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Tag: Okodili Ndidi

  • June 12: Igbo kings back Buhari

    On the heels of giving him their nod to push for reelection, monarchs in the Southeast have also given President Muhammadu Buhari thumbs up for declaring June 12 a national holiday. OKODILI NDIDI reports

    Opposition figures are doing their best to undermine his quest for reelection but as far as traditional rulers in the Southeast are concerned, President Muhammadu Buhari can hardly put a foot wrong. Of the voices against him, Southeast ones were once thought to be the most strident, a development that started since the run-up to the 2015 general election.

    Things are changing. President Buhari’s recent declaration of June 12 as a national holiday and the honour bestowed on the presumed winner of June 12, 1993 presidential election, the late MKO Abiola, has endeared him to the royalty in the Southeast.

    The South East Council of Traditional Rulers noted that the action of the President will hasten national integration and cohesion, as well as heal old wounds caused by the annulment of “that historic election”.

    The monarchs, who had earlier unanimously endorsed President Buhari for second term, stressed that the President in the last three years has done a lot to revive waning confidence in Nigeria’s unity and democracy.

    Chairman of the South East Council of Ndieze, Imo State Chapter, Eze Oliver Ohanwe, who spoke on behalf of the Igbo monarchs in the meeting held in Imo State, said that the President’s action has reinforced their support for his reelection.

    “We thank the President for this courageous and all important action which underscores his uncommon and unwavering commitment to the unity and progress of the country.

    “The President has demonstrated an uncommon resolve to sustain the peace and security of the country and has taken bold steps and measures that will certainly restore faith in our nation. Our country is being gradually transformed into a modern state with best practices in the conduct of public affairs.

    “The President is on a salvage mission that has rescued the nation from the abyss no matter what the professional naysayers and compulsive agitators might be up to. The President has demonstrated an uncommon resolve to sustain the peace and security of the country and has taken bold steps and measures that will certainly restore faith and health in our nation. Our country is being gradually transformed into a modern state with best practices in the conduct of public affairs.”

    The monarchs urged Nigerians to jettison all sentiments and give President Buhari a second chance in 2019 to complete the good work he has started.

    The Council had, at their Zonal meeting in April also held in Imo State, endorsed Buhari’s 2019 presidential re-election bid, making them the first set of traditional rulers to openly endorse the President.

    Speaking during the well-attended meeting at Ehime Mbano in Okigwe Council Area of Imo State, Ohanwe, who is also the Vice Chairman Southern Region Association of Christian Traditional Rulers, said that “since the annulment of the June 12 election, there has been clamour for the validation of that election, which had been largely seen as the freest and fairest election in Nigeria, no President in Nigeria had the gut to do the needful”.

    He added that “with the recent declaration of June 12 as a national holiday and the award of GCFR to the man that symbolized that era, a new chapter of national rebirth, unity, transformation, national integration and cohesion has been opened”.

    According to the exited the President’s action in recognizing Abiola’s sacrifice and that of other illustrious Nigerians that which birthed the nation’s democracy has more than anything else reassured the Igbo that their grouses which successive administrations have failed to look into will soon be addressed.

    The monarch continued that, “June 12 remains a watershed in the history of Nigeria and is the basis of our current democratic journey.  It is therefore appropriate to declare it as the authentic Democracy Day while May 29th remains the transition date”

    The traditional rulers insisted that their support for Buhari in 2019 remains unshakeable, adding, “when we endorsed Buhari at our meeting in April, many people thought that it was out of some pecuniary considerations. Now we have been vindicated that we took the right decision. Like Nostradamus, it appeared that we saw tomorrow that this is the man that will make Nigerians to forget those aspects of our past history that has been hunting us. I think what remains now, is for the President to come out with same joker that would assuage Ndigbo on the 1966 coup and lay the ghost of the civil war to rest forever”.

    Further justifying their support for Buhari, the Igbo monarchs noted that that President Buhari has rescued the nation from abyss through his policies, especially the fight against corruption and insecurity, adding that “the country is on the verge of a new era with endless possibilities of a diversified economy.

    “As monarchs we do not engage in politics but as leaders we can identify and support genuine efforts to develop our nation. President was elected on the firm promise to tackle corruption and insecurity and this administration has given a lot of fillip to these agenda. The President’s grit and strategic support to the relevant institutions, corruption in our national life has practically reduced by more than 75%. Today, the fear of imminent consequences for graft has become an effective tool in curtailing the previously rampaging and debilitating malaise of corruption which has weighed us down and brought anguish and underdevelopment to our nation”.

    The monarchs agreed that the President deserves a second term in office to consolidate on the good programmes he had initiated, which they corroborated has justified the “huge magnitude of the mandate freely given to him in 2015”.

    “That we are completely convinced that the policies and templates of developments already laid down by President in the last three years based on critical thinking, careful and strategic planning are sure enough to catalyse rapid national development in his second tenure”.

    The monarchs however unanimously urged the President to use his “goodwill and reach to support the Southeast region to produce the next President of Nigeria after completing his tenure in 2023”.

  • Agonizing tales of female genital mutilation in Imo

    Agonizing tales of female genital mutilation in Imo

    Jedidiah Mmesomachukwu, born three and a half years ago in Orodo community in Mbaitoli Council Area of Imo State, was a chubby little girl, full of life and was the delight of people in the neighbourhood as a result of her beauty and cheerfulness. 

    She grew up like every other child in the sleepy community, her mother, Mrs Doris Chioma Asiegbu, a fairly successful business woman, showered her with affection and showed every determination to give her the best of training. Life was indeed a bed of roses for the little Mmeso as she is fondly called, as she grew up in the warmth of the love of her family. 

    But today, despite this glowing love and secured family background, Mmesomachukwu has escaped to far away in the UK with her mother to avoid the horror that awaits every little girl of her age in Orodo ancient community. 

    At the age of three, every girl child in Orodo must undergo the ritual of circumcision, otherwise known as Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting, an age-long tradition that is still been religiously observed in the community. 

    Her mother who was a victim of the cruel knife herself had vowed that none of her girl children will go through the same harrowing experience that nearly deformed her, after defying pressures from family members, eloped with her daughter. 

    To make matters worse, Mmesomachukwu, is from a royal family and therefore belongs among the direct custodian of the tradition.

    Prior her escape into exile, the mother’s refusal has thrown the ancient community into turmoil as the ‘Umu Ada’, the women cult that supervises the tradition, vowed to ostracise her entire family from the community if they fail to produce her for the circumcision ritual.

    Memsomachukwu’s case was even made worse by the role of her grandparents and Uncles who also insisted that she must be circumcised as every other girl child in the community to avoid the wrath of the gods coming upon the family.

    This is so because, in Orodo, it is believed that any uncircumcised girl is a harbinger of evil and cannot be married by any indigene of the community and also stands the risk of dying during childbirth.

    The embattled mother, who spoke to The Nation on the telephone, said that she has been inundated with calls from her parents and relatives who have repeatedly warned her to return the child to be circumcised or face whatever ill fate that will befall her and her child.

    But she insisted that she will never give up her child to be tortured and mutilated in the name of a “barbaric” tradition that has been globally condemned.

    Narrating how she escaped, Mrs. Asiegbu, stated that, “when the ‘Umu Ada’ started coming to remind me that it was time to circumcise my daughter, I told my mother that I will not allow my child to go through the torture and mutilation but instead she rebuked me and warned me not to put the name of the family to ridicule. My father said almost the same thing. It was then that it dawned on me that I must do something to save my child.”

    She continued that, “I contacted my Church member in Lagos and she agreed to relocate us abroad if I can foot the bill. I scrapped all my life savings and I ran away with my daughter to Lagos from where we travelled abroad last year. Even as we are here they are still threatening that if I don’t bring back my child that they will invoke the gods of the land to come after us”.

    One of the messages she allegedly received from one of her relations and forwarded to The Nation reads in part, “I believe you are happy and laughing at us wherever you are now with your daughter. You have refused to bring her back for her circumcision. You want her to die. The gods of the land will not allow an uncircumcised woman to marry and you want to deny her marriage.

    “Tradition demands that she must be circumcised just like every other girl and you cannot run away from the gods. You think. You think your belief in your so called modern culture will save her. Our mother did your own and today you are alive. And you think from taking her away and hiding her will make you super woman. Just remember the traditional punishment awaiting you which Death.

    “Our family have been ostracised because of your running away with my niece. We will continue to curse you for putting our family to shame. Our parents did everything to make you a better person and now you are paying them back with shame.  Be rest assured that you will be killed and sacrificed to the gods as tradition demands upon returning to our land without circumcising your child. Our gods will punish you with shame.”

    Mmesomachukwu is certainly not the only girl child battling this barbaric tradition, especially in Imo State, which is reputed to have the highest prevalent rate of Female Mutilation/Cutting only next to Ebonyi State.

    Others in similar situations were not as lucky as Mmesomachukwu, whose mother dared the powerful forces and custodians of the tradition.

    Over 30 girls between the ages of one to twenty-five have died in the course of this practice in the last two years, with a greater number suffering one form of deformity or the other as a result of infections resulting from the unsterilized knives used for the circumcision by the ‘quack’ traditional doctors.

    Also a sizeable number of mothers, who went through the ritual, still tell their tale of horror.

    Ugonne Lazarus, a 50-year-old retiree, described her experience as harrowing, “I was circumcised at the age of nine and I lack words to describe what I went through. For many years I could not forgive my mother for allowing me to go through that experience.”

    She added that “the practice is condemnable and anyone still engaging in it is still leaving in the dark age. We are appealing to government agencies to step up awareness campaign against Female Genital Mutilation.” 

    Nzubechi Uneze, was not as lucky as she was left paralysed in one leg after she was circumcised at the age of nine.

    Recounting her ordeal, the 60-year-old Nzubechi, stated that her travails started one evening after she was lured to the home of a female native doctor who was specialized in circumcision, “my mother took me there that fateful evening and about six powerful women we met their pounced on me and pinned me to the ground and while I was struggling, a sharp pain engulfed my entire body and I became unconscious. 

    “I woke up three hours later and I could not move my legs and I felt paralysed from my waist down. That was how I gradually lost the use of one of my legs. Then I vowed that I will fight the barbaric tradition but as I grew up, I discovered that there is little I can do as an individual. The culture and tradition promote this practice and there is little or nothing we can do about it, except the government intervenes”.

    However, hope is rising for the likes of Mmesomachukwu and others who are fighting the force of ‘obnoxious’ customs and traditions as a wife of Imo State Governor, Nneoma Okorocha has commenced state wide campaign about the dangers of  Female Genital Mutilation/ Cutting.

    The Governor’s wife disclosed that as part of her vision to promote and empower women and children, especially the needy and the vulnerable, her pet project, the Women of Divine Destiny Initiative (WODDI), will be partnering with the United Nations Population Fund Agency (UNFPA) to tackle the trend.

    Mrs Okorocha stated that the practice has been rampant in Mbaitoli, Ikeduru, Oguta, Ngor Okpala and Ohaji/Egbema Council Areas of the State.

    She hinted further that part of the measures she has adopted to eliminate the menace in the state is to criminalise the practice through a bill that she will present to the State House of Assembly.

    According to her, “Female Genital Mutilation is a form of violence against women which is perpetuated by unfounded myth and baseless traditions. It is a practice that is very rampant in our region and unfortunately, Imo State was found to have one of the highest prevalence rate of 68 percent.

    “In Imo State, intervention by UNFPA through the Ministry of Health, Women Affairs and Social Development has focused on five Local Government Areas of Mbaitoli, Ikeduru, Ohaji /Egbema, Ngor-Okpala and Oguta.

    “In spite of this intervention, it is noted that this practice is undertaken in our communities throughout the state and has been continuing unabated, parents especially mothers have been secretly indulging in the act, leaving the victims in perpetual agony and regrets.

    “This can no longer be allowed to go on.  It has, therefore, become imperative to end this harmful traditional practice”.

    The State Attorney General, Barrister Miletus Nlemedum, also assured that the judiciary will take the matter seriously and assist to make the war against FGM a success in the state.

  • Okorocha slams PDP over comments on Imo Airline

    Okorocha slams PDP over comments on Imo Airline

    Imo State Government on Friday slammed the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and an online news publishers, Sahara reporters for criticizing the newly commissioned State Airline, Imo Air.

    The PDP has described the inauguration of the Airline as part of the State Governor’s 2019 Presidential ambition.

    But the government in a statement signed by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary,  Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, dismissed the PDP as a “dead party.”

    According to the statement, “we also take the floor to tell our audience that as we write, there is nothing like Imo PDP either in the eyes of the law or otherwise. So, any claim purportedly by Imo PDP is fraudulent and should be disregarded by men and women of goodwill”.

    The statement continued that, “the attention of the Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha and indeed, the Rescue Mission Government in the State has been drawn to some negative claims in the media purportedly by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the State and the “Sahara Reporters” against the inauguration of Imo Air, which, its maiden flight was celebrated by Imo people at the Sam Mbakwe Cargo Airport on Tuesday, January 24, 2017.

    “In the purported report, Imo PDP was quoted to have said through its Secretary, Nze Ray Emeana that the Governor acquired the aircraft for his 2019 Presidential election bid, and then queried the rationale behind the Imo Air Venture when pensioners and workers in the State were owed arrears of Salaries and Pensions.

    “For the suspicious claims credited to “Sahara Reporters” with regard to Imo Air we do not also believe that such poorly scripted blackmail could come from an organisation like that. No reputable media outfit could come up with such Caption like “Read, Read and Read, Imo is a fraud” and without a byline. And they never quoted any verifiable source to back up their Claims. It was totally a frivolous story. They did the same thing in their unfortunate claim that the Governor had died following a slap by a female ghost few months ago. They also said the death claim was an outcome of the investigation by “Sahara Reporters.” So, the Management of Sahara Reporters should take steps to evade invasions by some spiritually weak folks whose stock in trade is blackmail.

    “We also take the floor to tell our audience that as we write, there is nothing like Imo PDP either in the eyes of the law or otherwise. So, any Claim purportedly by Imo PDP is fraudulent and should be disregarded by men and women of goodwill.

    “At the moment, there are five factions of the Party in the State with each one having full-blown State – Exco and apex leader and they have been in Court for the Court to decide which of the factions should rightly Claim to be Imo PDP and until the Court makes pronouncement on that, it becomes an absurdity for anybody to be making fictitious media Claims in the name of Imo PDP”.

    It continued that, “And for the avoidance of doubt, one of the factions has Chief Nnamdi Anyaehie as Chairman and Chief Hope Uzodinma as what they normally call apex leader. Another faction has Barr. Charles Ezekwem as Chairman with Chief Emeka Ihedioha as the apex leader. The third faction has Chief Greg Owuamanam as Chairman with Dr. Alex Obi as apex leader. The fourth faction has Chief Chuks Ajaelu as Chairman, while the fifth faction has Chief Hillary Udumukwu as State Chairman and they have their respective offices.

    “Hence, any Criticism against Governor Okorocha or his government in the name of Imo PDP should not be seen as coming from Imo PDP but from some selfish Politicians whose only interest is to govern the State even when they lack the capacity to do so.

    “In his speech at the Sam Mbakwe Cargo Airport to inaugurate the Imo Air maiden flight, the Governor said that the State is not affected by the much-talked about recession in the Country and also made valid Claims that the State has cleared arrears of Pension upto December 2016 and has equally paid Salaries upto December 2016. And anybody genuinely keen in knowing the truth should have Challenged the governor to show proof of the Claims. That is the kind of Challenge we expect and not cock and bull stories.

    “And we want to reiterate that the Rescue Mission Government in the State which Governor Okorocha superintends has cleared arrears of Pension upto December 2016 and paid Salaries upto December 2016. Let anybody in doubt openly Challenge us to show evidence. That is the way to go.

    “Let us also state this, for the sake of emphasis. Those who want to be governor in the State do not see anything good in whatever Rochas Okorocha does in the State no matter how lofty such achievement could be. And the issue of Imo Air won’t be an exception. When we came up with free education they never believed in it. Today, the fruits of that programme have made them dumb. On the massive rural and urban roads Constructions, they said they were China roads, Imo people asked them why they could not even give them Gambian roads for the twelve years they held sway.

    “On the urban renewal programme that has massively transformed Owerri, they said the governor was pulling down houses. We Challenged them to give the locations of the affected houses, they could not including the fence of Captain Iheanacho’s Compound. And during the last Christmas, Imo people especially those who came for the Christmas brought more than four hundred cows to thank the governor for his vision and passion for the State. And those opposed to the urban renewal can’t openly do so again in the State.

    “We, therefore, Challenge those Claiming to be Imo PDP to publish the achievements of the Party for the 12 years it governed the State and let Governor Okorocha publish his achievements for the five years he has governed Imo for Nigerians to see. The truth is that the 12 years PDP governed the State could only be described as the years of the locusts or vampires. And they have no moral right to disturb someone who has shown leadership per excellence.

    “On the Imo Air, we only expect lovers of good tidings to join Imo people in celebration and not enemies of progress.”

  • ASUP decries non-payment of lecturers’ salaries

    ASUP decries non-payment of lecturers’ salaries

    …set for nationwide strike August 21

    The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), on Thursday in Oweri, the Imo State capital, said it will shut down Polytechnics and Mono-technics nationwide to protest the non-payment of 14 months salary arrears of its members and the  Federal Government’s refusal to implement the agreement reached with the Union two years ago.

    The Union, said the planned industrial action will commence after the 21st of August, when the one month ultimatum it earlier gave to the government will expire.

    The Coordinator of ASUP Zone D, Comrade Chika Ogonwa, who disclosed this during a media briefing shortly after an emergency meeting of the Union at the Federal Polytechnic Nekede, recalled that the Union suspended its nine month strike in 2014 “on the strength of the appeal by parents and other stakeholders and the promises of the government to resolve the 13-point demand of the Union within three months”.

    But he noted that, “two years have elapsed and yet government has not come around to effectively address the Union’s demands”.

    According to him, “several attempts by the Union to engage responsible government officials both under the past and present administration to address the demands have met with lethargic response from them. The effect of this may be likened to a sour left unattended to for too long; the challenges facing the sector have continued to worsen.

    “The worsening state of the sector has been brought to the attention of the present government. The indifference shown by government has compelled the Union to issue a one month ultimatum to the government, effective from 21st July 2016 to address the current challenges if we are to stop the decay in the sector”.

    He listed the Union’s grievances to include the non-implementation of the Needs assessment report of 2014, the conduct of needs assessment survey for public polytechnics and monotechnics and the review of Polytechnics Acts, the victimization of union officials and non-release of check off dues and interference in the union activities by the management of Federal Polytechnic Oko and four others.

    “Our officials are being suspended, sacked, and bounded by these campus dictators and this is the prevailing situation in Federal Polytechnics Oko and Mubi, Delta state Polytechnics Ogwashi-Uku, Adamawa State Polytechnics, and Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic Ikot Osurua”, he stated.

    The Union also expressed worry over the non-payment of salaries of its members in 14 institutions spread across the country in the last ten months.

    It named the affected institutions where workers are owed between two to ten months salaries to include Abia, Edo, Osun, Ekiti, Oyo, and Benue.

    Others are Imo, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Ondo, Kogi, Lagos, Ogun, and Nasarawa.

    Ogonwa noted that in spite the release of the bailout fund by the Federal Government the state-owned polytechnics and Colleges of Educations in these states were still being owed arrears of salaries.

    ASUP particularly express serious concern over the current situation in Oko, where the Union alleged high level of victimization of its members and decay in academic standard.

    According to the Union, “in Federal Polytechnic Oko, the Rector, after destroying academic standard in the institution, has seized the check off dues of the Union for two years and is currently hounding Union officials through spurious queries, suspensions and Court cases”.

    However when contacted, the Public Relations Officer of Oko Polytechnic, Mr Obini Onuchukwu, described the allegation by as misleading.

    He said that ASUP in Oko is currently factionalized.

    Onuchukwu who described the Rector of the Polytechnic, Prof. Godwin Onu,  as `a union friendly Rector’, said “he would not have withheld the check off dues meant for ASUP if the union was not in dispute”.

    According to him, “the matter between the two factions are in court, and I hope it will not be prejudice talking to you, but all the same the rector cannot withhold the check off because it does not belong to him.

    “The Rector had made spirited effort to resolve the matter and the matter continues to deepen such that the matter is even threatening the peace of the institution’’.

    Onuchukwu explained further that, “after due consultation in other not to have the place in flame, the rector decided to keep the check off in safe mode pending the final resolution of the matter. Whatever is due the Union as check off is intact”.