[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Delta Government said on Monday that between 2017 and 2018, it returned no fewer than 160 children being maltreated by their guardians across the state back to their families. Ms Bridget Anyafulu, the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa, on Child Right Advocacy, disclosed this in Asaba.
Anyafulu said that the children were fished out during the advocacy campaign on child right carried out by her office in the state within the period. She also disclosed that more than 30 parents and guardians were arrested in the process but noted that most of them promised to ensure that their wards and children got back to school.
She said that 80 of the children were returned to their families in 2017whilef the rest 80 were returned in 2018. “But for the vulnerable children who do not have parents, the state government keeps them and takes responsibility of their upkeep and their education,’’ she added.
The SSA said that her office was created because of the need to properly implement the Child Right Act in the state.
“We simplified the act for citizens to go through it and understand it.
“After that, we went round the state to seek for partners such as parents, school teachers, community leaders, religious leaders and even children themselves.
“Having established all these, we sent letters to the various stakeholders who agreed that they would partner with government by ensuring that the Child Right Act was adhered to. “They also promised the state government that they would ensure that every child in their community went to school at the right time” Anyafulu said.
She further said that the governor also approved the constitution of the State Implementation Committee and directed local government council chairmen in state to do same.
Anyafulu said in carrying out the advocacy, “we found out that children didn’t go to school early and sometime they didn’t even go at all.
“We needed to find out why they didn’t go to school early and we discovered that 98 per cent of those who went to school late, were house helps.
“Child Right Act frowns at that, because it is important that every child gets to school latest at 7:40am.
“Getting to school early will ensure that teachers can start teaching immediately at 8am after assembly.
“And we also found out that most of these children are not from Delta state. They were children brought from other states by aunties, uncles and relatives.
“These aunties and uncles must have lied to the parents of such children, by promising them that they would send their children to school,” she noted.
Anyafulu said that the advocacy has helped to reduce the number of out-of-school children and child battering in the state.
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]saba, the capital of Delta State, is already agog as the Anioma community prepares to honour its fallen leader and business mogul, Chief Sonny Iwedike Odogwu.
Odogwu, publisher of the defunct The Post Express and chairman of SIO Group Limited, died on November 5, 2018, at the age of 87. According to Emma Okocha, chairman of the organising committee of the Sonny Odogwu’s burial, following the release of Odogwu’s final burial rites by the family, “the Ide Ahaba day of tribute has been accommodated in the Asaba funeral programme.”
He said there would be a “Day of Tribute,” for Odogwu, where people would have the opportunity to talk about the late businessmen. “We have Chief Philip Asiodu, who grew up with him, in Calabar; former Minister of Health, Dr. Tim Menakaya, who was a student when Ide got married in Rome 1953, and the octogenarian world renowned Professor of sculptor, Demas Nwoko, who is going to speak about the Ide’s villa.
“Professor Nwali, Odogwu’s authorised biographer, is already in Asaba and his presentation, which was not allowed in the Lagos celebration of his life, would be given enough time,” he said.
[dropcap]M[/dropcap]ohammed Adamu, the Acting Inspector General of Police, has ordered the immediate disbandment of the Federal Special Anti Robbery Squad (FSARS), Special Investigation Panel and Special Tactical Squad.
According to Channels TV, the acting IGP announced this on Monday at his inaugural conference with Commissioners of Police and other senior officers in Abuja.
“Based on the new directive, there will now be a Special Anti-Robbery Squad domiciled in each of the 36 states under the direct supervision of the Commissioners of Police,” the report said.
“The IGP Special Investigation Panel and IGP Special Tactical Squad were established by the former IGP, Ibrahim Idris, who also centralised the operations of SARS into Federal SARS,” the report said.
[dropcap]R[/dropcap]ight from 1979, when Olusegun Obasanjo first quit office as a military dictator, he assumed the role of a moral compass to the nation, coming out occasionally to attack his successors. He attacked Shehu Shagari, the civilian who succeeded him. He also attacked the Buhari-Idiagbon and Babangida regimes which came after.
He wanted General Sani Abacha to hand over to a unity government, calculating that he will be most likely invited to lead. But Abacha roped him into a coup and sent him to jail.
Obasanjo was the beneficiary of the democratic struggles during the Abacha regime, but after he took over power in 1999, he forgot all the heroes who paid the ultimate price, including the winner of the 1993 election, Moshood Abiola and all those who went to jail with him. He never considered it necessary to pardon them , after all he was pardoned by the short regime of General Abdulsalami Abubakar.
In office between 1999 and 2007, his democratic credentials and leadership was very poor. He even tried to elongate his tenure, but his plan was defeated by the National Assembly.
But after leaving office, he went back to his past time, being the nation’s moral and political compass and the chief critic, as he attacked all his successors—Umar Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and now Muhammadu Buhari.
Obasanjo’s townsman, Professor Wole Soyinka who has deeply studied the Obasanjo persona and often tackled him over his holier-than-thou posturing, went public last year with a documentation, in which he declared Obasanjo unfit to lead a mission to rescue Nigeria and restore the nation to sanity.
This, Soyinka said, was in view of the various atrocities Obasanjo committed during his reign as the number one citizen of the nation.
Read Soyinka’s Briefing on Obasanjo:
Soyinka, in his Interventions VIII series, titled: “Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes? (Who keeps Watch over the Watchmen?), Gani’s Unfinished Business,” said he had only one demand from Obasanjo, which was for him to keep away from movements struggling to restore this nation to the path of sanity and even moderate rectitude.
Soyinka lamented that numerous atrocities occurred during Obasanjo’s reign as president that should shut him out of the scene permanently, but noted that in the former president’s style of hypocrisy, he was trying to undertake a mission he was never qualified as even worst things happened under his nose as watchman that were ignored.
Soyinka lamented that numerous atrocities occurred during Obasanjo’s reign as president that should shut him out of the scene permanently, but noted that in the former president’s style of hypocrisy, he was trying to undertake a mission he was never qualified as even worst things happened under his nose as watchman that were ignored.
Soyinka lamented that Obasanjo presided over the reign of terror the late Lamidi Adedibu unleashed in Oyo State when he single-handedly impeached the then Governor, Rashidi Ladoja and sacked the State House of Assembly, adding that Obasanjo also supervised the sacking of Dr. Chris Ngige as Anambra State Governor through, Andy Uba.
“Presiding over his bedlam, openly, without even the slightest concern both for probity and dignity of office, is the same man who now wishes to lead a national mission. Be assured, however, that an increasing number of discerning minds who owe you nothing, not even fear, who expect nothing from you, some of whom have even written off what you owe them, have fully taken your measure.
“That I have taken the trouble to address you frontally from time to time in this piece is simply because I know that deep inside, there is a soakaway pond of personal insecurity struggling to be drained. Beneath every bully, there is scared product of insecurity and troubled conscience. Now, fight your own demons as best as you can, and feel free to flagellate Buhari with all the weapons in your armoury. I have only one demand: keep away from movements struggling to restore this nation to the path of sanity and even moderate rectitude. End this hijacking propensity. You are objectively unfitted for the role, so, get thee to a monastery,” he said.
Soyinka said even when the leadership of the PDP cut the wing of Adedibu to size, it was Obasanjo who emboldened him to be more brutal by rehabilitating him and re-provisioned his spent garrison resources, most of which had been acquired under Abacha, his personal tormentor.
“The inevitable happened. Adedibu grew increasingly and confidently brutal. It was only a matter of time before he would stage what was perhaps the first civilian coup in Nigeria’s history,” he lamented.
On power, Soyinka said “I dared Obasanjo to meet me one-on-one on any podium to present the facts of that stewardship to the Nigerian people. Just how did you, in eight years, rise to the challenge of power generation for a population of a hundred and fifty million people, endowed with enormous energy reserves-petroleum-one that even earned the nation the chairmanship of OPEC for so many years?.”
The Nobel laureate said sex-for-grades as a solution to that burdensome energy seemed to have become the practice, saying that even when Donald Trump and Bill Clinton were accused of sexual misconduct, no one ever accused Trump of using his nation’s assets for a romp on the presidential desk of the oval office and that not even Clinton who nearly lost his office through Monica Lewinsky, was ever accused of passing off any of the White House heirlooms, or influenced contracts in return for sexual favour.
“I now challenge you (Obasanjo) to search your soul, very deeply, and swear to this nation that you never awarded oil blocks in return for sexual gratification. I do not make accusations lightly and I despise snide insinuations. I believe you know me well enough. And I am no prude, I am not a hypocrite of sexual desire, nor am I interested in the seamy side of Power. Take your time, think deeply and remember that each day brings you closer and closer to your Maker and the Day of Judgment-going by your own professions,’ Soyinka stated.
Soyinka added: “Your contributions to democracy and the culture of law and order are, predictably of a remarkable and unique quality-they consist largely of the kidnapping of legislators, the sacking of Houses of Assembly, wasteful convocation of delegates for ‘constitutional amendment,’ and the subversion of whatever exists as constitution in the quest of for the elongation of personal tenure.”
The Nobel laureate also published three letters written to Obasanjo by Col. Abubakar Umar, and Orji Uzor Kalu, in which the writers came hard on Obasanjo for failing the nation in virtually every sector as well as awarding oil blocks illegally to friends and others.
In one of the letters, Soyinka quoted Umar as saying that “My President, I beseech you to return to the Lord God. It seems you have parted ways since your merciful release from prison. Today, while your flock is suffering on account of your bad leadership, you are busy attributing your misdeed to the good Lord. Those of us who are able to discern, know that you are mistaking the devil for the Lord. Sooner than later, He will fight back by disowning you. But before that happens, it is incumbent upon us as your loyal citizens to warn you to seek peace with God. May the good Lord deliver us.”
Soyinka also added that he considered himself permanently on the duty roster as long as dubious watchmen insisted on bamboozling a constituency that happened to be his, stressing that “the self-designated watchman has once again offered his service-self-conscripted-so, surely, any Nigerian who has not learnt to ask the question Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes? is surely no possessor of one gram of Falana’s apportionment of the so called Nigerian intelligence…it raises the legitimate question: how did you, in your turn, rise to governance challenges?”
Soyinka further added that under Obasanjo’s watch, and with proven collaboration, an elected governor was kidnapped, locked in a toilet and held there under duress to force him to sign cheques on the state treasury, saying that “he escaped confinement, thanks to a sympathetic policeman, but the state went up in flames. The state radio and television houses were torched. The House of Assembly and the law courts-my own special preserve-were vandalized. Who did you say was President at that time?”
Adapting a popular Biblical book of Ezekiel, Soyinka said “Son of man, I have volunteered to be one of those watchmen over the watchers and my credentials are fully set down in the foregoing. I have listened to the voice of Ogun who has become increasingly impatient with so much that is going wrong. He has handed me his machete and given marching orders, saying, Son of Ogun, take this machete and cut through the brambles of lies, hypocrisy, double-talk and pontifications and insincere sententiousness. Cut off the tongues of liars so that your people can know some peace.”
Soyinka said the various Obasanjo’s antics were late Chief Gani Fawehinmi’s unfinished business, saying that Gani fought the former president, including instituting a suit, along with Femi Falana, SAN on the infamous Presidential Library which was built while Obasanjo was still in power.
According to Soyinka, “invoking the same divine principle, I feel that I am recipient of ancestral summons, most notably from Gani Fawehinmi who of course remains the preeminent watch over power right from the time of Yakubu Gowon’s dictatorship, paying the price of prolonged incarceration under IBB, I believe that he calls upon us from his present abode to take his unfinished business closer to completion, each in his or her own corner of possible involvement, competence and commitment.”
[dropcap]M[/dropcap]any ladies have been more safety-conscious since the upsurge in the level of underwear theft in the country, the Grassroots Publishers reports.
Grassroots Publishers interviewed a cross-section of Deltans on Saturday to find out probable reasons for this menace and safety measures ladies are taking in order not to fall victims. Respondents said perpetrators of the evil act, believed to be internet fraudsters or better known as “Yahoo Boys”, would stop at nothing to get wealthy overnight.
Mrs Chika Ozuluba, a mother told Grassroots Publishers that women should be more careful and mindful of those they hang out with. “I am a married woman and have no intention of having extra-marital affairs.
“But even at that, I am careful with my personal items. “I don’t put my underwear in the public space,” she said.
Chika, a mother of two, said women, especially young ladies, must not be carried away by flashy things because those things only led to destruction. “This is the time to be very conscious and spiritually-inclined about those things we see around.
“It is a wicked world we live in. “We also have to educate our children and care-givers so they don’t fall into the hands of the agents of destruction,” she said.
Similarly, Obua George, a trader, cautioned women not to get carried away with the flashy lifestyle of yahoo boys. “The menace of internet fraud is barbaric and an act of laziness.
“It is also greed on the part of the ladies because only a lady who is not contented would be swayed away by mere cash.
“Something needs to be done fast to address this issue,’’ George said. He said that sadly, that some ladies often sold their underwear, even with a knowledge of what it would be used for.
“I’ve heard of situations where ladies sold their underwear because of the love of money. “Parents need to train their children to be morally upright,” George said.
He advised ladies to make sure they hang out with and date only guys who had the legal and upright means of making money. Another respondent, Anita Mbonu, told Grassroots Publishers that she did not believe theft of underwear was real until a distant friend of hers died from the same incident.
“When I heard about what was happening in the country, I didn’t believe it at first. “A distant friend, who was dating a yahoo boy, needed urgent spiritual attention because she was bleeding from her private part.
“She died after some days and I was very devastated,’’ Mbonu narrated.
She said the incident made her to be more aware of the friends she kept and places to go to. “If today, I found out that my boyfriend is a fraudster, I will leave him for good,’’ Mbonu said.
She also told Grassroots Publishers some of the things to look out for when trying to identify an internet fraudster.
According to her, yahoo boys always have laptops around them; like to be reserved to themselves and curious about happenings in their environment.
“Sometime, they spend extravagantly while at other times they are extremely poor and in need of money.”
Corroborating the views of Mbonu, another respondent, Ngozi Okolo, said internet fraudsters dressed irresponsibly and had tattoos all over their bodies. “They wear expensive clothes but they go about with smaller cell phones.
“When you look through their contact list, you will find foreign numbers and contact with code-names like loader, dealer, among others,” he said. Ngozi said that it was only the Yahoo boys that one would see spending extravagantly without traceable means of income.
He advised youths in the act to stop because the consequences were not far-fetched. Ngozi said laziness, peer pressure and lack of education were some reasons why boys ventured into the act.
“Most yahoo boys are not educated but want to live like celebrities. “They want a fast way to make money; so they decide to make rituals their last resort,” he said.
Comptroller Mohammed Uba with some of his officers
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Area Controller of Nigeria Customs Service, Seme Command, Comptroller Mohammed Uba has disclosed that the command intercepted 29 vehicles and goods worth about N1.1 billion in December 2018 in a press briefing on Tuesday.
He added that a Mitsubishi Triton L200, 2005 Model belonging to Ramona Nigeria Limited, makers of Fresh yogurt, Blue Boat was intercepted for allegedly smuggling a total of twenty bags of rice from neighbouring Benin Republic. The vehicle branded Blue Boat ‘Freshyo Drinking Yoghurt’ was detained on the 12th of December 2018 for conveying the banned Items along Lagos Badagry expressway. The smuggled rice which was detained with the vehicle with registration number GGE 417 XU has a payable duty of N747,877.63 with Duty Paid Value of N3,337,316.00k. Speaking on the development, the Seme Customs Area Controller,Comptroller Uba Garba Mohammed, maintained that it took intelligence of the officers to be able to discover the contents of the vehicle. Uba said the driver had cleverly beaten other security agencies along the corridor before it was finally intercepted by eagle eye officers and men of the service. The Comptroller further noted that the driver of the vehicle escaped, while the company van was taken to the command.
Comptroller Mohammed Uba with some of his officers at the warehouse
The controller warned manufacturers of locally- made goods to desist from helping to aid smuggling saying officers and men of the service would continue to search any vehicle along the ECOWAS routes. The Customs boss said in time past the command has cases of intercepting heavy duty vehicles belonging to well known manufacturing companies in Nigeria, laden with thousands of 50kg parboiled bags of rice. According to the controller, 27 other vehicles which were nabbed included 22 fairly used vehicles and six means of conveyance have also been seized. He added that notable among them were Toyota Coaster Van (2014 model), Toyota Land cruiser Prado (2011), Mercedes Benz GLK 350 (2010), Toyota Sienna (2013), Toyota 4 Runner (2014) and a host of others. He said that the combined Duty Paid Value (DPV) for the vehicles stands at N177,314,091. Other items seized by the command within the period under review include; 6,753 bags of 50kg foreign rice which is equivalent to over 11 Trailer trucks (DPV) N121,689,06O plus Levy of N35,790,900 making a total of N157million. “45 pieces of 25 litres Jerry Cans of vegetable oil (DPV) N573,750, 135 bags of 50kg Bags of sugar (DPV) worth N567,000: 71 kegs of 25 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) with a DPV of N106,500,” he explained.
Some seized vehicles
“Other items seized include 21 cartons of tinned tomatoes worth N127,575, two sacks of used shoes N67,500 and 91 parcels of hard drugs.” The customs area controller further stated that the 91 parcels of hard drugs and narcotics seized had been handed over to the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the suspect, Kenneth Cornelius, has been prosecuted successfully and now serving jail term of two years. He added that the anti-smuggling success story is a blow to smugglers and also a sound warning to those who have dubious intention to desist or face the wrath of law as he reassured that the command has redoubled its efforts towards reducing smuggling to its barest minimum.
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s Inspector Gneral of Police Ibrahim Idris clocks the retirement age of 60, there are indications that President Muhammadu Buhari will today name AIG Abubakar Adamu Mohammed from Nasarawa State as his replacement in acting capacity.
An authoritative source from the Police Service Commission (PSC) who spoke on the condition of anonymity said signal to that effect had been sent out, ahead the official announcement today. “Yes, IGP Idris is retiring tomorrow (today) and an acting IGP will be named. But I would advise that you wait for official statement to that effect,” the source maintained.
Mohammed was born on November 9, 1961. He enlisted in the police in 1986. He has a bachelor’s degree in Geography.
He was at one time a director of peacekeeping operations. He was also a police commissioner in Enugu and later AIG in charge of Zone 5. He is currently a directing staff member at the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, near Jos, Plateau State.
A senior police officer from the headquarters confided to Grassroots Publishers that Buhari decided to wash his hands off the allegation that he was trying to use Idris for election malpractice: “I can tell you authoritatively that a new IGP has been appointed, he will be announced tomorrow (today). He has been contacted as the signal is out. All the Deputy Inspectors-General of Police (DIGs) will be going with Idris.
The President had met with Idris behind closed doors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday.
Idris, whose is due for retirement from the Nigeria Police Force today, as he turns 60, arrived the Villa at about 4.30pm and proceeded straight to the President’s office for the meeting.
Buhari earlier met with Idris on January 4, shortly after they attended the juma’at prayer, the day he clocked 35 years in the force. Buhari appointed Idris on March 21, 2016, to replace Solomon Arase, who retired from the police on June 21, 2016.
Idris enlisted in the NPF in 1984, after he graduated from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, with a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture.
Buhari, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, is vested with the power to extend the IGP’s tenure or otherwise, but opposition parties and some civil society organisations have already kicked against the idea of an extension for Idris, the IGP from Niger State.
Regardless, there were indications yesterday night that a new IGP would be named today. A source close to the Presidency who declined to be named confirmed that Idris’ replacement would be announced today, among a shortlist of candidates already submitted to the president for approval.
As at the time of going to the press no official statement had been made either by PSC, or presidency. Grassroots Publishers online gathered that there was tension at the Police headquarters as senior police officer from the DIG rank were waiting for the arrival of Mohammed who was still in Jos, Plateau State.
[dropcap]S[/dropcap]enator Hope Uzodinma, Imo State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday disclosed that the Igbo people had met and agreed to vote for President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 presidential election.
Uzodimma spoke in Owerri during the unveiling of his governorship manifesto titled, “A new Imo State of Prosperity and Equity.” Uzodinma said: “We, the Igbo have met and agreed to vote for President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 and after four years, it will be the turn of Igbo man to become President of Nigeria, in 2023. “Buhari is the only man with integrity that will handover to Igbo man. We are tired of those who will go to Abuja to talk about themselves. We are out to make sure that our people will no longer be marginalised.”
He also said that, “a substantial number of Imo PDP members last night joined APC, as well as members of other political parties. What it means is that Imo people now have a consensus.” He continued: “Nobody will rig Imo election. We will protect the INEC office. What you vote will be counted. Even if they go to Abuja, they will not succeed. We will be here to protect our votes. Those who are afraid are those who are planning evil. For us, we are not afraid because we are Godly.
I’ll recover all that Okorocha looted The gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, also vowed to “recover all lands and funds illegally appropriated by Governor Rochas Okorocha-led administration and his family and hand over to the people”. Uzodinma also raised the alarm over an alleged plot by Okorocha to “rig his son in-law, Uche Nwosu, who is in Action Alliance, AA, into office, so he can cover his looting”, asserting however that this will be stoutly resisted by Imo people. He lamented that “the Okorocha administration has plunged the state into indebtedness of over N290 billion, since he assumed office in 2011”, and hinted his desire to probe the huge indebtedness, if voted into office.
Uzodinma equally unveiled a 5-point blueprint tagged the “New Imo Agenda”, pointing out that his 5-point agenda will be anchored on the tripod vision of Recovery, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation. His words: “Our people should not cry anymore because light has come. This is a battle between light and darkness and light has come, darkness has disappeared. I want to tell all our people whose lands and properties were illegally appropriated by this wicked administration of Governor Rochas Okorocha, not to cry anymore. “We will recover all stolen assets and give them back to you. We will recover all properties illegally collected by Rochas and his family and give back to our people. Rochas is playing god but God has abandoned him due to his wickedness against the people of Imo State.”
[dropcap]I[/dropcap] have taking time to review the arguments against the re-election of the Governor of Abia State Okezie Ikpeazu PhD, in a democracy one fundamental feature is freedom of speech, opinion and association, however such does not viciate the facts on ground.
In 2015 the race for the Abia government house was hot and interesting. The then incumbent His Excellency T. A. Orji was running out his second term in office. There was also the very intense argument for power shift to balance equitable distribution of power.
It was this reason that prevailed especially within the ranks of the ruling PDP. Senator Orji prevailed on other zones though Uche Ogah insisted to running till the final lap. It’s not news in Abia that Alex Otti was closer to the then Governor Orji than Dr Ikpeazu, but Senator Orji insisted that equity must prevail.
Amongst all the aspirants from the Ngwa axis Dr Ikpeazu appealed to mostly youths, the real people and key elements in Abia polity were astonished by his cerebral content. He was easily seen as humble, calm, humane, intelligent and had sound understanding of the issues at stake.
Once he became the candidate of the PDP it became incumbent on the party members and leaders across the state to campaign and deliver him, particularly the Ngwa stock saw it as their responsibility and most if not all hands were on deck to ensure he won.
It was easily predictable that Governor would win the 2015 gubernatorial election in Abia no matter what anyone would claim. The pattern of voting in 2015 clearly showed that his kits and kin took up the challenge squarely.
Governor Ikpeazu was fully aware of the responsibility, trust and confidence placed on his shoulders. At no moment has Governor Ikpeazu appeared oblivious of this fact. In the past 3 years and some months the Governor has carried on as the people’s governor ensuring that the People feel his person and connect effectively with him. Ikpeazu will call out from his official car one street sweeper who worked with him as DGM ASEPA Aba, the old refuse collector will suddenly hear her name as the Governor passed. He shook hands in the crowd old and young love Ikpeazu, the office of Governor hadn’t changed him. This calm and peaceful personality accounts mostly for the high level peace and tranquillity witnessed in Abia today.
Across the length and breadth of Abia State Governor Ikpeazu has through his personal efforts and interactions maintained harmonious and peaceful coexistence amongst all the strata of the Abia society. On this, Ikpeazu has scored many firsts. This is the first time in the recent democratic history of Abia State the Governor and his deputy Governor are running out a term and pairing to contest a second term.
This will be the first time state officials and national officials have maintained such harmonious relationship, including a minister of another party, the Governor has constructively and harmoniously engaged every stakeholder major and minor in the Abia polity for the good of the state.
His social mobilization skills are second to none and he has successfully deployed it to move the state forward. It is on record that irrespective of a few tantrums Governor Ikpeazu has never decended to hurling insults, tirades or using innuendos that suggests harming the image of even his worst critics. His has been “my peace I give you…”.
The continued improvement in security of lives and properties that has made Abia one of the safest states nationwide is only achievable because the Governor has approached Governance more from a social mobilisation and engament angle.
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, and Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi States.
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Coalition of Igbo groups namely, World Igbo Youth Congress, Southeast Women Professionals and Igbo Students Movement met yesterday, in Abakiliki.
The groups, which met with the Forum of Biafra Agitators and Chaired by Mazi Alex Okemiri, released the following communique. It warned the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to concentrate on his Biafra projects and leave alone the South East governors, namely, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, and Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi States.
Below is a communique released after the meeting.
(1) That Nnamdi Kanu should Concentrate on the no election campaign and leave Abia Governor Ikpeazu and Ebonyi Governor Umahi, responding to his Order” of Voting out Ikpeazu and Umahi Out of Office during his Saturday broadcast” its laughable that Nnamdi Kanu is derailing from his Biafra agitation and now being sponsored by politicians to cause Confusion and pursuing Campaign of Calumny against those who mean well for him, Nnamdi kanu and his ipob members have no Pvcs/ Voters Cards irrespective of our earlier suggestions to ipob members to register during Voters registration, Where will Kanu and ipob members get Pvcs to vote out Gov ikpeazu and Umahi? Kanu is looking for settlement.
(2) Ipob should learn from the Maturity and non violence approach of Massob led by Uchenna Madu, who had expressed willingness to allow INEC to Conduct election in Southeast and ensure there’s no bloodshed during this period of Operation Python Dance111.If nnamdi Kanu and Ipob Continue to rant and lure innocent Youths to their early grave when him and his family is enjoying at Israel,we will drag him(Kanu) to Hague for Inciting and Act leading to Mass Murder and Geocide of igbo Youths.
(3) On Adams Oshimole Allegations that Governor Ikpeazu had been Collecting bail out funds without paying Salaries, We are shocked that most of Our members,Who are Abia Workers are paid as in when Due,no Abia Worker is being Owed, And on the lies trending that Made in Aba Products are mere Propaganda by Apga Abia Guber Candidate Alex Otti is not true,Its on record that Gov Ikpeazu had put Aba in the World map,and the Signing of Enyimba Economic City and Enyimba Free trade Zone by Federal Government and Abia Government will tackle the Unemployment rate in Nigeria,with Creating of 300,000 Jobs through Enyimba Economic City Made President Buhari to Stay away from the flag off Apc Abia flag off Campaign,as there’s nothing to campaign against Ikpeazu.
(4) We Unanimously Say without missing words, that Zoning Formula favors Gov ikpeazu and Umahi, as Opposition Parties in Abia and Ebonyi knows their Candidates cannot Win in Abia and Ebonyi. There’s no Vacancies in Abia and Ebonyi Government houses till 2023.
Mazi Alex Okemiri
National President
World Igbo Youth Congress
Dr Helen Ogbonnaya
President
Southeast Women Professionals
Comrade Chidera Uduocha
Leader
Igbo Students movement
Uchechi Uduko
Forum of Biafra Agitators
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As this body will not be held LIABLE for any unauthorized transaction with anyone. BE WARNED!
[dropcap]M[/dropcap]any ladies have been more safety-conscious since the upsurge in the level of underwear theft in the country, the Grassroots Publishers reports.
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s Inspector Gneral of Police Ibrahim Idris clocks the retirement age of 60, there are indications that President Muhammadu Buhari will today name AIG Abubakar Adamu Mohammed from Nasarawa State as his replacement in acting capacity.
[dropcap]I[/dropcap] have taking time to review the arguments against the re-election of the Governor of Abia State Okezie Ikpeazu PhD, in a democracy one fundamental feature is freedom of speech, opinion and association, however such does not viciate the facts on ground.
