The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Enugu State

  • Enugu: Pupil machetes teacher for punishing girlfriend

    A pupil of Community Secondary School, Alor Uno, Nsukka local government area of Enugu State, attacked a classroom teacher in the school and gave him a serious machete cut on his head.

    The boy whose name was simply given as Ebuka, The Nation gathered intended to kill the male teacher but only ended in giving him a serious machete cut on the head.

    The teacher, simply known as Ike, according to eyewitnesses, punished Ebuka’s girl friend who misbehaved in class and he swore to deal with the teacher.

    Ebuka, who was said to be acting under the influence of alcohol and hard drug on the fateful day, armed himself with a machete hidden in his cloth and beckoned on the teacher to come closer.

    Sensing danger, the teacher took to his heels and he was chased into a classroom where he was caught up and dealt with a machete cut on the head.

    ‎He was would have been slaughtered but for the timely intervention of other teachers and students who over-powered the Ebuka, disarmed him and subsequently handed him over to the police.

    Ebuka was later quoted as saying that he did not know what came over him.

    The boy said his girlfriend informed him that a certain teacher beat her and he decided to retaliate, but didn’t mean to attack him with a machete.

    The teacher was later rushed to a private hospital for treatment.

     

  • Cry my beloved Enugu State

    The article Theatre of absurd in Enugu, published in your soar-away Sunday Nation, made my day as one took time after last church service to read between the lines. Indeed, very strange happenings have become the order of the day in our beloved Enugu State. The reasons of course are not far-fetched.

    The craze for political offices in the 2015 general elections seems to have beclouded sound reasoning as those at the helm of affairs of Enugu State are unfortunately playing God.

    That article was bold and audacious to raise a genuine fear that the once adored Governor of the State, Sullivan Chime, had become dictatorial and being goaded by sycophants who are perhaps pushing an unwilling horse to the stream.

    It really makes a caricature of the democratic system we are practising for a governor to want to quarrel, discard and pull down a ladder he had used in ascending to power, simply because of inordinate ambition.

    The irony of the Enugu politics is that because of spoils of office, no one had been brave enough to call a spade by its name, for hardly had they for fear of victimisation praised the ‘Lord of the Manor’ to high heavens in his presence than they disparage him outside under the cover of darkness.

    Piteous spectacle! No one is bold to tell him to forget this urge to replace a serving Senator whose activities and performance are in the ‘A’ bracket. As governor, Chime’s name cannot be forgotten in a hurry for the good and the bad and the ugly. He, however, misfires, when all attempts are being made by his machinery to deny and frustrate Senator Ike Ekweremadu from coming back or getting the ticket of the party to run in the forthcoming polls, even with Ekweremadu’s excellent record in the Senate as Deputy Senate President.

    In my quiet moments, I have wondered why party faithful in Enugu would be so docile and frightened by the mere shadow of the governor and his Chief of Staff, whom he is hell bent on pushing through the electoral web as the next Senatorial candidate of the party for Enugu East.

    It makes a mockery of participatory democracy- he goes to the Senate for Enugu West and the Chief of Staff catapulted to the Senate, with little or no political experience.

    One is nostalgic of the old when party supremacy reigned undisputed. The last local government elections, it became so shameful that the state party Chairman who had a candidate could not as much as influence the adoption of the candidate and of course ‘Lord Manor’, single-handedly brought a political novice from London to become the Nsukka Local Government Chairman.

    The concluding part of the article about ex-this and ex-that, is a food for thought, because very soon Chime would join the bandwagon of former governors who now are numerous in the lonely club so insignificant because of their ill doings  and have been consigned to history. Leave a good legacy of mutual understanding, amity and comradeship that would be my advice to the pilots of Enugu State.

    Munachim Agbo

    Agbani, Enugu.

  • Enugu budgets N93.28b

    Enugu budgets N93.28b

    Enugu State government has made a draft budget proposal of N93.28 billion for next year.

    This is higher than the 2013 budget of N83.77billion by N9.51 billion, representing 11 per cent increase.

    Presenting the budget proposal yesterday to the House of Assembly, Governor Sullivan Chime said it was made up of N39.34 billion as Recurrent Expenditure, which is 42 per cent of the budget, while N53.94 billion was for Capital Expenditure, representing 58 per cent.

    He said government expects a Recurrent Revenue of N57. 49 billion.

     

  • Chime vs. Chime: crisis in paradise

    It is strange, indeed a touch stranger than fiction. A colleague said he never imagined people at that rarefied state of wantlessness (if we can use that word) would ever have a reason to feud. It is akin to dwellers of paradise quarrelling; whatever for? Mrs. Clara C. Chime is a young beauty betrothed to Mr. Sullivan Chime, the governor of Enugu State. She is not the first wife the governor ever took; she was about half the age of his beau or more graphically, Clara is about the age mate of Sullivan’s first son by his first wife. It was a fairy tale wedding between Clara and Sullivan about five years ago. Young Clara, fresh from school and her family, nay, her entire kindred down to far-flung villages must have been over the moon at the prospect of that matrimony. Good fortunes don’t come in better and bigger packages.

    The ceremony, which set Clara’s community abuzz for many weeks, was the dream of every young woman. Governors trampled on governors, royalty stepped on royalty; while black, glistening jeeps were almost piggy-backed on top one another to find parking space at the ceremony. It was a wedding that happens once in the lifetime of a people. It was of course a marriage made in heaven for a sitting governor to have found out this belle, Clara, among all the belles in the whole wide world. She was magically transported from being another gal on the street to a First Lady.

    For the benefit of readers who cannot fathom the magnitude of this tale, in Nigeria’s queer polity where a state governor (or president) is the closest thing to the modern version of an absolute monarch, his wife is the queen of the realm. The First lady is the de facto second in command (first in one or two cases) and the prime-commissioner if we might create such a post. Appointees, contractors, party stalwarts, favour seekers and friends of the governor/president would ignore a first lady at their peril. Such is their power, influence and status in Nigeria. Lately, we have upped the ante with what we call the Office of the First Lady (OFL). This is not just a title but a physical structure set up with all the trappings and authority of office second only to the office of the governor/president.

    Today, five years down the road, Clara and Sullivan have turned full cycle from an enchanting fairy tale to a horror story. The marriage has broken down to the point that Clara, the sitting First Lady of Enugu State is crying out in anguish and calling on anyone out there to come rescue her from her paradise-turned-to-hell. “We do not have a relationship anymore and the situation inevitably led to my nervous breakdown. I have been diagnosed with severe depression and at some point was quite suicidal,” Mrs Clara Chime sobbed.

    She said further that, “The strategy of my estranged husband (mark her word) is to subject me to the most horrific and intolerable of conditions to cause my demise but my strength and will to live has kept me alive.” What eerie cry of anguish from a haunted paradise.

    Her husband the governor and his minders were so much rattled by her petition which drips with such intense sorrow that they tried some damage control by debunking her claims and to insist she is mentally challenged and in need of help. But it is obvious that Clara’s soul has been tortured almost to the point of damage. Clara may need help but away from her estranged paradise and her “estranged” husband. She eventually broke free from ‘bondage’ last Monday remarking most defiantly never go back there again and not even to wish her enemy such a marriage as she fled from.

    Sullivan too probably needs even more help but if only he can be extracted from his exertions of purportedly running a state. Finally, Clara and Sullivan sorely need our compassion and prayers.

  • Chime’s wife stirs fresh controversy

    Chime’s wife stirs fresh controversy

    •Says I’m victim of a crime

    •Demands retraction of NHRC’s health statement

    •Commission’s chairman clarifies position

    THE wife of the Enugu State governor, Mrs. Clara Chime, yesterday joined issue with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on its handling of her petition about her ordeal in Government House, Enugu.

    She faulted the Commission for denying that she was “illegally confined” and ”subjected to some form of ill-treatments” by the governor.

    The NHRC’s pronouncement on her state of health did not also sit well with her and she accused it of misleading the public on her true state of health.

    But the commission defended itself in a statement by its Chairman, Professor Chidi Odinkalu.

    He said at no time did the Commission make any pronouncement on Mrs. Chime’s health condition since its investigation team to Enugu did not include medical experts.

    Media reports had quoted the team leader as saying Mrs. Chime suffers from depression and hallucination.

    In two letters written to the NHRC Chairman yesterday through her lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), Mrs. Chime expressed disappointment to “read what has been narrated by the Human Rights Commission.”

    “Apart from the fact that the information was largely false, it showed lack of sensitivity in publishing sensitive medical detail,” she said.

    This, according to her, “has the effect of tarnishing and damaging my reputation. It is as though the Commission set out to ridicule me.

    “I made it clear to them that I had a nervous breakdown and found it inexplicable as to how hallucinations featured as part of my symptoms.

    “It is important to make this clear so that the public should be made aware of this and that the Commission should recognise part of her ethos in protecting human dignity.

    “It has been suggested by some quarters that the Commission appears biased already because of the profile of the person whose reputation is at stake.

    ”I want to believe that the Commission would approach my case with open mind and in particular recognise me as a victim of crime.

    “I hope that common sense would prevail and that the Commission should now retract the damaging publication and stop stigmatising me,” she said.

    The NHRC Chairman said: “As a practice, cases and complaints received by the Commission are processed in accordance with the National Human Rights Commission Act (as amended) and with the Standing Orders and Rules of Procedure of the Commission.

    “Having carefully reviewed the work so far undertaken by the staff of the Commission, I find no basis in them for the claims or speculation widely circulated in the media that the Commission has pronounced on the state of health, physical or mental, of the complainant or indeed of any other party in this case.

    “The Commission takes seriously its responsibility to fully respect the confidentiality of parties before it and to reach its decisions only on the basis of law and evidence.

    “I should clarify that the team that the Commission sent to Enugu did not include any medical personnel. It had neither a mandate nor the expertise to pronounce on such matters and has clearly not done so. This is evident on the face of the statement by the Executive Secretary.”

    He said allegations that the Commission “may have been compromised in the conduct of the case are both factually inaccurate and manifestly unfounded.”

    Governor Chime had on Tuesday told reporters in Enugu that his wife had health challenges that warranted giving her round- the- clock monitoring and close attention.

    Mrs. Chime was present at the occasion as were her mother, and brother.

    She admitted that she was medically challenged.

     

  • FG hands over Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium to Enugu govt

    FG hands over Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium to Enugu govt

    The Federal Government has formally handed back the management of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium to the Enugu State Government.

    At the handover ceremony held yesterday at the Government House, Enugu, the representative of the Federal Government and Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Hon Gbenga Elegbeleye, said that the event followed the approval by President Goodluck Jonathan, of an application to that effect made by the Enugu State Government.

    He noted that the state had over the years collaborated with the Federal Government in maintaining and rehabilitating the Stadium saying it had made huge financial investments in the provision of vital facilities for the successful hosting of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2009.

    Hon. Elegbeleye added that “This act convinced the Federal Government that the Enugu State Government was capable of maintaining the Stadium in line with approved international standards”.

    Noting that Sports was a unifying factor and a tool for international diplomacy and creation of wealth, he enjoined other states in the country to emulate the Enugu State example in the development and maintenance of sports infrastructure. He further commended the reactivation of the School Sports by the State Government saying that it will greatly enhance the discovery of talents for the benefit of the country.

    Chime expressed delight at the return of the Stadium to the State assuring that it will be better managed under the state ministry of Sports and Youth Development.

    He said that his request for the return of the Stadium was prompted by the decision of the Federal Government to sell some of the facilities there adding that this had prompted anxiety in the State that the whole Stadium could be sold to outsiders.

    The governor commended President Jonathan for his prompt response to his request and assured that the Stadium will not only be well managed but will also be open to an accessible to all and sundry.

    “All we are interested in is just to promote sports. Take our assurances on this to the Federal Government and be rest assured that the standard will go up rather than go down”, Governor Chime said.

  • Nigeria, Chinese firm sign MoU on 1,000 MW from coal

    Nigeria, Chinese firm sign MoU on 1,000 MW from coal

    The nation inched closer to actualising its drive towards increased power supply with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a Chinese firm to generate additional 1,000 megawatts from coal.

    The MoU with the firm, HTG-Pacific Energy Consortium, is for the development of coal to power at Ezimo Coal Block in Enugu State.

    The event which took place at the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja, followed a workshop on the Solid Minerals Sector organised by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.

    The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Musa Mohammed Sada signed the MoU on behalf of the government.

    President Goodluck Jonathan who presided at the workshop, said Nigeria will exploit its abundant coal reserves for quality power generation, adding that coal resources could provide 30 per cent of Nigeria’s electricity generation through environmentally friendly clean technology

    He said: “For instance, the coal resources presents an excellent opportunity for us to diversify our energy sources, to the extent that 30 per cent of our electricity generation could come from coal, using environmentally friendly clean technology.

    “Nigeria is endowed with abundant coal reserves of the required quality necessary for power generation. And so, there is no reason why we should not exploit that sector,” he added.

    He stressed the need for collaborative effort between the Ministries of Mines and Steel Development, and Power towards attracting investors to coal-fired generation opportunity, urging them to continue in that direction untill Nigeria gets to where it wants to be in terms of its power needs.

    He harped on the importance of the solid minerals sector and the need to harness it in order to create jobs, wealth and increase the foreign direct investments in the economy.

    Jonathan said although considerable progress has been made in terms of results and interest of the sector, the nation was yet to witness the kind of development it expects. He said the workshop was timely as it would help advance the sector and expose it to the public so that the nation attains the require.

    However, The President warned operators against re-occurrence of the lead poisoning in Zamfara State which led to the death of many children who were engaged in illegal extraction of minerals.

    He said: “The volatility of the solid mineral sector and the need for orderly development was clearly demonstrated in the lead poisoning incident in Zamfara State recently. While we applaud the efforts of all those who were involved in the issue of management and the remediation of the lead poisoning in Zamfara State, we must ensure that it does not repeat itself in the country any longer.”

    Jonathan was optimistic that the workshop would produce concrete ideas and recommendations that would unleash the economic and social potentials of the sector.

    He urged the participants to identify the barriers to the development of the sector including environmental, institutional and regulatory challenges and the policies that government must develop and implement to address them, saying they should focus on the beneficial explorations and exploitation of industrial minerals, such as Limestone, Kaolin, silica, gypsum, gemstones and ceramic clays, among others.

  • Kwara Police Commissioner killed in Enugu

    Kwara Police Commissioner killed in Enugu

    Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chinwike Asadu,  has been shot dead by unknown gunmen  while on a private visit to Enugu his home state.

    The police commissioner who was shot at about 9.50 pm Saturday was about entering his house at Amorji-Nike, near the densely populated Abakpa Enugu.

    His police orderly, Aloha Olaniyi and driver, Oliver Omeh, who were with him at the time of the incident sustained serious bullet wounds  and are said to be lying critically at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu.

    The Police Commissioner, who reportedly visited his home in Enugu at the weekend, was driving into his private residence when the assailants who  may have laid an ambush around his residence attacked him and his aides about 100 metres away from his house.

    CP Asadu, according to sources, had a visitor whom he escorted along with his driver and a police orderly posted to guard his residence from Abakpa Police Division, leaving behind the official escort team that came with him from Kwara State Police Command.

    They were returning to the house after dropping the visitor when they suddenly noticed a bus trailing them behind as they branched into his street only for the gunmen to start firing at the vehicle from the rear.

    The gunmen were said to have shot sporadically killing the CP and wounding the two policemen but before they escaped, they reportedly took away the rifle of the orderly whose body was riddled with bullets.

    The orderly was shot on the chest, stomach, hands and leg while the driver was shot on his legs.

    The Police spokesman in the state , Mr. Ebere Amaraizu confirmed the incident.

    He described the attack as very unfortunate.  He said that the CP was on a private visit to his home in Enugu when the incident occurred.

    A police source in Enugu said: “The CP was driving into his personal residence in Amorji Nike after dropping a visitor that night.  He was with a police orderly and his driver at the time of the incident. Just about 100 metres to his house they noticed that a bus was trailing them behind and before they could know what was happening the gunmen opened fire and killed the CP instantly. His orderly and driver were also shot and they were seriously wounded.

    “The gunmen ran away  in their bus before the CP’s escort team that was inside his compound noticed what was happening.  When the escort team and sympathizers rushed to the scene, they met CP Asadu and his orderlies in pool of blood.  They were rushed to the National Orthopaedic Hospital where doctors confirmed the CP dead.  The other two policemen are now on admission at the hospital. ”

    Police spokesman, Amaraizu said the police  would do everything possible to fish out the assailants as investigations into the bizarre incident have already commenced.

    The new Police Commissioner in Enugu State, Mr. Tonye Ebitibituwa, was said to have directed his men to conduct serious manhunt for the gunmen within and outside the state capital in order to track them down.

    Doctors at the National Orthopeadic Hospital, Enugu were yesterday battling to save the two wounded police officers.  The orderly who was seriously battered by bullets, according to doctors, was said to be in a stable condition after the surgeries conducted on him throughout Saturday night.  The driver was also said to be in a stable condition.

    CP Asadu, who was among newly appointed Police Commissioners for various state commands, assumed duty at Kwara State Command recently.

    Last week he embarked on familiarization visit during which he met with  Journalists at the correspondent’s chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists  in Ilorin.

    During the visit, Asadu expressed his desire for a good working relationship with newsmen in the state. According to him, “Kwara State is a state of harmony and my vision is to leave it better than I met it. It is on this note that I decided to pay you gentlemen of the press a courtesy visit, so as to ensure a robust and harmonious working relationship, so that we can work together in fighting crime in the society.

    Asadu who was the 27th Commissioner of Police in the State, urged media professionals and good people of the state to assist the police with useful information that could help transform the society to become a better place to live, and further ensure peaceful business transactions.

    He assured that the state command will continue to combat crimes and criminality among citizens of the state and its environs in order to ensure that the state remained harmonious.

    Asadu also noted that issues of security of lives and property in the state goes beyond the scope of men of the force alone, noting that support is highly needed from the media in the areas of information dissemination and sensitization of the public.

    But barely a week after the officer who is said to be very enthusiastic about policing and the need to eradicate crime in his state of posting was settling down to face the challenge of his new assignment, he decided to visit his Enugu home-state where he met his untimely death in the hands of gunmen in a very bizarre circumstance.

  • Enugu steps up urban renewal

    Enugu steps up urban renewal

    Undeveloped plots recovered

    Enugu State government has taken steps to clean up its towns and cities.

    Roads are being expanded and beautified, with interlocking paving stones laid on the sidewalk.

    Auto mechanics in the capital, Enugu, are encouraged to relocate to a permanent site as part of effort to keep the city neat and tidy.

    Undeveloped plots of land are being recovered.

    The state lands commissioner, Dr. Chukwemeka Ujam said this was in keeping with the ongoing land reform, which Governor Sullivan Chime announced during the 2012 budget presentation.

    Ujam said his ministry had been engaged in massive revocation and reallocation of the revoked plots to individuals willing to embark on immediate development for occupation, adding that the ministry fulfilled the necessary legal requirements and due process before embarking on such revocations.

    The commissioner further announced that government has recently acquired more than 2000 hectares of land on the Emene axis which would be designed, parcellated, as he put it, and allocated to members of the public that have genuine interest in physical development for immediate occupation.

    He assured that public servants would benefit from the scheme but explained that one of the points on the agenda of the state government was shelter for all.

    The commissioner who also oversees urban development, frowned at the proliferation of illegal structures within the Enugu metropolis and warned that any structure not approved by government would be demolished in order to restore the original master plan and status of Enugu.

    Particularly worried about mechanic garages scattered around the city, Ujam announced that the mechanic village at Akaegbe Ugwu has been parcellated and money for the electrification has been approved by government.

    According to him, the ministry was in collaboration with the leadership of Nigeria Automobile/Technicians Association of Enugu state with a view to ensuring that only bonafide motor mechanics or allied traders within Enugu metropolis were issued with allocation papers to move into the village.

    The movement to the village, he said, is expected to commence before the new year, stressing that the earlier date of September was not feasible due to problems such as electricity and authentic data of genuine motor mechanics and allied workers.