Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Nurudeen Abatemi-Usman has said the amnesty programme for ex-Niger Delta militants under the direct coordination and supervision of Hon. Kingsley Kuku has been a huge success.
Abatemi-Usman representing Kogi Central Senatorial District in the Red Chamber made the declaration in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Michael Jegede, to congratulate Kuku, on the award bestowed on him by Ekiti State University (EKSU) Alumni Association.
The Ekiti Varsity Alumni Association had recently conferred the chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) and Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger Delta matters with the “Distinguished Alumnus Award” for his numerous contributions to the growth and development of the institution, which is his alma-mater, the Niger Delta region and Nigeria at large.
The Senator noted that the award was an honour well-deserved for a man, who according to him, is obviously the brain behind the success story of the amnesty programme that has returned peace to the oil-rich region, which was hitherto a centre of violence due to militant activities.
Abatemi-Usman described Kuku as a courageous, fearless and brave young man who was deeply involved in the Niger Delta struggle, and has proven his mettle in the discharge of his duty as the coordinator of PAP initiated by the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua and sustained by Jonathan.
“I congratulate Hon. Kingsley Kuku, for the ‘Distinguished Alumnus Award’ bestowed on him by the Ekiti State University Alumni Association. For such a highly prestigious award to be bestowed on him is a clear indication that the association recognizes the good work of kuku not just in offering assistance to his alma-mater, but also in the proper management of the affairs of the Niger Delta amnesty office. The amnesty programme programme under kuku has been a great monumental success,” Abatemi-Usman declared.
The first 3,000 beneficiaries of the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme
(SURE-P) Community Services, Youths and Women Employment Scheme in
Ekiti State will begin work on March 1, 2013, Chairman of the State
Implimentation Committee (SIC), Rt. Hon. Femi Akinyemi has said.
In a release issued today, Akinyemi said 3,000 out of the over 30,000
that obtained, completed and submitted the recruitment forms have been
employed.
He disclosed that “data capturing of the beneficiaries is being done
by the banks through which they would be receiving their monthly
salaries and emoluments and that is expected to be concluded next
week.”
“The youths will be engaged in community services like clearing of
drainages, sewage disposal, filling of pot-holes on township roads,
cleaning of markets, palaces, schools and other public places.
Beneficiaries of the scheme are to be paid N10, 000 per month,” he
said.
Akinyemi, who debunked the insinuation that only members and
supporters of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) were recruited,
said; “The forms we gave to them did not have any column for political
parties and the recruitment was handled by officials of the National
Directorate of Employment. Or are they also saying that the NDE is
part of the PDP?”
He said those insinuating that the programme was for members of the
PDP should desist from dirty politics, which can only deny Ekiti
youths the opportunity of benefiting from the well-thought-out
programme of the President Goodluck Jonathan led Federal Government.
“By March 1, 2013, the first batch of our recruits, which is 3,000
will begin work and they will receive their first salary at the end of
the month.
“Thereafter, we will recruit another 2,000 and we are most likely to
do that from among those that were not successful among the over
30,000 applicants that obtained the recruitment forms,” he said.
The Rivers State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, has condemned in very strong terms Gov Chibuike Amaechi’s penchant for plunging the state into a debtor state by always resorting to external sources for funds needed for government projects.
The ACN in a statement issued and signed by its publicity secretary noted with dismay that while the federal government is making frantic efforts to disentangle itself from accumulated debts over the years which constituted a cog in the wheel of the nation’s economic development, Gov. Amaechi continues to delight in the outdated and ignoble policy.
Jerry Needam said the ACN is yet to come to terms with Amaechi’s logic of preferring external loans to the billions of naira accruing to the state from the federal allocation and internally generated revenue in addressing his capital projects.
“We see no reason for the loans at all considering the amount of money that he receives monthly. If accessing external loans is the best option, why have other states much poorer than Rivers State not rushed to the capital market for such loans. Whichever way you look at it, it is better to confine yourself to what you have to create what you need,” Jerry Needam reasoned.
The ACN spokesman said the only rationale behind this penchant for loans is the opportunity it provides for the exponents to benefit from it and cannot be doing so in the interest of Rivers people.
By his calculation, Jerry said between 2008 and 2013, Gov Chibuike Amaechi has collected loans well over N500b billion which he called, “mortgaging the future of the state”.
The ACN argued further that no nation has ever lived on loans and survived it.
The best that could be achieved is to leave a haunting financial burden for the incoming administration, the party noted.
The ACN also took a swipe on the State House of Assembly for being a willing tool for the approval of this slavery, describing them as equally hoodwinked.
”If the previous loans were taken for completion of projects and other infrastructure that is always given as the reason, what is the reason for the N120b”, Jerry Needam queried.
The push to silence open criticism of the Federal Government of Nigeria appears to have found its way back into governing protocols of the presidency and its various security outposts.
Credible information available to 247ureports.com reveal the approach adopted by the presidency – through the utilization of Nigeria’s secret police – for the intimidation and harassment of select Journalists from publishing unfavorable reports on the presidency and on the person of the President.
As gathered, the State Security Service – the SSS were recently handed a list of online Journalists based mainly in the United States of America. The list was generated by aides to Mr. President – vetted and cleared by the presidency and forwarded to the SSS for appropriate actions.
The SSS was directed to halt the selected Journalists at the Airports – when they try to gain entrance into the country.
Among the list of online journalists on list are the publisher of 247ureports.com, the publisher of the African Examiner, Elombah.com and others. Two other online Journalists who were formally on the catch-them list – pointblanknews and thewillnigeria – were recently taken off. Details as to why the two Journalists were removed from the list are not readily available but a source point to the cozy relationship between the presidency and the two Journalists.
The SSS, in the recent past, had generated a catch-them list during the Yar’Adua/Jonathan administration – which netted the arrests of the publisher of Huhuonline.com, Emmanuel Asiwe and a Columnist of Saharareporters, Okey Ndibe. Both Journalists were arrested by the operatives of SSS upon their entry into Nigeria – at the Airport – as they arrived the immigration counter. Asiwe was detained for 12days and Ndibe was detained for alittle over a week.
Our source revealed that the SSS had interrogated the arrested men over links with foreign intelligent services. Asiwe was accused of having links with the United States of America’s espionage program – of which Asiwe denied and was later cleared. The agents of SSS wanted to know the source of their reports – and who the sponsors of the publications were.
When it became clear that the allegations were without proof or evidence, the security agent then softened and extended an olive branch to the men. Offers were made to the two men – to join forces with the SSS – on intelligence sharing. Our source revealed that the offer was turned down.
The renewed effort to start the arrest and detention of foreign based journalist by the Nigerian secret police, according our source, is predicated on the premise that foreign governments may have hired the services of the journalist to aide in the destabilization of the Nigerian government. Such foreign governments as Iran, Libya, USA, Israel, are suspected by the secret police to have hired the services of the mentioned journalists.
However other sources outside the confines of the secret police point to a more cynical reason for the renewed effort to arrest and detain the foreign based Journalists. They point directly to the upcoming pre-election activities of the 2015 presidential tussle – as the principal factor behind the catch-them list. They indicate that it has become customary to ‘shakedown’ the voice of the opposition – during electoral exercises that are deemed too close to call – as in the new threat posed by the new mega party – the All Progressive Congress.
“Expect the organs of oppression to be at work now. The EFCC, ICPC, SSS, Police, FIRS will work together to harass and intimidate them back into their cubicles” said a competent source in Abuja who is a card carrying member of the ruling party – the Peoples Democratic Party. The PDP top ranking member cautioned that the political tension spells of volatility and desperation on all sides of the aisle. “The president is desperate and the folks in APC are equally desperate“.
The All Nigeria Peoples Party [ANPP] received the string of kidnapping and terrorism news making the rounds in the media with sadness. Last week gunmen kidnapped six workers including two foreigners at a Lebanese-owned construction site in Bauchi. Yesterday, gunmen attacked a vessel off the coast of Bayelsa State, kidnapping six foreigners. Also on Wednesday, the Department of State Security Services [SSS] paraded three persons, including the leader of an Islamic sect based in Ilorin, Kwara State, Abdullahi Mustapha Berende, who they arrested over a plot to assassinate former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and former Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki; and for spying on some foreign targets in Nigeria for the purpose of future attacks.
Our great party is worried over these surging cases of kidnapping and terrorism for their potential to throw a spanner in the works of our burgeoning democracy. Therefore, we condemn these acts of kidnapping and espionage, for they are unpatriotic and detrimental to our growth and development as a people; and will tarnish our image in the comity of nations. Nevertheless, we commend the SSS for a professional and patriotic job well done, as it gives us hope that intelligence gathering, which we have maintained is key to fighting insecurity in the land, is being effectively deployed by our security agencies.
We hereby call on the good people of Nigeria not to allow poverty to befuddle their nationalistic vision. Granted, there is untold hardship in the land, certainly caused by the ruling party who has used us as unfortunate guinea pigs in a fourteen years experiment; but we admonish that Nigerians should put the nation above every other interest. No citizen should allow him or herself to be used by any foreign interest to entrench terror and insecurity in the land. We have no other country but Nigeria. When the chips are down, even these outsiders with malice posing as friends to entice some hapless citizens, shall certainly abandon them to their own cruel fate with other Nigerians.
We also encourage the nation’s security agencies to do more in order to stem the spate of kidnappings in the nation. They should apply more inter-agency intelligence sharing, and also network effectively in order to respond quickly to threats and to intervene at potential flashpoints. The Federal Government must endeavour to create jobs for our teeming youth population in order to dissuade them from crime; and it should also instill confidence in the expatriates working in our shores by showing more sincerity and diligence in its fight against terrorism. Our great party believes that Nigeria shall surmount all its present troubles.
Patience Ozokwo is a Nigerian widow , mother of five, ex-ace broadcaster ,and now a successful icon in the Hollywood had spend in a great deal of time in her interview with The Sun last week explaining what playing the role of a ‘bad mama’ in movie means to her and the implications for the society.
Mama Gee as Patience is popular styled, after one of her rib-cracking roles in the movie by the same title explained to readers of The Sun on Sunday that playing the role of a very bad person, a home divider, harlot, witch, wicked person, gangster et al was her way of dramatising to expose the evil in the Nigerian and larger society which largely contrasts with her person in real life.
This writer was at St Marks Catholic Church Abagana, when legendary Pete Edochie who, equally known for the bad guy role on te male side tried to explain in the same pattern years back to a little congregation
’ Some of you may wonder what this man who snatches people’s wives, kills people, patronises fetish priests ,robs ,kills and maims people would be doing in the church premises, Edochie volunteered, a sermonizing smile playing around his lips. ‘Well we do it to draw your attention to the fact that these things exist and prime you to be careful.
‘So please when you se me on the road, do not tale another way or when you see me in an occasion do not change your seat’, Edochie pleaded. Those
Those who know the story of what happened in Okija shrine in the build-up to the 2003 elections know that those who had willingly given their endorsements to Medical Doctors, and erstwhile President of Aka Ikenga, Dr Chris Ngige for the position of Anambra State Governor, against his aspirations to the senate, began to nurse genuine fears, that he was going to be more loyal to the common good of Anambra State and the constitution of Nigeria than to their persons, compelled them to enforce an administration of oath to Ngige at gunpoint.
In fact those who understand will also know that this represents the story of the coming to power of Governor Ngige in 2003 which which heralded three three years of societal transformation that still carries Anambra State today.
Of course a lot has been written about that performance, accomplished with a total of N69 billion. He did not have the benefit of sitting over a total of N1.5 trillion from 2006 to 2013,but his name still strikes a golden note, because he set Anambra on the path of progress through critically thought-through planning and tight implementation of the landmark roads/bridges, housing ,wages ,water and other schemes that sustain the state today.
The effect is that politicians without manifestoes and vainglorious commentators have exploited the gap to rub in pepper while the knowledge gap of the general public has continued to widen. One government commentator that uses 15 pseudonyms in five online networks would hardly complete one paragraph without introducing Okija, forgetting that that is also the name of a town that till date also yearns to benefit from good governance and the protection of their dignity.
But, is it not stated in the Bible that ‘ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free’. This year’s lengthen period is a good tie for those who may wish to know the truth of that era and accord due credit to whom it is due.
Chris Ngige has been an activist even through his days in the Public Service and before in school. He has managed to carry is activism through without the overzealousness and grandstanding that pervades attention-seeking NGOs and fly-by-night Igbo leaders and defenders. He played yeoman’s role even as a civil servant to direct the course of action and code of conduct of Igbo politicians in the fray at his time.
As President of Aka Ikenga he takes credit for the focus achieved by Ndigbo and the grounds broken in the 1994-1995 constitutional conference which did not beget its own constitution, but gave rise to the six geo-political zones of today.
As a governor, he alone rose in defence of Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu’s position on being invited to Abuja on one-way ticket by the Sate Security Service, when a peculiar silence enveloped others. As a senator he got his colleagues interested in helping the governor of Anambra State unravel the security aspect of the floating scores of dead bodies in the Ezu River, hence the investigation of the Senate.
Such is the background that helps to understand the character and thinking of Dr Chris Ngige and his style. Such also helps to understand the salient and silent role he played to crush the atrocities in Okija shrine. A writer named Bona Ezekwenna recently claimed on online blogs that Chris Ngige went to Okija shrine to perform some rituals and oath of loyalty with his former godfathers.
Gladly and many thanks to him, Bonaventure also wrote that it was Chris Ngige who called a press conference to admit to the world that he was taken to Okija at gun point to swear to an oath of loyalty.
Dr Ngige, now a senator played the role of Pete Edochie and Patience Ozokwo in Okija shrine debacle. Having been taken there against his will; having played along to achieve the goal of liberating Anambra which he eventually got to and may not have reached otherwise, he bid his time, caused the Inspector General of Police to mobilise to the so-called shrine to liberate those under bondage in that historical community of Anambra State.
So unlike Bonaventure’s claim, it was Chris Ngige who actually set out to destroy the fake myth about Okija shrine that was under developing the minds of Anambra and South East people. But it does not mean that other shrines like that do not still exist after Ngige smashed that of Okija. It would be productive to progress what Ngige did.
Very few can plausibly argue that that streak was not consistent with the encounter of the one baptised ‘Igbo leader’ during his Aka Ikenga days, all through his entire encounter with Chris-Andy Uba crowd, Obasanjo’s fronts in Anambra till date. They asked for N3billion on the basis of a bulk payment and on the basis of an irrevocable payment order. Ngige agreed. Did he pay? The answer is No. Did the administration after Ngige pay? The answer is yes.
They asked Ngige to sign that he will pay a N10 million on a monthly basis to be deducted at source? Did he agree? Yes. Did he pay? No! His loyalty was to Anambra State and Nigeria, whose president at the time was ironically working with Andy Uba and Chris Uba to bleed the two corporate entities. He had succeeded with Mbadinuju and felt they would also succeed with Ngige. No, they only had to succeed only from April 2006 after he left, till date. That was the conspiracy that saw him name beeing deleted in 2007 ballot paper and being rigged out in 2010 elections in which Anambra clearly saw him as the way to succeed.
With all those moves something eerie voice still told Obasanjo’s fronts in the Uba family that they are better off having Ngige’s deputy as governor, so they brought a letter of a resignation for a governor to sign before assuming office, but Ngige saw tomorrow and signed a letter-headed paper that clearly spelt out the name of Chinwoke Mbadinuju as governor.
Such was the manner God used to liberate Anambra. In Okija, he encountered it and destroyed it. On paying Anambra money he challenged the federal government led by Obasanjo to stop deducting Anambra money at source as he was not doing with Ogun State to pay individual fronts. On resignation the government naturally used a new letter-heading bearing the name of Chris Ngige as governor. And the winner was Anambra State and the common good.
That explains the near-cult following and good will that Ngige enjoys and the fact that the Senate is probing to find out why so many dies at the same time is not only true to character and trend, it is helpful to the state government that provided it sincerely wishes to protect life in its jurisdiction. It must be too serious to be subjected to the pedestrian partisan shuffles, when the matter has also been independently placed before the International Criminal Court.
Anambra and Ndigbo know their leaders and understand what quantum of sacrifice places them on that pedestal in an ethnic group that is sociologically very uncomfortable with the idea of being led. Fate prepared Ngige for that that Damascus, on his way to Rome
Yet, that needs not take the focus from the fact that the Senate sent two of their committees to investigate the matter, which has taken it beyond the Ngige person.
And most importantly a distorted story of 2003 Okija shrine myth later destroyed by the same Ngige should not be flaunted to artificially create a similarity with the current Ezu River saga where 10 of the probable victims have been identified.
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has described as a huge scam and an illegality the ”Good Governance Tour”
currently embarked upon by the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, and a retinue of people, saying it must be
stopped forthwith and those behind it made to account for the public funds they have collected in the process.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party also
commended Gov. Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State for rejecting a multi-million-naira proposal from the Minister asking
the state government to bankroll the Edo leg of the tour.
It said such a tour as currently being led by the Minister across the country is an illegality in a federalism, the system of
government which Nigeria is running, because it distorts the Constitution and gives the impression that the Federal
Government is a supervisor of the various states
”Under our federalism, no state is subject to any control from the Federal Government, and no Governor is mandated
to report to the President. To now have a team assembled by the Federal Government inspecting the projects being
carried out by the various states is not only fraudulent and illegal, but amounts to a blatant waste of public funds. It is a
carry-over from the days of military rule under which Nigeria was governed as a unitary state.
”It is also a case of double jeopardy for the states, whose projects are made to look like they are being executed by the
Federal Government, while at the same time they (states) are being made to pay for the meaningless tour.
”We say, unequivocally, that this tour fits into other fraudulent schemes concocted by this Federal Government to swindle
the people, enrich a few and pad its war chest for the 2015 elections, and we are talking here of SURE-P as well as the oil
subsidy and the pension fund scam. This jamboree must end today!” ACN said.
The party asked whether the Federal Government that initiated the tour has allocated any funds to it, adding: ”If this answer is
yes, why are states being asked to cough out millions of naira for it. And if the answer is no, why must states be made to pay
for a Federal Government-initiated tour?”
It added: ”If the Federal Government has any project to showcase anywhere in the country, it is its prerogative to do so without
extorting money from the states. And where it has nothing to showcase, it is fraudulent to be showcasing the projects embarked
upon by state governments, many of which are not even under the same party as the Federal Government, hence they have
their own mandates based on their party manifestoes.
”Wouldnt it be laughable to see the Minister of Information questioning contractors of projects being executed by state governments or issue ultimatums to contractors he did not hire? Minister Maku should immediately
put an end to the jamboree he is leading, declare all the public funds he has collected in the name of this tour and return such
to the state governments that have been swindled under the so-called ”Good Governance Tour.”
An Abuja based group, Society for Rule of Law in Nigeria (SRLN) has called for stiffer sanction against judges found guilty of unethical behaviours, saying; “mere compulsory retirement cannot restore the confidence of Nigerians in the judiciary.”
Reacting to the decision of the National Judicial Council (NJC), recommending sack of three controversial top Nigerian judges, SRLN said in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Chima Ubeku that the NJC must go beyond just recommending the judges for retirement by making them to face trial.
Justices Abubakar Talba, Thomas Naron, and Charles Archibong were reportedly recommended for compulsory retirement by the NJC at its meeting on Wednesday.
Justice Talba was the judge who sentenced a self-confessed pension thief, Yakubu Yusufu, who pleaded guilty to stealing N2 billion of about N30 billion to two years in prison each on a three-count charge with an option of fine of N250, 000 on each charge. The judge was also the one who freed Governor Rauf Aregbesola of the charge of forgery of Police Report presented to the Osun State Governorship Election Tribunal.
Justice Naron, was involved in the controversial judgment of the first Osun State Governorship Election Tribunal while Justice Archibong was the one who gave the controversial judgment removing the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) National Auditor, Chief Bode Mustapha from office as well as the dissolution the South-West Zonal Executive Committee of the Party and recognition to Engr. Adebayo Dayo faction of Ogun State Executive Committee.
Reacting, SRLN said; “If Nigerians must begin to respect the judiciary, all these cash-n-carry judges must be sent to jail.
“It shouldn’t just be mere retirement because they could have envisaged the premature retirement and corruptly acquired enough fund to last them throughout their lifetime.
“For instance, we have heard of people offering judges what they call their ‘retirement benefit’ should anything go awry in their deal. If a judge had taken say N500 million to pervert the course of justice and all the NJC does to sanction him is to retire him, won’t the judge feel happy that he was able to make what he could not have made even if he works for 50 years?
“Therefore, while we commend the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mariam Aloma Muktah for her efforts to sanitise the judiciary, we urge that judges who are found to have contravened their oath of office should be made to face trial instead of mere suspension or retirement.”
The Conference Hall of Anambra State Government in Awka came alive last week Tuesday when the Director of Information of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Mr Uchenna Madu mounted the podium and said that his organisation had lost nine (9) persons whose bodies were part of those floating in Ezu River.
‘About one week before dead bodies were seen floating on the Ezu River at Amansea, we received a security report to the effect that nine of our members have been killed, along with some armed robbers and kidnapping suspects at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad Office in Awkuzu.’ Madu asserted confidently.
Mr Madu gave the names of those allegedly killed by the Police as Basil Ogbu, Sunday Ogwa, Sunday Omogo, and Philip Nwankpa.Others according to him were, Eze Ndubisi, Ebuka Eze, Obinna Offor Joseph Udoh, and Udechukwu Ejiofor.
Uche Madu said that but for the fact that he only knew about the sitting of the Senate Committee, about one hour before he came out to testify, he would have arranged to come with the wives and children of some of the deceased. He discountenanced the statement credited to the police denying their media releases on the missing members as false and promised to prove it beyond doubt to the panel.
It was not the first time Madu was saying this. The Weekend before, he had issued a press statement to that effect. The Commissioner of Police Bala Nassarawa denied that in a press statement distributed to the press without fielding question the day before the panel’s Anambra sitting. Hence the day’s newspapers were awash with the Police denial, which said he did not arrest anyone bearing the names mentioned by MASSOB’.
MASSOB stood their ground, explaining that the reason it took them to come out with the names was to enable the freedom fighting organisation enough time to conduct its own thorough investigation.
In MASSOB’s testimony one name stood out, that of Obinna Ofor. Ofor was one of those paraded by the police and in Mid-October 2012 and the recorded video of that parade is already on U-tube website, which means that unlike most others mentioned by MASSOB, which have to be established as directd by the Senate through its committees by bringing their relatives to confirm his story, his has been proved as an existing detainee of the Police. Yet the Commissioner of Police Bala Nassarawa who testified earlier restated that the nine names given out by MASSOB as killed by the Police were baseless and that the Police did not arrest them.
Is the Police telling the whole truth on the issue of this arrest? The afcts on ground suggest otherwise.
Going by the video posted on U-tube ,which coincides with media repprts at that time as well as the testimony of the Director of SSS. Police indeed took custody of MASSOB members at the time. The SSS Director confirmed that indeed there was a raid on the MASSOB office in Onitsha around the time described by Mr Madu, but he did not remember the exact date. According to him the suspects were handed over to the Police which is the standard practice.
Hence both circumstantial and real evidence has established that Obinna Ofor having been arrested and detained by the police in the middle of October has not been allowed to see his family and his lawyers and no one has seen him ever since, while the police refused to produce him in court.
So what is the motive of the police in denying his arrest when in fact the same Police claimed elsewhere as attested to by documentary evidence, that another suspect which died in Police custody ,according to police testimony in court ‘was implicated by one Obinna Ofor who was arrested in October 2012’?
On October 22, 2012, the police arrested one Obukezie Ejiofor, a native of Omoo, Ayamelum local government area of Anambra State, said to be living in a one-room apartment with six children. He was arrested along with PraiseGod Ndumanya and Chinweuba Okoye. Mr Ejiofor was shot on the one leg and was paraded to the media as a suspected kidnapper, suspected to have kidnapped one Jonathan Onyekwele.
His lawyer and kinsman Uwaneke Udegbunam carried out an enquiry on the basis of a distress call made on the same day to SARS Awkuzu, and was told by one Celestine Ani, a policeman on duty that Mr Ejiofor was not in their office, or in their custody.
The lawyer left and continued the search in other police formations, until his highly placed person in the Police Command referred him aback to SARS Awkuzu with an assurance that his client was there.
When he returned and confronted them with the request to release Mr Ejiofor, to him, the officers on duty demanded the sum of N300, 000 (Three Hundred thousand Naira) bribe to effect the release. He left, rushed back to the village and was able to rally round N100,000 through donations. When the money has given to the police at Awkuzu, they released Messrs Ndumanya and Okoye ad asked his to come back for Mr Ejiofor. They brushed aside his request that Mr Ejiofor should also be released.
That was the beginning of a ding-dong affair that lasted till he, brought a suit to court on November 12, 2012 to effect the release via an ex-parte motion in the Federal High Court Awka, under the fundamental human rights. The motion was granted and the Police was put on notice.On the adjourned date the police rather than produce Mr Ejiofor simply asked for an adjournment to enable them prepare their case. This application was opposed by Udegbunam and the court sustained his objection asking the Police to produce Mr Ejiofor.
At that point, Barrister Udegbunam confessed to the Senate panel that ‘rather than produce Obukezie Ejiofor, the policeman started fidgeting, until he voice out that he (Mr Ejiofor )was dead.’ Yet till date the body has not been produced. Ejiofor was said to have died in Nnamdi Azikiwe Teaching Hospital Nnewi. His lawyer’s investigation showed that there was no record on his treatment in the hospital.
He was said to have been implicated by Obinna Ofor, which MASSOB mentioned in their testimony, but Ofor wrote his statement on October 28, 2012 to implicate Mr Ejiofor whose statement was dated October 22, 2012. Also the man that they claimed was kidnapped by Obinna Ofor Mr Onyekwele also wrote a statement which post-dates that of Ejiofor. The lawyers investigation showed that while Ejiofors’s statement appeared on Page A4 n Police Register of statements, Ofor and Oyekwele who allegedly implicate d him had their statements on Pages B1 and B6.
Also intriguing to Barr. Udegbunam was the fact that Obukezie Ejofor who is a stark illiterate and has never read or written anything in his life in English Language had a beautiful signature against the statement that was credited to him. Barr Udegbunam came to the Tribunal with a copy of Mr Obinna Ofor’s said statement, obtained from the Police records, which also forms part of the attachment in the suit filed at the Federal High Court Awka.
The testimony of MASSOB and Barrister Uwaneke Udegbunam who also asked the Senate committee to investigate all the file labelled ‘SUD’ (Sudden and Untimely Death) In Anambra State Ministry of Justice for clues on what may have led to the floating bodies in Ezu River at Amansea have so far linked up, proving one another and showing that the Anambra Police Commissioner lied to the panel by insisting that his command did not arrest anyone bearing the names given by MASSOB.
Hence the issue at hand has narrowed down to the execution without trial of detainees in Police cells by the Police. What remains is the link to throwing away bodies ,also obviously of detainee into the Ezu River, at Amansea.
All corpses recovered were those f males between the age of 25 and 35. All of them were in shorts and singlet and all of them were found on the down stream side of Amansea bridge, which coincide with the side of the bridge that blood stains were found. Perhaps that explains why the Police did not bother to interview other river riverrine communities, where the bodies were initially thought, or designed to be thought to have floated down from. But the fact that no corpse was found on the upstream (Enugu State Side ) rules out the body floating from anywhere upstream.
On the part of the government, they have operated side by side with the Police in some of the major actions taken on security. Governor Peter Obi himself led the operation to demolish the house of a notorious criminal in Oraifite around September 04 2012, but that criminal has been observed not to have appeared in any court. Obi also personally shut down a hotel in Nkpor on August 05 2012 after the police arrested four kidnap suspects. Last week the hotel was re-opened after six months with an apology that the government acted on wrong information, but nothing has been said about releasing the arrested suspects.
The investigation is far from complete, but it is now pointing in a clear direction, even as the world awaits the release of the autopsy results, with its ‘shocking revelation’ as proclaimed after the test of the first three bodies. So far, 32 days after the fact, it seems like a wait for eternity. But that may not be far-fetched. These autopsies are being conducted by those now under the question mark of the enraged public.
It was a special moment of bountiful joy and celebrations for the President Goodluck Jonathan’s Special Adviser on Technical Matters, Nze Akachukwu Nwamkpo, last weekend when his kith and kin of Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra state, friends and well-wishers gathered at the Odo-ata Primary school grounds, Ihiala, to witness as he was conferred with a special chieftaincy title.
The honour which was uniquely collective by all the 14 communities in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State was performed by their traditional rulers.
The natural rulers used the occasion to commend President Jonathan for reposing confidence in their son, Nze Akachukwu by finding him worthy to serve in his administration.
Nwankpo who presently also the secretary of the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE – P) of the Federal Government hails from Okija in Ihiala Local Government Area.
Until his present double appointment, Chief Nwamkpo was the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Special Duties.
The royal fathers, noted with special pride and confidence that persons of Nwamkpo’s ilk were really difficult to find in this days and time where people abuse their positions as public officers, and or use same for vain pursuits. They expressed deep satisfaction with the reports and information reaching them from Aso Rock, the nation’s seat of power concerning him. They therefore described him as a worthy son of Ihiala, a material worthy of export and higher office/calling, and that he makes them proud. He was urged to shine on, for more people to see through him. Little wonder they found it ideally easy to bestow on him one of the highest prestigious honour and chieftaincy title, Ifeadigo, meaning, the light is here.
Speaking on behalf of the monarchs, HRH Igwe Comas Igwe noted that having served commendably well as a presidential aide, Nwamkpo could fit very well into the big shoes to be left behind by the incumbent and outgoing governor of Anambra state, Mr. Peter Obi. Consequently, they urged the Anambra State electorate to support him with their votes when the time comes.
Nwankpo, one of the hot favourites among those eying the governorship of Anambra State in the forthcoming Nov 2013, was reputed to be a dedicated go-getter, articulate and consummate workaholic.
In a brief remark at the special a civic reception organized in honour of Nwamkpo at Ihiala shortly after the conferrement of the chieftaincy title, the traditional ruler of Ihiala, Igwe Cosmas Okechukwu, who spoke on behalf of all the other traditional rulers in the Local Government Area observed that for President Jonathan to consistently find him worthy to serve him means that he is somebody to be trusted, adding that it was for that reason that all the monarchs in the area chose to honour and adopt him as their political representative. Especially when such qualitative materials have become very rare around.
Nwamkpo, while acknowledging cheers from the crowd thanked the royal fathers and the people of his Local Government Area for finding him worthy for the title and promised not to disappoint them. He also promised to continue to serve the nation without blemish.
He also urged the people to continue to give maximum support to the Federal Government in its efforts to transform lives and standard of life for all citizens.
