The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ogbor Hill

  • Gunmen kill 23-year-old female admission seeker in Aba

    Barely five days after, Mr. Ugochukwu Mbadi who had one month to wed his heartthrob was murdered in the Ogbor Hill axis of Aba, Abia state by some hoodlums, a 23 year old girl, whose name was given as Miss Margret Stanley was at the weekend shot dead by gunmen.

    The incident occurred on Road 8, Federal Housing Estate also in Ogbor Hill.

    Margret was said to have gained admission to study one of the science courses at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, near Umuahia, but had to defer the admission due the parent’s downward financial position.

    She decided to take up appointment as a teacher in one of the privately owned schools in the area.

    It was gathered that on Friday morning, Margret who hailed from Ohafia in Ohafia Local Government of the state, left home for her school to participate in the end of term activities heralding the Easter break.

    After the end of the activities, Margret was said to have left their school around 11.00am and decided to trek down to her parent’s home few metres away from the Federal Housing Estate.

    On getting to Road 8 of the Estate, she was said to have gone to the house of a relation to collect her phone which she kept there to recharge the battery when she was going to school.

    A source disclosed that immediately Margret came out of the building on Road 8, clutching her phone in her hand, two young men who were riding from the Emelogu end towards the Estate, in a tricycle popularly known keke nepep, accosted her.

    The source said initially, people thought the occupants of the tricycle were engaged in fruitful discussion with the deceased until when one of the men pulled his gun and shot the girl on the head.

    “Immediately the first shot went out, the girl fell flat on the ground, then the gunmen came down, collected her purse and phone and left unchallenged. The sound of the gun sent fears down the spine of the few people doing business in the area as they scampered for safety”.

    A patent medicine dealer in the area, Emmanuel Nwanma, who said his attention was drawn to the incident by a young boy, said when he went to the scene about 40 minutes the hoodlums had fled, the girl was still breathing.

    READ ALSO: Gunmen kill housewife, 3-yr-old daughter in Kebbi

    Nwanma said he put the girl in his car and hurriedly took her to Azuka police station to register the incident first before she was rushed to a nearby hospital.

    He said it was while doctors were battling to remove the bullet which lodged in her brain, that Margret breathed her last.

    A relation of the deceased, who wouldn’t want his name in print for security reasons, accused the Azuka police of demanding N150, 000 for her autopsy.

    He said if the parents had such money, that the girl would have been at Michael Okpara University, Umuahia where she gained admission and would not have stayed at home to die in the hands of gunmen.

    Efforts to reach PPRO, Geoffrey Ogbonna failed as his phone number is yet to be reached at the time of filing the report.

  • 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

     

  • Mother, two kids escape as truck rams into house

    Mother, two kids escape as truck rams into house

    A woman and her two children alongside other tenants have escaped being crushed by a truck which rammed into their residence in Aba, the commercial capital of Abia State.

    Mrs. Lucy Nnaji was said to be bathing her children when the incident took place in the Ogbor Hill area of the city.

    The Nation gathered that property worth millions of naira was damaged in the incident, leaving the affected residents in agony.

    The truck, with the registration number Lagos AAA 114 XU, was loaded with crates of empty 7Up bottles and heading to Aba from Akwa Ibom State.

    It was learnt that the driver while descending a hill leading to the brewing company lost control of the vehicle as a result of brake failure and rammed it into the building after attempts to control the vehicle failed.

    Mrs Nnaji’s husband, Sunday Nnaji, attributed the escape to God’s mercy, saying it was divine intervention that saved his wife and two children from calamity.

    He added that he wouldn’t have been able to explain it to his relatives and in-laws.

    According to Nnaji, his wife was bathing their two children in front of their shop when the truck rammed into the building.

    He said following the impact of the accident, some debris fell on them but no one died.

    Another shop owner narrating what happened said he was with his wife, Lucy in the shop when he left to see someone nearby.

    Mr. Uko said he was still on his way going when the incident occurred and he rushed back and saw the trailer’s bonnet resting right inside their shop.

    Uko said his wife was saved because she saw the truck coming uncontrollably towards their shop and she ran away before it ended into the building.

    A resident of the building, Mrs. Chinyere Agu lamented that household properties in her apartment were destroyed beyond repair as a result of the accident.

    An eyewitness, Okechukwu Nwagbaoso said before the truck rammed into the building, it uprooted an electric transformer and hit two vehicles including a Mercedes Benz C-180 model.

    He said the wife of one of the occupants of the car gave birth to twin boys earlier in the day and that they were going to see them in the hospital when the accident occurred.

    Nwagbaoso said that they were grateful to God that despite the intensity of the accident, no life was lost and called on government to assist those whose properties were destroyed.

    The driver of the truck, Ibanga Edet disclosed that he was coming from Akwa Ibom and on reaching the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church, Ogbor Hill less than half a kilometer to the 7UP Bottling Company the brakes of the truck failed.

    Edet said he had to control the truck down the Ogbor slope before he lost control and the trailer hit two vehicles, uprooted an electric transformer before ramming into the building.

    He thanked God for sparing his life and averting the death of occupants of the building.

     

  • Lawyer narrates encounter in the hands of gunmen

    Lawyer narrates encounter in the hands of gunmen

    …Blasts policemen in Aba

    Aba based lawyer, Barr. Emperor Gabriel Ogbonna has narrated how he narrowly escaped death by the whiskers in the hands of gunmen who had wanted to abduct him from his residence located at Ogbor Hill, off the heart of Aba, Abia State.

    Ogbonna, though could not disclose the hospital where he was receiving medical attention, in a facebook post on his wall thanked members of the public for praying for his quick recovery but however blasted policemen in Aba for not “doing their job.”

    He also dismissed reports that has been making wave in the commercial city that the gunmen were assassins, but a failed kidnapped attempt.

    The post on his timeline with the caption “stronger than the will to live is the will to thrive” read “On Monday the 28th day of August 2017, I closed work and I was driving home.
    As usual, I called my wife to inform her that I was coming home so that the gate can be opened.

    “Before I could reach my home, the gate was already opened so as soon as I drove in, about four to six men armed with AK47 guns and pistols pounced on me, trying to abduct me.

    “I didn’t know who they were so I was confused. They were shooting sporadically both at me and in the air and one of them aimed at me and shot me at the back.

    “The Ak47 bullet entered my back, passed through very close to my stomach cavity or sac and came out through the front. I instantly collapsed and my right leg was broken, broken into three pieces.

    “The gunmen wanted to carry me into their vehicle but due to the fact that my body was heavy, my leg shattered and I was bleeding from my stomach, they were arguing whether to take me with them or leave me in a pool of my blood.

    “They then drove off and the boys in my street took me to the first hospital then rejected me but the second hospital accepted me and both surgeries and treatment of the eight inches long bullet was been done on me.

    “I went to the land of the dead and came back. But I made up my mind that I shall not die. I under that almost everyone in the social media was praying for me.

    “My church was praying, the government was praying, friends were praying, lawyers were praying, my family was praying.

    “All-over the world calls were coming, the Aba community were praying, my classmates were coming. Some wanted me to come over to America or Europe for treatment. Never have I see such an outpouring of love.

    “So any people who came to see me in the hospital were turned back, big men, prominent men, we turned back. Some managed to see me at least. When I recover fully, I will dedicate a piece to tell the world that played what role toward my recovery.

    “But I was not just determined to live, I was determined to thrive. I saw that stronger is the will to thrive than the will to live, and that when you desire to thrive, life comes naturally. Today, I am recovering. It is a slow process but a steady process.

    “I read several persons and website insinuating that what happened to me was an assassination attempt. I make bold to state that what happened to me was not an assassination attempt, no. It was a kidnap attempt gone badly.

    “The Nigerian police are highly incompetent. They will stay few metres away collecting money from transporters and would run away when they hear a gun shot.

    “The other day I was on TV program and the Abia State commissioner of police called, I advised him to cause his boys from search vehicles instead of collecting Rogers and let vehicles pass at hot areas.

    “The Nigerian police in Abia state is just interested in collecting money from motorists and bail money without doing anything.

    “If you have a bomb in your car and ten men with Ak47, and police stop you and you give them N100, they will allow you pass. And if they hear a gunshot, they will run away instead of coming to help the victim; Shameless people.

    “The money spent on maintaining the police is a waste, complete waste. So many people have identified with me at this time, and more are still. I am grateful. I shall recognize you soon when I get better.

    “I have going through the internet and I never knew I was this loved by Nigerians. Only few people have the privilege of reading their eulogies while alive. I thank you all. I am still the same person you know I have not changed, and shall not change.”

     

     

  • 15 escape death as truck hit power cable in Aba

    No fewer than 15 persons, on Monday, escaped death at Opobo junction, Ogbor Hill, Aba, Abia state when a truck rammed into an overhead power line and crashed 3 poles which injured two tricycle riders and their passengers.

    The heavy duty truck with Registration number, Anambra, KD 869 GDD, was headed to Akwa Ibom state when it hit the overhead power line which led to heavy explosion and fire at the overhead cable crisscrossing the area. In the confusion, two tricycles were damaged while a driver, some passengers and passersby were severely injured by the crashed electric poles.

    The situation caused panic in the area as shop owners and motorists, some of who abandoned their vehicles, scampered to safety while others tried to rescue the injured persons.

    When The Nation visited the area, there was heavy traffic jam while people clustered in groups discussing the situation, even as some of the power cables lay on the road and top of the truck.

    A shop owner in the area who gave her name as Amara, said, “I was inside my shop when I heard a loud explosion. The truck while passing through the junction hit the overhead electric cable, there was fire and the poles were falling and people were running away. The electric pole hit this tricycle and injured the driver and passengers, Opobo junction is a very busy place. As at the time this incident happened, there was electric supply, there were not less than 100 people within this area including vehicles, but we thank God that no life was lost.

    “On several occasions, I have truck drivers and their conductors using wooden planks to raise the power cables before they pass through this junction. The authorities should act fast to raise the height of the cables to save lives and property.”

    Contacted on telephone, spokesman of the Abia State Police Command, Mr. Ogbonnaya Nta, who confirmed the incident, said the matter is being handled by the Ogbor Hill Police Division while the injured have been taken to the hospital.