The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ebonyi State

  • JUST IN: Nwifuru lifts suspension on 81 Ebonyi government officials

    JUST IN: Nwifuru lifts suspension on 81 Ebonyi government officials

    Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru, has lifted the suspension of 81 top government officials, including Commissioners, Senior Special Assistants, Special Assistants, and Permanent Secretaries.

    The officials were suspended on July 28, 2025, for failing to attend a key state government function. However, they have now been directed to resume their duties immediately.

    The announcement was made in a statement issued on Tuesday by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Monday Uzor, who noted that the governor’s decision reflects his commitment to good governance, administrative order, and the smooth functioning of the state’s public service.

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    “The Governor of Ebonyi State, His Excellency Rt. Hon. Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru has graciously lifted the suspension on 81 government officials,” the statement read. “He has directed the affected Commissioners, Senior Special Assistants, Special Assistants, and Permanent Secretaries to resume official duties without delay.”

    The development is expected to restore normal operations across the state’s ministries and agencies. As of the time of this report, the affected officials had begun returning to their posts.

  • Students hostel collapses in Ebonyi

    Students hostel collapses in Ebonyi

    A Two- Storey hostel collapsed on Friday in Nfufu-Alike Ikwo Local Government Area of  Ebonyi State, displacing student residents.

    The hostel, known as Pentagon Lodge, is situated opposite the front gate of the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo(AE-FUNAI).

    Remote and immediate causes of the building collapse are yet to be established.

    It was gathered that no casualty was recorded in the incident.

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    Sources said the students noticed cracks and some trembling and quickly evacuated the hostel before it partially collapsed.

    It was also learnt that many residents of the hostel were not around when the building collapsed.

    “Many had gone for lectures while others had traveled for the weekend when it collapsed”, a source said.

    Head of the Information Department of the University, Ikechukwu Elom confirmed the incident.

    He noted that the hostel is a private lodge located outside the university premises.

    He, however, expressed relief and appreciation that no lives were lost in the incident.

  • They shot me twice, killed 11 others, says Ogboji massacre victim

    They shot me twice, killed 11 others, says Ogboji massacre victim

    In the wake of the chilling massacre of Ebonyi State indigenes in Ogboji, Anambra State, a survivor has come forward with a harrowing account of how gunmen stormed a peaceful community meeting and opened fire, killing at least eleven people and injuring several others.

    Onuoha Godwin, a member of the Ebonyi State Welfare Association in Ogboji, was present at the ill-fated meeting and lived to tell the tale—though not without grave injuries and deep emotional scars.

    Speaking from his hospital bed, where he is receiving treatment for multiple gunshot wounds to his hand and stomach, Godwin recounted the terrifying ordeal.

    A video of his statement has gone viral on social media and was seen by our reporter. 

    Speaking in his local dialect, Godwin from Inyimagu in Ikwo local government area of Ebonyi State, said the gunmen stormed the venue of their monthly meeting with intent to kill.

    “We used to have our meeting two times in the month. That day was our general meeting of Ebonyi State Welfare Association in Ogboji,” he said in a faint but steady voice.

    “Towards evening time when we were about closing the meeting, some people carrying guns came in. We thought they were policemen that came for mass arrests. We didn’t know they were on a mission to kill us.”

    What followed, he said, was a nightmare.

    “The first thing they asked was, ‘Who is Augustine Odogwu?’ Then they ordered everybody to lie down,” Godwin recalled.

    Augustine Odogwu, the Chairman of the Ogboji branch of the Association, appeared to be their main target.

    “They dragged me up and asked me what meeting we were doing. I told them it was the general meeting of Ebonyi indigenes. They said we were kicking against them and then they shot me,” he said.

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    The attackers, he said, fired several shots into the air and threatened to kill everyone if Augustine wasn’t identified.

    “They came to me again and asked me to show them Augustine or they would kill me. I pointed at him. They brought him out and shot him right there. Then they shot me again.”

    He said what  followed was mass carnage as the gunmen began firing indiscriminately at other members of the Association, killing about eleven people on the spot and leaving several others injured.

    The death toll is said to have risen to 13 as a few other repeatedly died at the hospital.

    The tragic incident has sparked outrage and strong calls for justice, with the Ebonyi State Government and civil society groups demanding a swift and thorough investigation.

  • Police confirm abduction of man in Ebonyi

    Police confirm abduction of man in Ebonyi

    A woman, one Uduma Idam-Chima has been kidnapped in Amasiri, Afikpo Local Government Area of Ebonyi state by suspected warlords.

    Police spokesperson in Ebonyi, Joshua Ukandu confirmed the kidnap on Friday in Abakaliki.

    According to him, the command has launched investigation into the incident.

    He said that Chima was alleged to have been abducted by suspected warlords on June 14.

    Also, Oso-Edda Development Town Union in Edda Local Government Area of the State in a statement condemned the abduction.

    President-General of the union, Ama Aba Emeh described the kidnap as another provocation to Oso Edda people.

    The people of Oso-Edda in Edda Local government and neighboring Amasiri in Afikpo South LGA have been having a boundary dispute.

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    The Union expressed concern over the continued hostility, despite recent peace efforts brokered by Governor Francis Nwifuru.

    “We, the people of Oso-Edda in Edda Local Government Area, condemn the recent attack and abduction of our son, Mr. Uduma Idam Chima. This incident is particularly painful as it occurred shortly after a peace meeting convened by Governor Francis Nwifuru on April 30, 2025,” Emeh stated.

    Recounting previous incidents, Emeh recalled that on April 6, 2025, the warlords launched an assault that left six Oso-Edda residents dead, including a pregnant woman and her child and destroyed properties worth millions of naira.

    He also referenced a similar occurrence on February 5, 2023, when several Oso-Edda farmers were reportedly abducted while working in their farms.

    “This is not the first, second, or even third time such attacks have taken place. We are appealing to the governor, the Inspector General of Police, and the Ebonyi State Commissioner of Police to act swiftly and decisively. We have remained peaceful because Governor Nwifuru is a peace-loving leader,” he added.

  • One killed, four injured in Ebonyi community

    One killed, four injured in Ebonyi community

    One person has been killed and four injured in Ekoli Edda, Edda Local Government Area of Ebonyi State in a suspected political attack by thugs.

    It was gathered that houses and other valuable properties were destroyed in the attacks.

    Two rival political groups have been battling for supremacy in the community, with lives lost and properties worth billions of naira destroyed.

    Sources told The Nation that the thugs targeted allies and supporters of a former Council chairman, Eni Uduma China.

    The source said thugs who carried out the attacks were over 10.

    A member of the community, Chima Oko Obasi, said the thugs first attacked the community around 10am and killed one Okoro Obasi of Ndibom village.

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    His body was later conveyed to the mortuary.

    Obasi alleged that the children of the deceased and their friends were also attacked and machete cuts inflicted on them.

    The thugs also attacked and destroyed houses and other properties belonging to residents of the community.

    Obasi said the thugs ambushed and attacked the former Chairman of the Local Government and former House of Assembly member Eni Uduma Chima in Mgborokuma in the community.

  • Ttask force attacks, injures soldier at Ebonyi market

    Ttask force attacks, injures soldier at Ebonyi market

    There was tension at lot 2 of the International market, Ebonyi State on Wednesday when the market ticket taskforce members and a soldier clashed.

    The soldier and some of the taskforce members sustained varying degree of injuries during the clash

    Trouble started when the taskforce members besieged the soldier identified as Nwuzor Elias and asked him to pay N5,000 as loading and offloading fee which he refused, leading to exchange of words.

    “Ticket people just attacked me at International Market because I refused to give them 5,000 naira which they claimed it is for loading and offloading.

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    “I told them that I’m not carrying anything and I’m not coming to carry anything that I’m only here to buy something and secondly I identified myself as a soldier to them.

    “They said nothing concerned them with being a soldier, that I should go to Port Harcourt and continue with my soldier work, that they are also Biafra soldiers

    “Before I know what’s going on, they attacked me, injured me and I am presently at a hospital in Abakaliki

    “Before going to the Hospital, I went to the Barack and I reported my case and they wanted to arrest all of them but they have ran away because they heard about their coming,” the injured soldier said.

    It was gathered that after the incident, a team of soldiers stormed the market in search of the taskforce members and arrested one of them while others took to their heels.

  • Five burnt to death as bus catches fire on Abakaliki highway

    Five burnt to death as bus catches fire on Abakaliki highway

    At least five people on Friday died in Ebonyi State, as a bus filled with passengers caught fire.

    It gathered that the incident happened in Abakaliki, capital of Ebonyi State, along the Abakaliki-Enugu Expressway, near the G-hostel junction.

    It was not immediately clear where the bus came from into the city.

    However, the passengers were said to be Alumni of a secondary school in the state who were coming for an event.

    Sources said the bus came into the state around 20 minutes past midnight when it caught fire.

    The police spokesperson in Ebonyi, Joshua Ụkandu, confirmed the incident.

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    He said the vehicle ran into some obstacles on the road placed by a maintenance team renovating some bad sections of the road, and then it caught fire.

    Mr Ukandu confirmed that five people were burnt to death.

    According to him, seven other passengers suffered severe burns and were receiving treatment at the hospital.

    He said: “The incident happened around 00:20hrs. There are some bad spots on the road where some reconstruction is ongoing. The driver may not have been aware and so ran into the obstacles on the road and lost control.

  • Death toll in Ebonyi cholera outbreak rises to 13

    Death toll in Ebonyi cholera outbreak rises to 13

    The death toll from the cholera outbreak in Ebonyi state has risen to 13, according to the state government.

    The Health Commissioner, Moses Ekuma, however, said on Sunday, September 29, in Abakaliki that no further deaths have occurred since the government’s intervention, along with support from development partners.

    Ekuma confirmed that 69 cases and 13 deaths were recorded, but noted that the fatalities happened before the state’s response efforts.

    He reassured the public that the outbreak has been brought under control, with no new cases reported since Friday, September 27.

    He explained that the disease had spread to other villages such as Ndiogbaga Obashi, Oferekpe in Izzi Local Government Area, and Okum village in Ebonyi Local Government Area apart from Ndibokote where it started from.

    According to him, the swift action taken by the Ministry, partners, and stakeholders made the affected people they met alive to survive.

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    He said: “Presently we have about 69 confirmed cases in Ebonyi State and 13 deaths have been confirmed to be from cholera. Most of the deaths occurred in a village called Ndibokote in Ezza Inyimagu Community in Izzi Local Government Area and a nearby village called Ndiogbaga Obashi”.

    He outlined the effort made by the Ministry of Health, the development partners, and the Izzi Local Government Chairman including the stakeholders to curtail the disease and urged the people not to panic.

    The Health boss disclosed that the affected people at different activated treatment centres are responding to treatment.

    “So the Ministry of Health in collaboration with WHO, Council Chairman of Local Government, the Ebonyi State Rapid Response team, and other stakeholders moved immediately to that Community and the outbreak as we speak has been curtailed.

    “So there is no need for Ebonyians to panic. Presently, we’ve not had a new case since yesterday. The ones we have now are the ones that are in the treatment centres,” Ekuma said.

    He maintained that cholera is an oral disease and not an airborne disease and advised the people to observe personal and environmental hygiene as well as report suspected cases for prevention and treatment.

    He reiterated the government’s commitment to ensure the good health and well-being of Ebonyi residents.

  • Lawyer accused of murdering 36-year-old man disrupts arraignment in Abakaliki

    Lawyer accused of murdering 36-year-old man disrupts arraignment in Abakaliki

    Alawyer, Sunday Ununu accused of murdering an orphan 36 years old man, Nnamdi Nwoke on Friday disrupted his arraignment proceedings at the Magistrate Court 1 in the State Judiciary Headquarters Abakaliki, calutak of Ebonyi State.

     Ununu who is the Principal of Bigbird chambers, a popular legal firm in Abakaliki.

    He was arrested two weeks ago and has been in police custody at the police headquarters Abakaliki after the bullets he fired from a pistol in his possession hit the late Nwite.

    The incident happened when a group, Izzi Unuphu Land Power of Attorney was celebrating their election for the new executives of the group.

    The Friday incident at the court was the third attempt to arraign Ununu this week in the Magistrate court 1 presided by Ojemba Isu Oko which all failed.

    In the Friday afternoon 6th September, 2024 incident, Ununu was docked and he walked out of the dock protesting that the charges against him were not properly entered.

    The drama which lasted for about two hours disrupted court proceedings in other magistrate courts within the Magistrate court 1 where he was arraigned.

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    After the drama, Ununu was taken out of the court in a branded black police operational vehicle to the police headquarters by armed policemen who brought him to the court while the Magistrate court one couldn’t sit on the matter.

    Ununu also granted interview with some journalists after walking out of the duck but the policemen came to the two journalists; Wilson Okereke of Daily Sun and Enyinnaya Omoke of the New Nigeria, seized their phones and deleted the interview as recorded in the phones.

    Meanwhile, a right group, Civil Liberty Organisation (CLO) has petitioned Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun seeking transfer of the case file to force headquarters, Abuja.

    The CLO in a statement signed by Kindness Jonah of the Enugu unit of the organisation alleged that some disgruntled members of the extended family of the deceased were demanding clandestine settlement.

    They also alleged that some officers of the state police command are in the know of the notorious plot to cover up the matter and are now actively trying to circumvent justice by liaising for a quantifiable settlement without due process.

    “Barrister Sunday Ununu should be made to face the full weight of the law for callously cutting short the enterprising life of Mr. Nnamdi Ugo Nwite, and for even trying ”settling” with distant relatives of the victim without any modicum of regard for the nuclear family with aged mother, certainly due to their excruciating poverty level,” the petition read in parts.

    The petition was copied to Governor Francis Nwifuru, the state Commissioner of Police, family of Nnamdi Nwite, National Human Rights Commission among others.

    Spokesperson of the Police in Ebonyi, Joshua Ukandu dismissed the insinuations that the command was planning to cover the matter.

    “How can we cover the matter, is he not in our custody. On this issue of his arraignment, I don’t have the details. For now, I don’t know anything about that but I know he has been in our custody,” said.

  • Fed Govt to arraign Ebonyi Commissioner, Bayelsa Speaker before CCT

    BARRING any unforeseen hitches, the Federal Government has scheduled the commencement of the trial of Ebonyi State Information Commissioner, Senator Emmanual Onwe, on September 24, 2019 before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).

    The Federal Government, acting through the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), has filed a one-count charge before the CCT to that effect.

    Onwe, who was a senator, but now Information Commissioner in Ebonyi Sate, is accused of failing to declare his assets by allegedly failing to submit an asset declaration form he obtained from the CCB.

    The charge, sighted by The Nation on Monday, reads: “That you, Senator Emmanuel Onwe, being a commissioner for Information, Ebonyi State, thereby being a pubic officer and having received Form CCB1 on or about 14th July 2015, failed to submit a written declaration of all your assets and liabilities in  Assat Declaration Form CCB 1 at the beginning of term in office  within the prescribed period of three months and thereby committed an offence contrary to paragraph 11 (1)(b) of the Fifth Schedule, Part1 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and punishable under Paragraph 18 (1) and (2) of the same Constitution.”

    Onwe, by the schedule of activities released by the CCT on Monday, will be arraigned on September 24, this year.

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    The charge was accompanied by an application to commence trial, signed by Rakiya Ibarhim (for the Attorney General of the Federation).

    It reads: “Pursuant to Section 24 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, I hereby apply to the tribunal for the commencement of trial for the offence of failure to submit completed Form CCB1 at the beginning of his term of office in contravention of Section 11 (1) contrary to Paragraph 11 (1) of the Fifth Schedule, Part 1 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and punishable under Paragraph 18 ( 1) and (2) of the same Constitution, against Senator Emmanuel Onwe.”

    The day is also been scheduled the arraignment of the Speaker, Bayelsa State House of Assembly,  Friday Kombowei and four others on allegation of abuse of office.

    The other four, listed with Kombowei, in a four count charge brought against them, are  a former Clerk of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, a former accountant of the House of Assembly and their predecessors.

    Their names are given as Aaron Timiye (former Clerk),Thomas Tamaraodubo (former accountant), Owudogu Edward (the incumbent Clerk) and Koroye Stephen (the incumbent accountant).