The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Precious Dikewoha

  • Wike’s aide visits The Nation correspondent’s family

    Wike’s aide visits The Nation correspondent’s family

    The Special Assistant to Rivers State Governor on Electronic Media, Mr. Simeon Nwakaudu, has described the late Rivers State Correspondent of The Nation, Mr. Precious Dikewoha, as a thoroughbred professional, who practised balanced reporting.

    Speaking yesterday during a condolence visit to the family of the deceased reporter in Port Harcourt, Nwakaudu said Governor Nyesom Wike received the news of the death of Dikewoha with shock and sadness, because he saw him a few days before his death during the meeting of Southsouth and Southeast governors at the Government House, Port Harcourt.

    He said: “Precious Dikewoha was a dedicated reporter, who practised objective reporting.

    “He was a reporter, who stood for truth and ensured his reports were balanced. Precious Dikewoha proved that in the midst of anti-people reporting, a journalist can still use his pen to promote development, stability and peace.”

    Nwakaudu added: “He died young, but left in the sands of time a record of fairness, decency and objective reportage of issues as they concern Rivers State. His death is a loss to Rivers State, Nigeria and journalism.  As a media relations professional, I will miss Precious Dikewoha.

    “Governor Wike received the news of his death with shock and disbelief. He sends his heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and professional colleagues of Precious Dikewoha.”

    He prayed God to protect the deceased’s family and grant it the fortitude to bear the loss.

    Dikewoha’s widow, Ayor Precious, thanked the media aide for the visit.

     

  • Don’t tag us criminals, traders tell Rivers government

    Don’t tag us criminals, traders tell Rivers government

     

    Traders in Rivers State have urged the state government not to term them criminals, adding that the government was doing so on wrong information.

    The traders, whose goods running into billions of Naira were destroyed at the Mile 1 Market Extension in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area of the State, expressed displeasure with the claim that the market was a criminal hideout.

    The Rivers State government had demolished the said market allegedly approved by the past governor, Chibuike Amaechi, as a temporary site around former Obi Wali Cultural Centre.

    The state government had in a statement by the Special Adviser to the governor on Land and Survey, Mr Anugbum Onuoha, stated that the occupants of the area were illegal and that the place was a criminal hideout.

    But briefing newsmen in Port Harcourt yesterday on the plights of the traders after the demolition, the Chairman Mile 1 Market Traders Association, Mr Kenneth Eze, noted that the state government legally relocated traders who had lost their goods to inferno to the area in 2014.

    Eze confirmed that two people have died of shock as a result of the incident and that several others who are down with High Pressure are still hospitalised.

    Eze said, “These traders were officially relocated from their original place of business at mile one market (the area now designated for phase two of the mile one market project) to the old cultural centre and a letter was raised to that regards.

    “Upon the receipt of the letter, I and the other market leaders pleaded, persuaded and prevailed on the traders to move to the temporary site with an assurance of quick return as promised by the government.”

    Eze regretted while the Ministry of Land and Survey and its agents would descend so heavily on traders who are lawfully relocated to the area and tagged them criminals.

    He urged the government to look for alternative means of livelihood for those traders that lost all their belongings in the process.

    “We are calling on Governor Nyesom Wike to come to the aid of the traders numbering over 2000 by immediately providing an alternative place of business for the traders and release a compensation package to assuage their grieve and ameliorate their sufferings.”

  • IPOB rally for Trump turns violent

    IPOB rally for Trump turns violent

    • One feared dead
    • No, it’s 11 say organisers
    • It’s all false police
    A rally organised by the separatist groups -the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra MASSOB)- to celebrate the new US President Donald Trump turned bloody yesterday in Port Harcourt. 
    Eye witnesses said one person was shot dead by soldiers deployed to stop the rally.
    The organisers claimed 11 were killed.
    The police denied any death.
    The Police spokesman in Rivers State, Nnamdi Omoni, dismissed the death claim as false, saying the Police only used tear gas.
    Many of the protesters who carried photographs of Trump and waved Biafra, American and Russian flags, are believed to have been brought in from the commercial city of Aba in nearby Abia State.
    The protest caused traffic congestion on many roads in the city.
    As they marched through Aba Road towards Mile One in the Rivers State capital, they ran into some soldiers who asked them to disband.
    The protesters tried to wave aside the disband order but the soldiers insisted that the rally must stop immediately.
    A few shots rang out and then pandemonium by the protesters who scampered for safety. 
    The marchers said they were solidarizing with Trump because according to them, the new US president “loves Biafra” and will support their bid for Biafra.
    Shop owners in the area quickly shut down and took to their heels.
    The IPOB in a statement yesterday claimed that 11 of the protesters were shot dead.
    The spokesman for the group Emma Powerful alleged that 27 other people had bullet wounds while 57 people were arrested.
    “The dead bodies of the people killed were carried by the Nigerian soldiers,” he said and asked the international community to “prevail on the Nigerian soldiers to bring back the dead bodies.”
    He added:“Right now, we are being chased by the Nigeria security agencies and they are going round looking and arresting anybody suspected to be IPOB members.But we are not relenting in our support and solidarity with Mr Trump.”
    However, a security source said: “I saw the press release circulated by IPOB that 11 of their members were killed. It is not true: the information is misleading and should not be accepted by the members of the public.
    “Only one person was killed and that happened at about 10:00am along Okporo Road,  by Artillery junction,  in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of State.
     “The incident occurred when a joint security operatives shot at the advancing demonstrating youths in an attempt to disperse them.
    “The deceased and those injured were carried away by security men.”
    Also speaking on the rally, the Director of Information, Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) in the State Mr Anuken Anthony said: “over 70 supporters of MASSOB and IPO have been arrested and about 15 of them are in pains due to bullet wounds. “Our members have taken some of them to the hospital; we are praying that nothing should happen to any of them.
    “Our support for Donald Trump cannot be stopped  by military intimidation and harassment.”
     One of the protesters, Benson Paul who got injured told The Nation that he was just “dancing during the rally,” and the marchers got to St. John Junction “we saw soldiers asking us to go back. But we told them that we are matching in solidarity of Donald Trump’s inauguration but they refused to allow us go our way.
    “We cannot continue to be slaves in our country and some of us tried to push through the barricade mounted b y the soldiers. They began to manhandle and brutalise us.
    “Look at my head and my back. They used their guns to hit me. We want our own country.”
     Another victim, Mr Onyema Njoku alleged that the soldiers broke one of his legs with the gun.
    He threatened to go to court to seek redress.
    His words: “IPOB followed due process to ensure that this rally took place today. Some people protested for President Buhari in Abuja yet nobody shot them.  Today, we are carrying out a peaceful rally and the police, the military are shooting at us.
    “One of the soldiers caught me while I was trying to run away, he descended on me until he broke my leg, as I’m sitting down here I cannot walk. I’m waiting for my friends to take me to the hospital, I will get better, I know it is part of the sacrifice for freedom. The spokesman for the  2 Brigade Command of the Army in Port Harcourt, Lieutenant Sokoya could not be reached for his reaction.
  • Trump inauguration: Army brutalise protesters, journalist

    Trump inauguration: Army brutalise protesters, journalist

    Some soldiers allegedly detailed to stop a peaceful demonstration by Pro-Biafra members, on Friday, brutalised the Acting  South-South Editor of The Authority newspaper, Mr Willie Etim while trying to take pictures of protesting youths.

    The over one thousand Pro-Biafra youths in Port Harcourt, had staged a peaceful match in solidarity to the inauguration of the American President, Donald Trump and also to express the plight of Biafrans to the world.

    Narrating his ordeal in the hands of the personnel of the Nigerian Army who were fully armed in their numbers trying to stop the protest, Mr Willie Etim said, while on his way to the office, he noticed the massive crowd and he decided as a journalist to cover the protest, only to be attacked by some soldiers.

    He said that he narrowly escaped being lynched by two of the soldiers, after they had hit him with the butt of their gun,  destroyed his phone and other gadgets.

    Mr Willie said “At about 10:00am today, I was on my way to the office when I ran into a huge traffic holdup between Waterlines and Garrison bus stop in Port Harcourt. One lane was blocked and I was wondering what would have caused such massive crowd.

    “I got closer and discovered that it was Pro-Biafra protest in solidarity for the inauguration of Donald Trump and also to draw the world attention to the Biafra situation in Nigeria.

    “Haven gotten a brief from some of the protesters, I went further to take a picture of the protesting youths, unknowingly, one of the soldiers detailed to quell the protest sighted me as I was taking the picture while I was driving pass the crowd. Immediately, three of the soldiers walked up to me, asked me who authorised me to take the picture. It was then I introduced myself to them that I am a journalist.

    “One of them flared up and said ‘what stupid journalist’ and seized my phone which I use in snapping the picture and smashed it on the ground.

    “When I attempted to plead with them, to allow me to pick my sim card, they refused and threatened to shoot me if I come down from the car, as the two of them pointed their guns at me from the driver and passenger side of the window. When I insisted on picking my Sim card, one of them hit my car with the butt of his gun.

    “Afterwards, the soldier also hit me with the butt of his gun. It was then I got scared and narrowly escaped from the scene to my office”,  he said.

  • Group faults Niger Delta leaders’ 16-point demand

    Group faults Niger Delta leaders’ 16-point demand

     

    Niger Delta Youth Association (NDYA), has faulted the 16-point demand handed to President Muhammadu Buhari by leaders of Niger Delta, known as ‘Pan-Niger Delta Forum, (PNDEF) on the way forward in resolving the crisis in the oil -rich region.

    This was contained in a seven-point communiqué issued in Akwa Ibom State after an emergency conference of the body during which it took a critical assessment of the ’16 Point Demand’ earlier presented to the Presidency.

    In the communiqué, the President, Comrade Victor James, Vice President, Comrade Ibiso Harry and other executives of NYDA, regretted that the leaders could not give priority to the Niger Delta Coastal Road Project which they said would improve the economic life of the people of the region.

    Harry who read the communiqué for the group also pointed out that the delegation ought to have expanded the request for the granting of oil and gas blocks to cover communities of the entire Niger Delta other than giving few individuals the blocks.

    The group while commending the contingent for their courage, tasked the presidency to ensure sincerity in dealing with the issues of Niger Delta.

    The communiqué read in part: “We endorsed some of the ’16 Points Demands’, ranging from the Maritime University at Okrenkoko in Delta State, to the restructuring of the Amnesty Programme, the opening up of Warri, Calabar and Port Harcourt Ports as international Ports, the cleaning up of the entire Niger Delta wherever pollution is found.

    “PNDEF should have made the ‘Niger Delta Coastal Road Project’ one of its basic demands and as clear as possible without ambiguity because it is strategically positioned along the region’s vast coastline and an economically viable project which will attract serious foreign investments to the Niger Delta in terms of real estate and tourism.

    “Some demands like the federal government’s granting of oil and gas blocks should rather be expanded to cover communities of the entire Niger Delta as simply giving a few individuals from the Niger Delta oil and gas blocks will not create the wealth need to move the region forward.

    “The reason is because our region is suffering from institutional and systemic poverty, therefore, clusters of communities within all ethnic nationalities should be granted oil and gas blocks as doing so will create wealth which the people are starved and which prevents the people from enhancing their potentials.

    “What the Niger Delta needs is sincerity from this present administration particularly when it cannot be argued that the current resurgence of violence and insurgency resulting in the bombing of oil and gas facilities is occasioned by the current administration’s approach to issues relating to the Niger Delta Region and Its People.”

  • Violence against Children: UNICEF applauds Buhari’s campaign

    Violence against Children: UNICEF applauds Buhari’s campaign

    United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday said the organisation has appreciated the demonstration of love for Nigerian Children by Nigeria President, Muhammadu Buhari for launching a campaign to end violence Against Children by 2030.

    President Buhari, at the State House Conference Centre on Tuesday morning, launched an ambitious campaign to End Violence against Children by 2030.

    The President who was represented at the occasion by Secretary to the Government of the Federation David Lawal said: “I say to children in Nigeria – on this historic day, we make a pledge, we commit to protecting each and every one of you from violence.

    “The Year of Action has created a wonderful momentum to end violence against children. We have a clear moral, legal and economic imperative and a global obligation to take action to end the suffering of children who live under the shadow of violence.” the President added.”

    But the UNICEF Chief Communication officer,  Mrs Doune Porter, in a press statement sent to our correspondent, quoted Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF’s West and Central Africa Regional Director of saying that with this campaign, Nigeria has shown it is determined to mobilize political will and resources to tackle all forms of violence against children.

    Mrs Doune said millions of children suffer some form of physical, emotional or sexual violence every year in Nigeria.

    She said survey carried out last year by the National Population Commission, with support from UNICEF and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that approximately 6 out of 10 Nigerian children experience one of these forms of violence before they reach 18.

    “The 2030 End Violence Against Children Campaign, supported by UNICEF and USAID, builds and expands on the success of just-ended Year of Action to End Violence Against Children, launched by the President in September 2015.

    “During the Year of Action, the Plateau, Lagos, Cross River, Benue States all heeded the President’s call to launch their own State campaigns; Bayelsa became the 23rd State in Nigeria to domesticate the Child’s Rights Act and nine States joined hands to develop a model child protection system to put the Child’s Rights Act into practice.”

    She noted that the sustainable Development Goals, agreed last month by all members of the United Nations, including Nigeria, include a call on every country in the world to end all forms of violence against children by 2030.

  • Rivers teachers insist on strike 

    Rivers teachers insist on strike 

    The Rivers State Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, (NUT) Comrade Lucky Nkporgene-Dunata has threatened that the union would obey the two weeks ultimatum issued to state governments to clear teachers’ backlog of salaries or face industrial action.

    The National President of NUT, Comrade Micheal Olukoya, during his address to mark this year’s World Teachers’ Day had directed states that are owing salary arrears of four months and above to immediately proceed on strike after two weeks without further delay.

    In a statement, yesterday, Nkporgene-Dunata maintained that the union in the state would obey the two weeks ultimatum as directed by the national leadership of the body.

    Nkporgene-Dunata regretted that the state government through the Commissioner for Education Prof. Kane Ebekwu allegedly told teachers that the government does not owe any worker in the state including teachers.

    Dismissing the claim as misleading, Nkporgene-Dunata noted that some teachers in the state were still own by the government for months numbering four and above.

    On the request that teachers should provide data of teachers that are being own, Nkporgene-Dunata added: “It is not our duty to give the government data since the ministry has two boards under it. With the help of the just concluded data collection via bio-metrics the government can sort it. If the union is to do it, it will amount to waste of time which we don’t want.”

  • Gunmen kill APC chieftain, three others in Rivers

    Gunmen kill APC chieftain, three others in Rivers

    • Police: We are aware but no detail

    Unidentified gunmen on Monday night killed a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Boris Neenwi in Yeghe Community, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State.

    The deceased,  Neenwi, a former councilor who represented Yeghe community at the Gokana Legislative Assembly under APC.

    A source in the area who pleaded anonymity told The Nation that three persons, including a young lady whose names could not be ascertained also lost their lives in the incident.

    He said before the incident, killing erupted again in Ogoniland after serious cult supremacy battle between two rival cult groups in the area, adding that four people feared dead.

    He noted that Neenwi was shot dead around Nonwa community in Tai local government area.

    Neenwi, according to our source was said to be standing at a junction in Nonwa waiting for a vehicle to return to Port Harcourt about 8pm last night when fully armed bandits stop their car in front of him and opened fire.

    He also hinted that Neenwi had just returned from a law programme in Maiduguri and had allegedly complained of threat from an opposition party in the state over his post on the social media.

    When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of River State Police Command, DSP Nnamdi Omoni said the police was aware of the killings.Omoni who noted that the police do not have much detail said, “Your colleagues have also called me. I don’t have the detail of what happened now. I will respond fully when I get details.”

    Omoni who noted that the police do not have much detail said, “Your colleagues have also called me. I don’t have the detail of what happened now. I will respond fully when I get details.”

  • Wike to unveil woman deputy on Tuesday

    Wike to unveil woman deputy on Tuesday

    *Accuses Amaechi of wasting 30 billion on campaign  

    *Allegation is false, baseless –governor

    Former Minister of State for Education and the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, has promised to unveil his deputy on Tuesday.

     Wike who was at Omegwa community, in Ikwerre, the Local Government of Governor Chibuike Amaechi for a thank you visit to the people of the area said he will pick a woman as his deputy.

    He said the best way to empower women is not to give them wrapper, rice, yam and other food items, but to allow them participate fully in the governance of the state by giving them the chance in the decision making of the state.   

    He said in  Amaechi’s local government he will not stress himself to campaign much but to go home and sleep because he is satisfied  that with the peoples support, he will get victory in the area.

    He advised the youths to attack any police officer who misbehave during the Election Day, adding that there are plan to rig the election which the people must defend.

      Wike also accused the Governor Amaechi, of spending the sum N30 billion to fund the presidential campaign of the All Progressives Congress (APC) .

    He said:  “the development had made it impossible for the state government to pay workers’ salaries, the governor was using state resources to fund the APC with the hope that he would be picked as the running mate to the APC presidential candidate,  Mohammadu Buhari.

    “Do you know why workers’ salaries have not been paid? Amaechi spent N30 billion in funding the presidential campaign of the APC. They (APC leadership) allowed him to spend the money and later, they called him mugu ).

    “They (APC) leadership said we will not make this ‘boy’ who does not respect the President (Jonathan) the vice president. We should know that our future is in the PDP and not the APC,”

    By Tuesday I will unveil my deputy, and she will be a woman. It is time to give women a chance to participate in the decision making of the state. We must respect our women and give them what they deserve.

    Reacting to Wike’s allegation, the State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, said the PDP governor spoke without facts, even as she challenged him to show any proof that Amaechi was funding the APC.

    Describing Wike’s allegation as false and baseless, Semenitari insisted that nobody would spend such an amount on political campaigns, insisting that the state government will not dignify the  statement with responses.

    “It is unbelievable that a man who wants to be the governor of this state can make such an unbelievable statement without any proof. We challenge him (Wike) to show proof that Governor Amaechi spent N30 billion to fund APC campaign.

    “There are some things that are unbelievable. With what President Jonathan is giving us, N30 billion is three months allocation. Is that what he (Wike) is saying that we used for primary?

    “Rivers State Government will not dignify such unintelligent talk with responses. We will respond to unintelligent talk; we will not react to stupid conjecturing,” Semenitari stressed.