Udongwu Gully Erosion Crater in Ubahu village, Nanka [taken Friday Nov 2nd 2012]Gully Erosion landslide has struck the Nanka community again. This time the landslide occurred near the Agulu/Awgbu/Nanka border inside the Orumba North Local Government Area [LGA]. A youth leader of Ubahu village, Njemanze told our coorespondent that it occurred on the morning of October 26, 2012 inside the village of Ubahu in Nanka. Also, Sam Ogbuju, the editor of the town’s periodic newspaper, Nanka News, confirmed that it occurred on the mentioned date following the massive rainfall of the night before.
Ubahu village is populated by 5,500 people.
The landsilde is reported to gulp an estimated size of two standard football field [250yards x 250yards] of land. The landslide did not gulp homes but it destroyed farmlands – with various types of cash crops. This is according to firsthand account recorded by 247ureports.com.
The latest landslide has re-ignited fear among the community members inside Ubahu village – who point to the renewed propensity for the gully to erupt as a sign of more massive landslides on the way – in the near future. The Udongwu gully erosion crater was said to have been stabilized following efforts by previous administrations both pre-colonial and post.
The gully erosion area [-refered to as Agu Cashew] was reserved by the pre-colonial masters who applied afforestation as the chief mechanism to halt the activity of the gully. Cashew tree plantation was planted through out the reserved area – and construction work was held at a minimum. This was dating back from the late 1930’s.
But the post civilian war era changed the dictate at the reserved area. Deforestation began at an alarming rate – as community members began felling trees and erecting concrete structure instead – without proper environmental impact assessment to the gully erosion.
In the mid 1980’s the gully erupted owing to the bad practices. In response, the Shagari/Ekwueme administration acted to put in place broad storm water management system that included network of gutters, box culverts and mini-catchment pits. The effort appeared to halt the continued activity of the gully.
Until recently when the push towards deforestation continued around the gully erosion, the activity of the gully was considered checked. The sighting and erection of a Sports Stadium [Neros Sports Stadium] at the edge of the gully erosion – perturbed the already agitated gully site. With the commissioning of the sports stadium earlier in the year [Iune 2012], the gully regained its propensity to erupt. Presently, the cashew trees at the Agu Cashew are being cut down to make way for new structures to support the sport stadium.
According to eyewitness account, the gully has – of recent days – experienced series of mini lanslides on a daily basis. They fear that the mini-landslides are symptom of a larger landslide.
The Udongwu Gully erosion site was among four gully erosion site predicated by a non governmental organization [Rural Community Development Outreach] as gully erosions of concern. The predication was made in 2007 and submitted to the Anambra State government in August of 2007. The four gullies mentioned include Isiakpuanu/Amakor Erosion, Agbana Enugu Erosion, Obu-Agu Ubahu Erosion and Udongwu Ubahu Erosion. Strikingly, three out of the four gullies erupted as predicated. Amakor erosion gully erupted in 2008, Obu-Agu Ubahu erosion erupted in 2010, and last month Udongwu Ubahu Erosion erputed. Both Obu-Agu and Udongwu are reported to be eruptingg daily in mini-landslides since it first erupted.
Udongwu gully erosion is an old formation that has had a history of destructive landslide – where over 150 homes were recorded to have bben lost over time. It is one of the biggest gully erosions in Anambra State – sitting about 1000ft deep and about 3000ft wide and about 40,000ft [linearized] long. It stretches from the border of Nanka/Agulu, touching on the Nanka/Awgbu border and ending at the Ubahu/Enugu village border – and serves as source of water for nearby villagers. Within 300-400ft perpendicular away from the length of the erosion that run along the outlines of village – are located homes, schools, churches, shrines and other structures. A cursory count of the homes within the 300ft radius number 256 as at November 2012. The homes of Nze Peter O. Ezeagwu, Mr. Micheal Chinedu, Mr. Felix Chinedu and others are presently endangered by the new charge of landslide.
The Federal government in collaboration with the World Bank is presently performing remediative work at the Amakor Erosion.
The Peter Obi administration also have put their best foot forward. On June 5, 2012, the Anambra State government launched a statewide ground breaking tree planting campaign in Nnewi, Anambra State in collaboration with Rural Community Development Outreach – and assistance from the Nnewi North LGA. The exercise launched the start of over 1million trees.
The project is ongoing.
A call was placed to the town union president general, Mazi Damain Okoye. He was in Lagos at the time of the call. He stated that he was not aware of the landslide. But the public relations officer of the town union, Sam Okeke [who is from Ubahu village] told 247ureports.com that the villagers are unsettled over the renewed landslides.
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The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has accused the Federal Government of deliberately sabotaging the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force, headed by Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, following the controversy that
marred the presentation of the task force’s report last Friday.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party
said the decision to appoint two members of the committee, Mr. Steve Oronsaye and Mr. Bernard Otti, to
positions in the NNPC while the task force was still working on its assignment is a deliberate booby trap.
It said if the Federal Government did not have any ulterior motive, it would have waited for the task force to
complete its assignment before naming Mr. Oronsaye into the board of the NNPC and Otti as the Director of
Finance of the same body.
”Alternatively, both men should have resigned their membership of the committee the moment they were given the
plum jobs to avoid the apparent conflict of interest. The fact that they stayed on, only to disparage the report of the
task force so openly and ferociously at the end, is the clearest indication yet that they were meant to play that exact
role of spoilers,” ACN said.
The party said the temerity with which the duo sought to denigrate the report of the task force in
the presence of the President of the Federal Republic showed that they must have been acting a well-prepared script.
”All that these two men needed to have done, if indeed they did not agree with the report of the task force, was to write
a minority report and present such to the President, instead of engaging in theatrics as they did at the presentation,
right in front of the whole world.
”Unfortunately, the President’s efforts to downplay the whole disagreement and give the dissenters a soft landing did
more to accentuate the damage done to the report by the two men. The President’s statement, that becoming board
members of NNPC does not disqualify them from being members of the task force, is an indication of his innermost
thoughts on this issue,” it said.
ACN however said it was not surprised at how things turned out with the task force, having previously warned, in a
statement it issued on February 8th 2012, that naming credible people like Mr. Nuhu Ribadu to head the task force
might just be part of government’s ploy to poach credible personalities from the opposition just so it can decimate it
(opposition) and also tarnish the well-earned credibility of such personalities.
”Among our observations in that press statement, we had said: ‘There is also the possibility that booby-traps will be
deliberately set for such credible personalities to guarantee their failure in their stated assignment, after which they will
be ridiculed and dumped like an ordinary chump’.” the party said, adding: ”We hate to say our fears have been justified.”
It reiterated its earlier statement that the Federal Government is not interested in any genuine effort to clean up the corruption
and mess in the oil sector, and that is merely engaging in window dressing by setting up committees upon committees, whose
outcomes will eventually add to the growing list of reports that are now gathering dust at the presidency.
Udongwu Gully Erosion in Ubahu village, Nanka, Anambra State
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Gully Erosion landslide has struck the Nanka community again. This time the landslide occurred near the Agulu/Awgbu/Nanka border inside the Orumba North Local Government Area [LGA]. It occurred on the morning of October 26, 2012 inside the village of Ubahu in Nanka.Ubahu village is populated by 5,500 people.
The landsilde is reported to gulp an estimated size of two standard football field [250yards x 250yards] of land. The landslide did not gulp homes but it destroyed farmlands – with various types of cash crops.
The latest landslide has re-ignited fear among the community members inside Ubahu village – who point to the renewed propensity for the gully to erupt as a sign of more massive landslides on the way – in the near future. The Udongwu gully erosion crater was said to have been stabilized following efforts by previous administrations both pre-colonial and post.
The gully erosion area [-refered to as Agu Cashew] was reserved by the pre-colonial masters who applied afforestation as the chief mechanism to halt the activity of the gully. Cashew tree plantation was planted through out the reserved area – and construction work was held at a minimum. This was dating back from the late 1930’s.
But the post civilian war era changed the dictate at the reserved area. Deforestation began at an alarming rate – as community members began felling trees and erecting concrete structure instead – without proper environmental impact assessment to the gully erosion.
In the mid 1980’s the gully erupted owing to the bad practices. In response, the Shagari/Ekwueme administration acted to put in place broad storm water management system that included network of gutters, box culverts and mini-catchment pits. The effort appeared to halt the continued activity of the gully.
Until recently when the push towards deforestation continued around the gully erosion, the activity of the gully was considered checked. The sighting and erection of a Sports Stadium [Neros Sports Stadium] at the edge of the gully erosion – perturbed the already agitated gully site. With the commissioning of the sports stadium earlier in the year [Iune 2012], the gully regained its propensity to erupt. Presently, the cashew trees at the Agu Cashew are being cut down to make way for new structures to support the sport stadium.
According to eyewitness account, the gully has – of recent days – experienced series of mini lanslides on a daily basis. They fear that the mini-landslides are symptom of a larger landslide.
The Udongwu Gully erosion site was among four gully erosion site predicated by a non governmental organization [Rural Community Development Outreach] as gully erosions of concern. The predication was made in 2007 and submitted to the Anambra State government in August of 2007. The four gullies mentioned include Isiakpuanu/Amakor Erosion, Agbana Enugu Erosion, Obu-Agu Ubahu Erosion and Udongwu Ubahu Erosion. Strikingly, three out of the four gullies erupted as predicated. Amakor erosion gully erupted in 2008, Obu-Agu Ubahu erosion erupted in 2010, and last month Udongwu Ubahu Erosion erputed. Both Obu-Agu and Udongwu are reported to be eruptingg daily in mini-landslides since it first erupted.
The Federal government in collaboration with the World Bank is presently performing remediative work at the Amakor Erosion.
The Peter Obi administration also have put their best foot forward. On June 5, 2012, the Anambra State government launched a statewide ground breaking tree planting campaign in Nnewi, Anambra State in collaboration with Rural Community Development Outreach – and assistance from the Nnewi North LGA. The exercise launched the start of over 1million trees. The project is ongoing.
(Reuters) – A suspected grenade attack on a church in the eastern Kenya town of Garissa injured at least 11 people on Sunday, the Kenya Red Cross and local media said.
Militants have staged several attacks since Kenya sent troops into Somalia a year ago to fight al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels following raids and kidnappings in the border region that threatened tourism and wider regional instability.
Of the 11 injured people at Garissa’s district hospital, three were in need of air evacuation and the hospital urgently needed blood, the Kenya Red Cross said.
Mohamed Musa, superintendent of the hospital, told Reuters there had been no deaths reported.
Two television channels said the Utawala Interdenominational Church, in a police compound, had been attacked and that gunfire could still be heard at the scene of the blast. No one from the police was immediately available to comment.
In September, a grenade attack on a church in Nairobi by suspected al Shabaab sympathisers killed a nine-year-old boy. In July, attacks on two churches in Garissa killed 17.
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(Additional reporting by George Obulutsa in Nairobi; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Two drug traffickers arrested by officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja will spend the next 14 years in prison custody. The convicts, Mbechi Obiageli Susan, 38 years and Obiora Boniface Okechukwu 36 years old according to Justice Chukwu Evoh of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja will spend seven years each in prison over unlawful importation of narcotics.
Justice Chukwu in his ruling said that both convicts will spend seven years each in prison custody for pleading guilty to unlawful importation of narcotics without wasting the precious time of the court. He held that the convicts have shown sufficient remorse and that the court expects them to turn a new leaf and contribute to the development of the country after completing their jail terms.
Mbechi Obiageli Susan,with Nigerian international passport number A00288396 claimed that she was three months pregnant when stopped for routine search on her way from Sao-Paulo, Brazil. She warned that scanning machine could harm her unborn baby. However, when placed under observation, she excreted 51 pellets of cocaine weighing 900 grammes. She hails from Oduma village in Enugu State.
obiora boniface okechukwu
Obiora Boniface Okechukwu 36 years old who also arrived from Brazil was arrested for ingesting 91 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.6kg. He hails from Abba village Njikoka LGA, Anambra State.
Yesterday [November 3, 2012] saw the gruesomeness of Aluu community killings resurrected in a community in Lagos.
Four men allegedly went to rob on Friday night but were caught by the residents of Mushin and burnt alive along Vono street in Mushin, Lagos State.
Reactions following the gruesome murder of the yet to be identified robbers – have been gradually begun to reach the general public. Efforts by the security officials in Lagos to suppress the incident from reaching the public are currently underway. This is according to human rights activist knowledgeable of the incident.
As the South-east continues to push for power shift in 2015, leading exponent, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu Sunday urged ambitious Northern politicians to tap from the wisdom of Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, Generals Yakubu Danjuma and Abdusalami Abubakar.
According to Kalu,the trio, all prominent Northerners, looked at the larger picture even when opportunity offered itself, and chose not to satisfy self-first.
He said,”Alhaji Bello,the Sarduana,would have been the first Prime Minister of Nigeria in 1957,but he dashed it to Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.As Premier of the North, he brought fellow Premiers Dr.Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo together,ahead of the 1957 Constitutional Conference in London where among other things,it was agreed that the country should have a Nigerian Prime Minister.Even when Zik and Awo took up positions in Lagos,the Sarduana chose to remain in Kaduna.”
On Danjuma,Kalu brought in the assasination of General Murtala Mohammed in 1976.”Gen.Danjuma could have usurped power then.The Head-of-State was dead,his next in command Gen.Olusegun Obasanjo’s fate was unknown since the bullets meant for him landed on Ordnance boss Col.Reys Mathew Dumuje.As Army Chief,Danjuma sent Lt.Col.Ibrahim Babangida to shake Lt.Col Bukar Dimka,and later, Lt.Col. Chris Ugokwe to clear Radio Nigeria.He would later encourage Obasanjo who had emerged from Col. Olu Bajowa’s house, to take over”.
The former Abia state governor also gave credit to Gen.Abubakar.”Here was a man who was to be retired in June 1998,his month of birth[June 13 1942] and a tough month[following June 12]since 1993.Then he got the Presidency on a platter of gold.With both Air-force and Army background,Gen.Abubakar could have continued with military dictatorship.He chose to leave in 11 months,a man of honour,”Kalu emphasised.
Concluding, Kalu said the journey to 2015,needed more men of honour and transparent honesty,leaders with a sense of history,patriots who would stand up against marginalisation and preach a Fair Deal for the Igbo.
It is no longer a secret that Senator Ifeanyi Ararume and the All Congress of Nigeria (ACN) have headed back to court in a bid to challenge the legality of the Supplementary election which was held in Imo State on May 6th, 2011.In order to carry everybody along, there is a dire need to amplify the genesis of this suit so that the reader can be carried along. The gist of the suit is that the governorship election which was held in Imo State on the 26th day of April, 2011 was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).The election was declared inconclusive because elections did not take place in some Local Government Areas and a ward. The local government areas where election was not held include Ngor Okpala, Oguta, Ohaji/Egbema, Ikeduru and Orji ward in Owerri North Local Government Area. The supplementary election was eventually held on May 6th, 2011.On the 7th May, 2011,INEC released the result and declared Owelle Rochas Okorocha the winner and Governor-Elect .According to INEC result, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance(APGA),emerged winner after he polled 336,809 votes to beat Chief Ikedi Ohakim, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) who polled 290,496 votes.
Dissatisfied with the result of the election, the PDP filed an Election Petition at the Imo State Government Election Tribunal headed by Justice E.N.Kpojime as Chairman, Hon Justice M.I.Sirajo and Justice E.O.Osinuga as members. In the suit numbered EPT/IM/GOV/04/2011, the main grounds of the petition were that the PDP candidate scored the majority of the lawful votes cast at the said election, and (2) that the supplementary election held on the 6th of May, 2011 was invalid being in breach of the provisions of both the Electoral Act2010 (as amended) and the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
On Saturday, the 12th day of November, 2011 the Tribunal delivered its judgment. Before the judgment, the Tribunal had with the concurrence of all the parties in the matter formulated issues for determination:(1) Whether the supplementary election conducted on the 6th day of May, 20II was held in compliance with the provisions of both the Constitution and the Electoral Act and (2) Whether the candidate of the PDP (i.e. CHIEF Ikedi Ohakim) scored the majority of lawful votes cast at the election. Delivering the judgment on Issue No I, the Tribunal after analyzing the various statutory provisions and the relevant statutory provisions and especially Section 178 Subsections1 and2 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and reviewing the cited cases held that the Supplementary Election held on the 6th May was held in compliance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria(as amended) and Electoral Act 2010(as amended).On the strength of the weight of evidence, the Tribunal consequently held that, the petition, on this ground is accordingly dismissed(see pages 27-32 of the judgment).On issue No 2(i.e. whether Ohakim scored the majority of lawful votes cast at the election of April 26th2011.The Tribunal held :“From the above analysis of the evidence as presented by the petitioner and the respondents, we come to the irresistible conclusion that on issue NO.2,we hold that the petitioner has failed to prove that its candidate scored the majorityof the lawful votes at the election”. The Tribunal further held: “the petitioner can only be declared the winner with the majority of lawful votesif it proves that it scored even one vote above336, 809 scored by the first Respondent or that this number consists of unlawful votes which when subtracted will make it the winner. We have not seen any such proof from it in this petition. It cannot therefore be declared winner of any election”. In its unanimous judgment, the Tribunal held that “the petition lacks merit and is accordingly dismissed in its entirety”. I have merely tried to compress the 50 page judgment of the Elections Petitions Tribunal in order to carry you, the reader, along.
Dissatisfied with the judgment of the Election Petitions Tribunal, the PDP appealed to the Court of Appeal, Owerri. For inexplicable reasons, the judgment was shifted to the Court of Appeal, Abuja. The Court presided over by Justice Tijani Addullahi who led four other Justices of the Court in a unanimous decision held that the PDP appeal lacked merit and was therefore dismissed. The Court subsequently upheld the election of Okorocha of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA).Justice Abdullahi held:”After a careful consideration of the preliminary objection filed by the appellant, we hold that it lacks merit and is hereby dismissed. The appeal also lacks merit and also dismissed with N50,000 cost against the appellant”
Dissatisfied with the Court of Appeal Judgment, the PDP appealed to the Supreme Court. Delivering judgment in the morning of March 2nd, 2012, Justice Ngwuta who delivered the lead judgment cited sections 285(7) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which requires that the judgment must be delivered within 60 days. He declared that, though, judgment was delivered within the period allowed (i.e. 60 days), the reason for the judgment was given outside the constitutionally allowed period of 60 days. Justice Ngwuta then declared that judgment of the Court of Appeal in Owerri on January 6th, 2012 was a nullity because an explanation for the ruling was given outside the 60 days allowed by the 1999 Constitution (as amended).It is pertinent to recall that the Court of Appeal, Owerri gave its judgment on January 6th, 2012 but the reasons for the decision was given on January 24th, 2012.
While the PDP was pursuing its case of truncating the election victory of Governor Okorocha through the Election Tribunal/the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, the All Congress of Nigeria(ACN) and its Governorship candidate, Senator Ararume,were doing the same thing through the Federal Court of Appeal, Owerri. At this point there is a need for the reader to take judicial notice of the decision of the All Congress of Nigeria(ACN) and Senator Ararume to file their suit through the Federal High Court instead of the Imo State Elections Petitions Tribunal ,Owerri. Should his case start from the Elections Petitions Panel or from a regular court? More clarifications will be made on this angle elsewhere. In the ACN/Ararume AND Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) suit NO.FHC/CS/OW/133/2011 ,the plaintiffs(ACN and Ararume) are asking the court to determine (a)”Whether under Section 178(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) the Defendant was competent to hold an election to the office of Governor of Imo State in less than 30 days to the expiration of tenure of office of the incumbent Governor of Imo State (i.e. the 29th day of May, 2011? ;(b) Whether by the combined effect of Sections 178(4)of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria(As Amended) and or the Electoral Act,2010(As Amended),the Defendant was empowered to conduct a supplementary election in Imo State to the office of Governor other than an election in the entire Imo State as one constituency in less than 30 days to the expiration of tenure of the incumbent Governor of Imo State?
On the basis of the above questions, All Congress of Nigeria (ACN)and Senator Ararume areseeking a declaration /reliefs that: “the Defendant(INEC) was not empowered by any law to hold supplementary election in IMO State as it has done; a declaration that the said supplementary election was illegal, unconstitutional, null and void; An order directing the Defendant to conduct an election in the entire Imo State as one Constituency for the office of Governor, Imo State as provided by Section 178 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended);and any other order(s) as the Honorable Court may deem fit to make in the circumstance”. I have decided to present this clarification in order to throw the light so that our people will see the way out of the maze and the interminable governorship litigations in Imo State. The recent permission granted the PDP and Chief Ikedi Ohakim has no reasons to create any anxiety among certain sections of the electorate. The inclusion of PDP and their governorship candidate, Chief Ikedi Ohakim), as a party to the suit does not, in any way, give them any iota of leverage neither does it diminish the chances of the other parties to the suit. Perhaps, it is pertinent to state that in the originating summons which was filed in the Federal High Court, Owerri, suit NO FHC/CS/OW/133/2011, the suit was between Action Congress of Nigeria/Senator Ararume as Plaintiffs AND Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as Defendant. It was later that Governor Okorocha and All Progressives Grand Alliance applied to be joined as parties to the suit .Their demand was allowed by the court. So, there are no reasons for some sections of the electorate to panic or to express anxiety for the simple reason that the PDP and Chief Ikedi Ohakim are now parties to the suit.
The bottom line of the ongoing suit is that Imo State is back to where it was in 2007.All the ingredients that featured in the protracted governorship tussle in Imo State in 2007 are all present in the present political face -off between the various parties. In the second and concluding part of this analysis, I will delve into more exhaustive and dispassionate appraisal of the issue in order to assuage any anxiety in the electorate. In that analysis,it will be pertinent to situate the ongoing litigations in the context of what happened in the last dispensation, especially, the AGBASO VS INEC suit which protracted from May, 2007 and ended in January, 2011.We shall take a peep into the Supreme Court judgment on the AGBASO/INEC suit which was delivered on the 16th July,2010.After the Supreme Court judgment ,the governorship candidate of the ALL Progressives Grand Party(APGA),Chief Martin Agbaso,went back to the Court of Appeal, Owerri where he prayed the Court of Appeal to set aside its earlier judgment of 14th April,2008 which upheld the decision of the Election Tribunal that the Election Tribunal did not have jurisdiction to entertain Chief Agbaso’s suit. We shall take another peep into the Judgment of the Court of Appeal,Owerri on the demand that its earlier Judgment of 14th April,2008 should be set aside in order to set up a fresh panel to try the suit.
The present suit in the Court of Appeal will eventually end in the Supreme Court of Nigeria. When that happens, it will tantamount to asking the Supreme Court of Nigeria to set aside its landmark judgment of 16th JULY, 2010-a judgment which has since become a critical Judicial Precedent and Stare Decisis. At the end of the analysis, the direction of the ongoing suit will become a matter for personal conjecture. When the Supreme Court gives its final judgment on the suit, it will be a classic case of “what goes round ,comes round”, more so, when viewed from the context of the Chief Agbaso/INEC suit which started in April 2007 and ended on the 19th day of January,2011.
The driver attached to the Rivers State first lady’s convoy has died of electrocution during the State’s routine Saturday’s environmental sanitation.
The driver identified as Ibiba Jack died when he tried to rescue the life of a staff of the Government House who was trapped in a naked wire while trimming grasses with a mowing machine within the new state government house complex.
Eye Witnesses at the scene who spoke to our correspondent said the driver got killed while using his leg to free the man who has been trapped by the lawn mower machine which has already been entangled by naked life wire, and was already harming the user.
The Chief of Staff Government house, Chief Tony Okocha, who confirmed the incident described the death as unfortunate, and attributed the cause as sheer carelessness.
Chief Okocha said the new government house complex staff Quarters were not fully connected to electricity; rather residents take the alternative of careless connection of light from source.
The Chief of Staff who visited the Federal University of Port Harcourt Teaching
Hospital where the survivor of the electric accident was rushed to, confirmed that Jack’s corpse had been deposited in the mortuary.
Meanwhile, a statement signed by Chief Press Secretary to the Rivers State Governor, David Iyofor, stated that Jack was involved in a domestic electrical accident.
“Ibiba Jack was a dedicated, hardworking staff of Government House and we are all deeply touched by this sad, sudden loss. Governor Amaechi and his Wife, whom Ibiba worked directly with, were indeed deeply shocked and saddened by this unfortunate loss. They sympathized with the bereaved family”, the statement continued.
Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLA-N) rebel soldiers train in the Nuba Mountians, in South Kordofan (AFP/File, Adriane Ohanesian)
KHARTOUM — Sudanese rebels on Friday said they shelled the capital of South Kordofan again after a major battle that killed 70 government troops and seven insurgents.
Seventeen members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) were also wounded in the clashes northeast of the capital Kadugli, in what the rebel spokesman said was their worst casualty toll since fighting began in the oil-producing state in June 2011.
“It is the biggest loss that happened to us since the war began,” the spokesman, Arnu Ngutulu Lodi, told AFP. “In many cases we’ve lost two, three, four.”
Last October, however, the South Kordofan governor said hundreds of rebels had died in an assault on one town.
Analysts say casualty figures from either side in the war should be treated with caution.
Access to the area is restricted and telephone communications sporadic, making verification of claims by either side difficult.
Sudan’s army spokesman could not be reached for comment.
The ethnic and religious-minority SPLM-N belongs to an alliance of Sudanese rebels seeking to overthrow the Khartoum regime.
They have reported an upsurge in fighting since Sudan and South Sudan in September signed a deal for a demilitarised border buffer zone designed to cut support for the insurgency.
Lodi said government troops supported by tanks, warplanes and helicopter gunships tried to take rebel-held Dldko village about 20 kilometres (12 miles) northeast of Kadugli in an unusual day-long battle against rebels firing down from a mountain.
He said seven government troops were left on the ground and survivors took away the rest of their dead.
As the army fled towards Kadugli, rebels fired 10 mortar rounds targeting military positions in the town, he said.
Witnesses in Kadugli could not be reached for comment.
The rebels have cited a series of aerial bombings as justification for their periodic shelling of Kadugli over the past month.
They say they have targeted military installations and killed a number of troops, but official media say several civilians have been killed by rebel mortar fire.
Four mortar rounds fell near the UN Children’s Fund compound in Kadugli during shelling early last week, the UN said.
“On October 25, all UN personnel in Kadugli were instructed to temporarily relocate” to a peacekeeping base and the International Organisation for Migration office outside the town, the UN’s weekly humanitarian bulletin said on Friday.
Sudan and South Sudan fought a border war in March and April, leading to a UN Security Council resolution which ordered a ceasefire and settlement of crucial unresolved issues.
The agreement on the border buffer zone was among a series of deals on oil and security which leaders of the two countries hailed as ending their conflict.
The SPLM-N were allies of southern rebels during Sudan’s 22-year civil war, which ended with a 2005 peace deal that led to South Sudan’s independence in July last year.
Sudan has accused South Sudan of supporting the SPLM-N, a charge which analysts believe despite denials by the government in Juba.
The war in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, where SPLM-N is also fighting, has affected an estimated 900,000 people, but more than a year of talks has failed to get food aid into rebel zones where serious food shortages are reported, the UN has said.
