During the 2021 gubernatorial campaign, Anambra residents in unionism appealed to Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo to make road infrastructure and traffic management one of his government priorities when he becomes their governor. They went all out, campaigned, voted and defended their mandates. Ndi-Anambra employed a Governor they could trust!
Many roads across the state left much to be desired; some are death traps causing numerous traffic congestion. Solving the problem is now a cardinal point of Soludo’s government. He is marching word with action by allocating about 31% of the total 2022 revised Anambra budget to the Ministry of Works and Infrastructures.
Having declared state of emergency on road infrastructure, Mr Governor has made it a duty to alleviate the sufferings of the residents. The hydrological studies and hydraulic designs of storm water discharge channels as well as engineering designs are almost completed for the 220 kilometers of roads scattered around Anambra and these roads will all be flagged off for construction before the dry season commences.
It is also important to note that Governor Soludo’s administration will provide road infrastructure through a new framework for a combination of Direct Labour Model and contracting model.
Having completed interventions on washout section of Onitsha – Enugu Federal Highway opposite Chisco Park at Onitsha as well as the Amansea section of the Enugu – Onitsha Federal High way (entry section of Anambra), at a highly cost effective rate, the administration has also resume repair of major federal roads in the state using direct labour and less cost effective. The roads are immense significance to domestic, social and economic development in the state
The Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo says the state government has commenced the payment of arrears of N20 billion gratuities it inherited from his predecessor, Chief Willie Obiano.
Soludo said this in statement marking his 100 days in office made available to our correspondent on Sunday by his press secretary, Christian Aburime.
Stating that the arrears were being paid gradually, Soludo said his government had vouched that no retiree in state under his administration would be owed gratuity.
BVI Channel 1 gathered that the arrears of the gratuities started accumulating from 2018, prompting protests by some beneficiaries in twilight of the Obiano administration.
Promising to defray the arrears, Soludo said, ”We have launched a policy that no retiree from the state civil service will be owed gratuity under our administration and have paid retirees from March to date. We have also begun, albeit gradually, to pay gratuity to pensioners who retired since 2018 and there is hope and joy in the land. We have also approved the same policy for local governments.
“Since February 2022, the contribution of oil revenue from NNPC to the federation account has been zero and many states have difficulty paying salaries. Thus, with declining revenue in the context of insecurity and a mountain of debt (including over N20 billion in arrears of gratuity to pensioners since 2018) vis-à-vis the sky-high expectations from you (my employers), some fundamental disruptive changes are inevitable.
”I remind everyone who has tried to commiserate with me that I consciously applied for this job, and there will be no excuses. We thank you, Umunne m, for your continued solidarity and support. Together, Anambra will win.
He said within the 100 days, his administration had declared a state of emergency on roads and traffic and preparing to flag-off the construction of over 220 kilometres of roads across the state when the rains would subside
He added, ”We have spent the last 100 days addressing some key foundational issues: appointed, swore-in and organized a retreat for a new cabinet within five weeks; launched the campaign to mobilize our people to take back our state from criminals and head-on systematic and comprehensive attack on insecurity to restore law and order; revised 2022 budget and provided unprecedented allocation of 64% for capital/infrastructural development as well as priority for youth development; declared a state of emergency on roads and traffic and preparing to flag-off the construction of over 220 kilometres of roads as the rains subside; getting touts out of our roads and markets; redefining the purpose and character of government focused upon service delivery as well as prudent and transparent fiscal management.
He said during the period under review, his government had taken steps in ending the phenomenon of schools without teachers and hospitals without doctors by embarking on what he called an ambitious, open and competitive process to recruit thousands of teachers as well as doctors, pharmacists and nurses for hospitals.
He said the government had made reasonable efforts in cleaning up the mountains of waste on roads; working to ensure that entry into and exit from Anambra especially at Amansea and bridge-head Onitsha became pleasurable experience; to signal the urban renewal agenda with illustrative ambitious agenda for cleaning and modernizing Okpoko and Onitsha metropolis as well as other urban centres which would take greater vigor after the rainy season.
He noted that his government had laid the foundation for “our everything technology and technology everywhere agenda; restructuring and digitizing our Internal Revenue Service; designing and approving a regime for a GIS and digitization of our land registry; launching a policy of never owing gratuity to new retirees and gradually paying down the backlog for the State civil service and approving same for local governments; etc.”
Anambra State government has banned various ministries, departments and agencies in the state from any form of revenue collection.
The State’s Commissioner for Information, Mr Paul Nwosu made this known to newsmen at the end of Anambra State Executive Council (ANSEC) meeting.
Mr Nwosu regretted what transpired during previous years revenue collection.
In his words ‘This decision was reached during ANSEC meeting where the need to centralize the data of all the MDAs with the State’s Information Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) was discussed.
“The is to avoid the situation where ICT vendors who in the past had worked for different MDAs and at the expiration of their contract still hold on to valuable data thereby holding government to ransom.
“In the light of this, Anambra State ICTA has now been charged with the responsibility to holistically consolidate and manage the data of all the MDAs in Anambra.’’
He said that it was the sole responsibility of Anambra State Internal Revenue Service to collect revenues as the revenue collection process had been digitized to reduce leakages.
“To achieve this, each ministry should own and be able to provide baseline data on itself and MDAs under it, as government decisions will be evidence-based and data driven henceforth.’’
The commissioner also said that at the ANSEC meeting, an elaborate presentation was made by the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Dr Obinna Ngonadi on enhancing the Igbo Apprenticeship Scheme called “Igba Boi’’ in Igbo parlance.
“Dr Ngonadi said that it was a scheme peculiar to Ndi Igbo and has over the years been a unique venture and capital raising model studied in business schools around the world, which he said is unfortunately under threat.
“He pointed out that government is critically looking at all manner of variables that will sustain and reinvigorate the unique business model.
“Consequently, an ANSEC Committee was set to come up with ways to enhance the apprenticeship scheme so that an enduring policy can be formulated on it.’’
Commissioner Nwosu also said that ANSEC received a report on the case of a woman of 75 years who was viciously raped to the point of coma in Awkuzu.
He noted that the man who committed the crime revealed that his native doctor told him that raping such an old woman would make him rich.
According to him, the young man had since been arrested and the police was on the trail of the native doctor whose shrine would eventually be destroyed.
A former Governor Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, on Wednesday said considering the fact that the incumbent Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, is “a two-term northern presidency”, power must shift to the South in 2023.
During the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primary election in May, Fayose did not record any vote. He was unable to secure the mandate of 16 Ekiti delegates in the exercise and was believed to have done a deal with Nyesom Wike, Governor of Rivers State, who was a co-aspirant, as he did not campaign at all.
Fayose in series of posts via his official Twitter account said that he will not be supporting Atiku Abubakar, the presidential flag bearer of the PDP. Atiku is a northerner, from Adamawa State.
He said that the constitution of their party’s constitution recognises zoning and in 2023, Southern Nigeria is next.
“The current President of Nigeria is a 2-term Northern Presidency, thus implying that it MUST be a Southern Presidency in 2023 or NOTHING. Awa ‘South’ lo kan’ (we are next). Nigerians should await details soon.
“The PDP Constitution provides for a rotational Presidency. Section 3(c) provides that the Party shall pursue its aims & objectives by “adhering to the policy of the rotation & zoning of Party & Public elective offices in pursuance of the principle of equity,justice and fairness.
“To this end, if Ikimi is seeking relevance with Atiku, he should do same more decently. He should allow the sleeping dog to lie and save the PDP from unnecessary shootouts and fireworks at this time as we approach the general elections,” Fayose wrote.
Honor is the norm society expects you to abide by and integrity is, to quote British writer C. S. Lewis, “doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” Justice Ibrahim Muhammad Tanko lacks both.
He shouldn’t have been the Chief Justice of Nigeria in the first place. He was suddenly promoted to the position only as a strategy to give legal imprimatur to Buhari’s electoral fraud in 2019.
Walter Onnoghen was illegally removed as CJN because he was suspected by influence peddlers in Buhari’s Aso Rock to be sympathetic to PDP.
And Tanko knew this. That shows lack of honor.
After perfecting their rigging plot, Buhari and his cabal reasoned that their action would invite a robust judicial challenge and that a Supreme Court headed by someone whose loyalty they couldn’t count on, might undo it.
So, they exploited Onnoghen’s asset declaration infraction, which most government officials, including Buhari, are guilty of to illegally remove him and replace him with a pliant, ignorant, and acquiescent Tanko.
Anyone who watched Ibrahim Tanko’s senate confirmation hearing in July 2019 where he betrayed embarrassing ignorance of the meaning of “technicality” and his dizzyingly incoherent verbal blizzard in response to a question about the intimidation of the judiciary by the Buhari regime in December 2019 would know that he’s a know-nothing bumpkin who has no business being a lawyer let alone the Chief Justice of Nigeria.
It turns out that apart from being a know-nothing, he is also a fraud. He has the dubious honor of being the only Chief Justice of Nigeria in Nigeria’s history who was openly accused of financial impropriety by fellow Supreme Court justices.
“Your Lordship with all due respect, this is the peak of the degeneration of the court; it is the height of decadence, and clear evidence of the absence of probity and moral rectitude,” his colleagues wrote against him in a widely circulated letter.
Nothing can be more damning than that. So, it shows he also lacks integrity. He does the wrong things when no one is looking.
But I was going to give him credit for having the decency to resign until I read a Daily Trust report today that said he was actually “forced” to resign by fixers in the Presidential Villa.
The paper said Tanko “was directed to appear in the Villa where he was handed a letter to sign for his resignation.”
Talk of using and dumping a man who has neither honor nor integrity!
A rights group, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of failure to register over thirty million eligible citizens in the ongoing continuous voter card registration in the country.
The group made the claim in a statement signed by its principal officers: Emeka Umeagbalasi, Chinwe Umeche Esq and Chidimma Udegbunam Esq and made available to newsmen on Monday.
The statement noted that “no fewer than 30 million citizens of Nigeria involving the 18 years and above have been denied registration as ‘registered voters’ in Nigeria by INEC ahead of the all-important 2023 presidential election.
“Intersociety hereby makes bold to say that non-capturing of these 30 million Nigerian citizens or more, is ill-conceived and politically motivated.
“The Commission has inexplicably and suspiciously shut down its online fresh voters’ registration portal, thereby shutting out millions of computer literate prospective registrants and forcing millions of others into frustration and registration centers
“It must therefore be clearly stated that denying eligible citizens, irrespective of their tribe, religion, gender and class, their rights to vote is a serious violation of their fundamental human rights. Such chaotic denial also constitutes a serious threat to local, national, regional and international peace and security.”
The statement also noted that about 20 million registered voters have been denied their Permanent Voters Cards by the Commission, while an estimated total of 10 million others presently contained in Nigeria’s National Register of Voters are strongly suspected to still bear the identities of minors and illegal aliens.
“From our recent field checks, estimated 20 million unregistered voters are found in the South, out of which 10 million eligible voters in the South-East are yet to be captured by INEC. Estimated 4.5 million others are yet to be captured in the South-South while 5.5 million remained unregistered in the South-West.
“Many, if not most of those affected in the South-West are non natives especially members of Igbo Ethnic Nationality residing in Lagos and Ogun States. Out of the 10 million unregistered voters in the North, at least 40%-50% are non Northerners especially members of Igbo Ethnic nationality; 35%-40% are non Muslim Northerners while remaining 10% belong to Muslim citizens.
“Apart from threats of violence from radical natives especially the Muslims, being responsible for widespread disenfranchisement of the named segment of the population, they are further disenfranchised through deliberately created bureaucratic hitches including shrinking number of registration centers/polling booths in their held areas, inadequate number of INEC’s manpower and registration machines and malfunctioning of such machines.”
Justice Olukayode Ariwoola has taken oath of office as Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).
President Muhammadu Buhari administered the oath of office on him at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Ariwoola took over from Justice Tanko Muhammad who resigned on health grounds.
However, while taking the judicial oath, he swore to be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Federal Government of Nigeria, as well as defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He will act as CJN pending the time his name will be forwarded to the Senate by the President for confirmation as substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).
Born on 22 August 1958, Justice Ariwoola from Oyo state was formerly a Justice of the Court of Appeal before being elevated to the Supreme Court bench in 2011.
IPOB leadership: Ikedife, Radio Biafra co-founder reply publicity secretary
THE PANDORA’S BOX:
On September 13, 2012, the Supreme Council of Elders of Indigenous people of Biafra (SCE) issued a legal instrument that initiated proceedings at the Federal High Court, Owerri, which authorized Bilie Human Rights Initiative, a body attached to the Indigenous Peoples Of Biafra, IPOB to take action against the Federal Republic of Nigeria on behalf of the remnants of Biafrans who were not consumed in the war of 1967 -1970.
The intervention was propelled by the compelling need to ensure that the agitation by the youths for Biafran independence, which has been ongoing since 1999 was conducted lawfully. According to the Deputy Chairman of the Council, Dr Dozie Ikedife, the “elders invoked their powers under customary law to organize, direct, manage and control their children, so that the independence struggle would follow due process of law.”
The head of the Customary Law Government of IPOB is His Royal Majesty & His Lordship, The Honourable Justice Eze Ozubu, OFR, who is a retired Chief Judge of Enugu state and a serving royal father. In the suit, No FHC/OW/CS/192/2013, the IPOB who sued Nigeria in a representative capacity are defined as the “people inhabiting three contiguous regions, namely the South–east, parts of the South–south and parts of the Middle Belt regions of Nigeria.”
This definition covers the territorial jurisdiction where these Policy Statements and Orders apply under Customary Law. In the proclamation, the group deposed as supportive grounds of evidence, the United Nations Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Res.61/295 of 2007 and articles 19-22, African Charter on Human Rights and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, Cap10, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990 (now, LFN 2004). Also deposed in court is the ancient map of Africa in1662 which showed the three kingdoms in West Africa from where Nigeria was created.
The three kingdoms, in the legal document in possession of Sunday Sun were, the Kingdom of Zamfara in the North; The Kingdom of Biafra in the East; and the Kingdom of Benin in the West.
The fourth Kingdom known as Oyo Empire was not contained in the said map, but was enlisted as a great kingdom in West Africa as described in section 4.11 – 4.14 of these Policy Statements “These documents are now before the Federal High Court, Owerri. Our lawyers carried out extensive legal researches in England and obtained all the necessary documentary evidence from the British authorities,” Ikedife explained.
THE TWISTS AND TURNS:
On the heels of the proclamation, which was hinged on a 25- step gradual autonomy, another group also known as IPOB sprang up from the fold and declared its intention to take up arms against the Nigerian state. The radical group led by detained Nnamdi Kanu with registered offices in London and California in the United States of America, USA, caught the imagination of idealists and young people within and outside Nigeria, and it spread like wildfire. In time, it began to overshadow its parent group and indeed other organizations with similar objectives as the flagship and cause célèbre of the Biafran freedom movement. In a deed of Trusteeship and Memorandum of Understanding made on September 5, 2012 between Nnamdi Kanu, Dr Chukwuma Egemba, Uche Mefor and Amaracha Opara (holding Radio Biafra London, in trust for IPOB) and Bilie ( Biafra Liberation in Exile) Human Rights Initiative, it was resolved that Nnamdi Kanu should transfer all ownership rights and interests in Radio Biafra London to Egemba, Mefor, and Opara, who shall hold the said radio station in trust for the benefit of the IPOB. That agreement which was geared towards healing the deepening cracks merely papered over it and paved the way for more insidious cataclysms. In a desperate bid to outdo each other, the battle twisted towards themselves rather than the ‘common interest’.
The foreground to the pending issues began in 2012 when the unregistered IPOB brought an action in a representative capacity by Bilie Human Rights Initiative in suit no FHC/OW/CS/102/2012. The suit was struck out on technicalities and went along to dampen the morale of the revanchist IPOB members who defiantly opted for an all out violent approach. They argued that it was wrong for IPOB to operate under the human rights law, through Bilie Human Rights Initiative. Cashing in on the lacunae, they promptly took the name of the organization and registered it in the USA, wrote a petition to the Corporate Affairs Commission in Nigeria and copied the defendants, (Federal Government of Nigeria) in the suit with the intent to frustrate the suit. The American based factional organization, “Indigenous Peoples of Biafra – USA, was registered in the state of California on 12th February 2014 as shown in the California Secretary of State Business Directory. Nnamdi Kanu, the arrowhead of this group was subsequently declared wanted by the Imo State Police Command for gun running and illegal arms deal, which they intended to use to disrupt the 2015 general elections. A member of the Supreme Council of Elders of IPOB and a deponent in the suit, Engr Innocent Amadi told Sunday Sun that “In paragraph 1 of the Originating Summons commencing this suit in 2013, the IPOB was defined as the ‘indigenes of the South-east geo-political zone of Nigeria, parts of the South-south geo-political zone of Nigeria and parts of the Middle Belt zone of Nigeria and we never contemplated that an impostor organization would come into existence in America and take the same name.”
Following their expulsion from IPOB, Kanu and his followers embarked on a consolidation gambit to claim IPOB through massive propaganda on Radio Biafra, the internet and other mass media organs. They further registered IPOB as a limited liability company in England (Indigenous Peoples Of Biafra LTD) with share capital owned by Nnamdi Kanu and Uche Mefor, therefore, opening fresh scars in the internal struggle of supremacy.
Amadi speaks: “We did not authorize the organization called Indigenous Peoples of Biafra LTD to be registered in the United Kingdom as a platform to sue the British Government. We are building friendly relationships with various countries in the international community and will not authorize any law suit against any other country unless it becomes necessary.” In a swift reaction, and to douse fears of a fractured organization, the IPOB Supreme Council of Elders ostracized Kanu and his vociferous followers via a Disclaimer and Public Notice dated 12th May, 2014. Kanu fought back on the 14th of June 2014, by posting on the internet the following: “The best antidote to lies and deceit is TRUTH. The best antidote to treachery and sabotage is death. To all the amateur lawyers experimenting with Biafra independence in Nigeria’s law court and their shameless deceit, your end is near.”
CENTRIFUGAL FORCES:
An air of suspicion and threats presently pervades the entire freedom struggle. Amadi, who is also the president of Bilie Human Rights Initiative insists that IPOB- USA, including Kanu are working for the Government of Nigeria either as agents recruited to frustrate the claimants’ suit for self-determination or as volunteers hoping to gain some favours from them. IPOB is also alleging that the widening cracks is a product of the meddlesomeness of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which not only exploited the petition by the American based organization to the Corporate Affairs Commission as part of its defence, but is relying heavily on technicalities arising from the internal schisms in its defence.
In an originating Summons served by the court on the Federal Government of Nigeria on October 11, 2013, the defendants were given 30 days to enter appearance. The Court sat on the matter on October 25, 2013. The defendants (FG) did not put up appearance. The time limited for their appearance expired on November 11, 2013. They, however, filed their memorandum of appearance with their motion on notice and other processes on November 22, 2013 (late by 11 days) The Federal Government was represented by Barrister D. U Amon, Deputy Director, Federal Ministry of Justice. A Lagos based private Legal Practitioner, Dr Fabian Ajogwu, SAN filed the defence on December 2, 2013, before Justice S. M Shuaibu of the Federal High Court Owerri, and the legal fireworks commenced in earnest. Although the suit has suffered several setbacks and adjournments, it has maintained the same momentum with which it started.
The second hearing took place on February 24, 2014. Despite two subsequent mentions in 2015, little progress has been made, with the defendants putting up preliminary objections in the main. On September 22, 2016 before Justice I. A. Alagoa , the hearing will commence in earnest. The court will adjudicate on a heap of 73 “Further and better affidavit in reply to the preliminary objection and counter affidavit and further and better counter affidavit of the 1st and 2nd defendants.” This is complemented with 37 exhibits.
Speaking on the forthcoming hearing, the General Secretary, of the Supreme Governing Council, Col Joe Achuzia said; “At the moment, the Biafra Independence movement has taken a new shape. It is no longer in the hands of charlatans and fraudsters or blind leaders leading the blind. It is now in the hands of intellectuals, professionals and diplomats.”
2023: Court stops INEC from ending voter registration
Apparently referring to the pioneering efforts of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State Of Biafra, ( MASSOB) led by Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, which has since mushroomed into a multiplicity of groups, Amadi had this to offer: “It is unfortunate that the pro- Biafra groups, which started the Biafra independence movement many years ago did not follow due process of law and thereby brought disgrace and ridicule upon a genuine self-determination struggle of indigenous people of Biafra that should be anchored on law.” Kanu’s group, which is the opposition within is not excited about the court case.
According to Emma Powerful, the group’s spokesman, “Biafrans need a radical political movement that will free them. Getting freedom is neither a tea party, nor a walk in the park.”
Whether through the court rooms, diplomatic channels, or in the streets, the goal is the same, echoed Great Ochefu a moderate and a leading voice in the struggle.
