headed towards a crowded area.

    The source said that when they visited the warehouse, they were told that the gunmen robbed pointed pistol on them and demanded that they should handover all the money that they have with them.

    The sources said that the shop owners told them that they handed over the sum of one and fifty thousand naira which they immediately went away with in their tricycle.

    “We were on a normal patrol and when we were passing, we noticed that people were running in opposite direction. We suspected that something was fishy and decided to head towards the direction they were running from. But before we could get there, the robbers had sighted us and turned their keke. We would have continued chasing after them, but unfortunately, when we got to St. Michael’s by York Street and started asking people where the hoodlums diverted to, they were looking at us and refused to volunteer information.”

  • EEDC loses N15m to Aba power outage

    EEDC loses N15m to Aba power outage

     Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has lost over N15million to power outage, following equipment failure at the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), which has thrown Aba, Abia into darkness.

    Chukwuemeka Eze, Head, Communications, EEDC, made this known in an interview with the Newsmen in Aba on Thursday.

    He explained that the blackout happened on Saturday, February 10, following a Circuit Breaker failure at TCN, Aba station.

    He said that the Circuit Breaker failure had caused the disconnection of some EEDC feeders in Aba resulting in the blackout being experienced in most parts of the commercial city since Saturday.

    Read Also:Vandalism: EEDC  secures conviction, remand of offenders

    Eze said that the failure affected 91 transformers causing power outage in most parts of Aba for more than a week now.

    He noted that the affected transformers were located in areas within Aba North, Aba South and Obingwa Local Government Areas.

    According to him, areas most affected were Ogbor Hill, Housing Estate, Ehere, Akwarandu, Ikot Ekpene road and New Phase of Umuobe.

    Eze noted that all the affected customers being served from the EEDC’s IGI 33KV and Opobo Road 11KV Feeders are out of supply now.

    He, however, said the Circuit Breaker failure was getting urgent attention to ensure timely restoration of electricity to the affected customers.

    Eze said the company regretted the inconveniences the disruption had caused its customers and assured them of speedy re-connection once the problem was solved.

    NAN