It is important I refresh your memory since you and your entire family have decided to go haywire to eliminate, blackmail and damage the reputation of Simon Ekpa. Before you and your brother’s urchins he deceived to Ubini Ukpabi oath start masturbating on social media, let me briefly bring to your notice that I have no relationship whatsoever with Simon Ekpa.
I have never met Simon Ekpa; spoke with him or his accomplices. As a matter of fact; I am not defending Simon Ekpa, but stating the fact for posterity sake.
This open note is as a result of a tweet you made, accusing Simon Ekpa of killing FRSC officers and causing mayhem in entire Southeast. You further copied the tweet to Finish government; putting Simon Ekpa at risk of defamation or arrest. You didn’t inform Finish government the killings started or was instigated by your brother long before Simon Ekpa began his campaign for independent Biafra.
With this note; I want to remind you how killings started in Southeast and the very person to be held responsible hence you have obviously admitted that killings and mayhem are ravaging Southeast. You also admitted these killings are happening for no reason. This is after your brother, Nnamdi Kanu told us the killings are aimed to restore Biafra.
Your extended families have joined the attack; your in-law openly used black magic on Simon Ekpa; the desperation is getting out of hand and this note might help calm nerves. You all want the struggle to die because your brother got arrested. Simon Ekpa the very man fighting for his release became your arch enemy. This is strange, if you people want to negotiate with Biafra, forget it, it’s dead on arrival.
In 2015 Nnamdi Kanu came to limelight with his deceitful lips; we followed him and projected him. We avoided killings and even when people call your now detained brother for attack; he kicked against it, knowing that if attacks are allowed to happen, it would spill out of hand. Again, he has no military experience and incapable of overseeing a coordinated arm struggle.
We were moving on fine until your brother derailed after his release in 2017. From sacking members to having competition and to sustain his enterprise, he began to do desperate things. He knew he has betrayed but to cover up, he ordered killings.
We called on him to resign because he has nothing to offer anymore; abruptly, prophet Nwoko who championed the cause was mysteriously murdered by your brother and henceforth, internal killings dawned on us. Those that try to correct your brother’s wrongs were murdered after being tagged saboteurs. Blood spilled without remorse and your brother reigned supreme.
Your brother initially ran away from Nigeria and began to order his oath enslaved members to kill Fulani herdsmen. He justified his order but when Fulani herdsmen finished in the bush; his killer members switched focus.
End SARS provided an opportunity once more for Nnamdi Kanu to begin the final onslaught. He urged his members to attack police stations and personnel, take their guns and kill them. This order was strictly adhered to and that led to proliferation of arms. He succeeded in arming his members and from there; he was able to officially launch his personal armed wing called ESN that metamorphosed into Unknown Gun Men.
Instead of the seventeen armed ESN to fight Nigerian military for the restoration of Biafra; the scam turned into money donation business. Kanu made millions through his ESN scam and to prove he is on ground, he sent these armed boys to start killing us after killing Fulani. What more do you expect when you arm jobless youths?
However, the killings sustained and ESN having faced criticism decided to use the pseudo name Unknown Gun Men after your brother was arrested. How did you forget Kanu ordered them to burn police stations and kill? Today, that order is carried out and you blame Simon Ekpa.
The genesis of killings in Southeast started from your brother Nnamdi Kanu because he was desperate to ward off competition and continue to be in position of financial donations. He gained so much that he could wear One Million Naira Fendi at the expense of the deaths of our people.
Simon Ekpa is only calling for the continuation of Biafra agitation but the business your brother began in Southeast has overshadowed his genuine move. Before you blackmail and call out Simon Ekpa; you should be able to ensure your brother asked for forgiveness and rightly forgiven.
You lack the locus stand and moral right to attack Simon Ekpa. Simon Ekpa may have stopped the inflow of fraudulent money your family have been living on, but that is not enough to have forgotten your brother Nnamdi Kanu is responsible for everything you accuse Simon Ekpa.
Unidentified gunmen on Easter Sunday visited Oko community, close to the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, invading a fast food joint.
It was gathered that the gunmen came in into Sophia Fast Food, but failed to harm the fun-seekers, who were obviously enjoying themselves for the Easter celebration.
A source said they simply disposed all customers and staff of the eatery of their phones and left the area without any challenge, despite an armoured car and security personnel positioned in the area.
A Facebook user, Iyke Orji said: “Nobody was killed, nobody was shot.
“Even the new police armoured tank Governor Soludo stationed at Oko Police station with new policemen didn’t repel them.
“They came to Sophia fast foods Oko, yes, a fast food. They collected all the phones of people eating there. They now set fire in the frontage of the fast food.
“Sophia fast foods just opened a new branch in Ekwulobia and people are thinking if it was a calculated attempt by competitors,” Orji said.
Attempt to get confirmation from the police public relations officer of Anambra State Police command, DSP Toochukwu Ikenga failed as his phone was said not to be reachable at the moment.
A visionary leader builds institution to run an efficient system .
When Willie Obiano was Governor ,I had expected him to build public school system that will compete with Global colleges in line with his corporate background. But his policy which was in variance with my expectation was to give churches millions of naira as a way of encouraging private sector participation .
A visionary Leader uses public policy to attract the best hands to run public institutions. Go around our public schools today ,you would be disappointed . We hardly have male Teachers in secondary schools because of poor incentive system.
Let us engage our leaders constructively instead of blanket ticket to and in power..
Ndubuisi Anenugwu is an economist and Deputy Leader of GGM
The Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has again disagreed with his predecessor, Chief Willie Obiano, over handover notes.
Soludo had while interacting with the team of the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project, a World Bank assisted project, in Awka, Anambra State on Wednesday said the state was not yet an oil producing state.
Obiano had in the twilight of his government told journalists in his Aguleri hometown that one of his bequests to Soludo was handing over to him a state with an oil producing status.
Obiano had said he received approval of the presidency for Anambra to be recognised as an oil-producing state.
He showed a letter addressed to him (Obiano) on August 24, 2021, and signed by its Secretary, Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission Secretary, under the Presidency, Mr. M B. Shehu, where the Commission approved the attribution of about 11 oil wells to Anambra State. The oil wells include Nzam 1, Alo 1, Ogbu 1, Ameshi 1,2,3,4 and Enyie 1,2,3,4.
He vouched that the state would start receiving payment in that respect from March 13.
But Soludo, who was represented by his Deputy, Mr. Onyekachukwu Ibezim, at the interaction, made it clear that the state was yet to be fully assented among oil producing state in the country.
That was the second time Soludo had disagreed with Obiano over the latter’s handover note. Obiano had claimed that the state was not indebted to anybody; but Soludo some days after his inauguration said he inherited a debt of over N100bn.
On the NEWMAP project in the state, the governor said Anambra State had paid her counterpart funds to the tune of N700m.
He explained that for now, Anambra State was cash-strapped and managing the little fund at its disposal.
He said, “The N700m counterpart funds paid by the state government show that we recognised the part you have played in Anambra State.
“Initially, the state had 960 gully erosion sites, but with the NEWMAP effort, it has reduced to 947 after the successful completion of eight sites and five near-completion in some of the most affected communities.
While commending the Work Bank for assisting the state in controlling the ravaging erosion menace through the NEWMAP, the governor noted that the menace had been a source of hindrance to development in the state.
The Taskforce Team Leader of NEWMAP Nigeria, Dr. Joy Agene, said the team was in Anambra State for the 2022 NEWMAP AF-ICRM Conference in Awka, for the inspection of the projects done so far in the state and to have a face-face interaction with beneficiaries in communities.
She said NEWMAP had been in Anambra State for 10 years and was expected to complete her mission in June 2022.
Gunmen earlier today stormed Nkwo Ihitte market in Imo State and attacked adhoc staff members of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Reports says the gunmen numbering about 12 attacked the INEC staffs when they were registering members of the community for the forth coming general elections in 2023.
It was reported that the INEC officer in charge of the registration process was shot by the gunmen.
According to the report, an eyewitness, Chief Okpegbuo, said: “We had all gathered in the village square in obedience to the directive that we should come out en masse to register.
“Not long we queued, the Gunmen came in, shot sporadically, hoarded many into a room with a threat to kill them while others scampered for safety.”
As at the time of this report, one person have been confirmed killed while the total number of casualty is still unclear.
The leader of Pan Yoruba movement, Chief Pa Ayo Adebanjo has blasted the president, Mohammadu Buhari for the ongoing carnage in the country.
Adebanjo said the president knows those responsible for these killings and has done nothing about it.
The president knows these people and has been protecting them. When we first said these are Fulanis, the president said no, they’re not. When it became obvious that the perpetrators of these crimes are Fulanis, he said they’re foreign Fulanis from other Arab countries
The elderstatesmen who made these statements when he appeared on AriseTv Newsday on Thursday said “the president knows our enemies and attackers and he treats them with kids glove. Even when they’ve given him the names of these people, what did he do?” he asked.
On the call by Northern Elders for Buhari to step down, the Afenifere leader said “Buhari should have gone 5 years ago because he doesn’t want to solve the problem of the country.”
He blasted Nigerian leader and the led for being very docile in the face of all the atrocities happening in the country. He wondered why Nigerians haven’t taken to the streets like in other countries.
He also expressed his support for state police and said that the constitution has to be rewritten before the conduct of 2023 election.
Two Reverend Sisters, Three Others Burnt To Ashes As Two Vehicles Crash At Nawfia Axis Of The Enugu-Onitsha Expressway
Two Reverend Sisters, their driver and a husband and wife have been burnt to ashes after their vehicles crashed at the Nawfia axis of the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, Anambra state.
It was confirmed the names of the Reverend Sisters as Rev Sr Virginia Obike and Rev. Sr Monica Ilem, while their diver was Mr Chamberlain Umunakwe.
Investigations revealed that the Reverend Sister Obike, the Principal of Handmaid’s Secondary School, Amansea, Awka North LGA, and her Bursar, Reverend Sister Ilem and their driver, Mr Umunakwe were traveling to Amansea in a Toyota Hiace bus belonging to the school, and were coming from Ifite-Ogwari, Ayamelum LGA, where they went to purchase bags of rice for the school.
Other victims in a Toyota Highlander were identified as Mr Emmanuel Okeke, former Anambra State Government Storekeeper, and the wife.
Mr Ifeanacho Okeke from Nsugbe, Anambra East LGA, who spoke at the accident scene said he spoke with his brother, Emmanuel around 5pm yesterday, and around 9pm his and the wife’s lines were off, leading to search and the sad discovery early this morning.
An eyewitness, Mr. Chinecherem Okonkwo from Nawfia, Njikoka LGA, said he arrived the accident scene yesterday night during light rainfall when the vehicles were still burning, but it was late for any meaningful help.
Reverend Fathers and Sisters were seen at the accident scene discussing in low tones, while others helped in taking the vehicles off the single lane of the Expressway for free flow of traffic.
Controversial Nigeria Prophet, Philanthropist and Socialite, Chukwuemeka Ohanaemere popularly known as Odumeje’s Ministry located at Bida Road Off Creek Road, Fegge-Onitsha has been marked for outright demolition by Anambra State Government.
The church was marked by Anambra State Physical Planning Board (ANSPPB) for obstruction and blockage of free flow of water at the Nwangele-Bida drainage.
Recall that Prof Chukwuma Soludo upon taking over mantle of leadership in the State promised to clean and restore the glory of Onitsha metropolis.
“The Buhari/Osinbajo presidency is a perfect definition of toxic leadership; toxic leadership is the type that leaves a place worse than it met it. Yes, things were bad when Buhari and Osinbajo took over in 2015 but they have made it worse, thus qualifying ultimately as toxic leaders…”
It is no longer news that Vice President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo, has declared to run for the office of the president. By declaring, he ended months of hide and seek and speculations that he would go for the top position in the country. Douglas MacArthur once noted that “History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster.” That is where the Buhari/Osinbajo presidency has steeped Nigeria, a prostate nation.
Going by the 1999 Constitution(as amended, the man is eminently qualified – a Professor of Law, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, a senior pastor of the Redeemed Church of God, and more. But as the vice president of a government that has been adjudged, nationally and internationally, as a disaster, his declaration is both insensitive and an affront. An incumbent should run to become president on the strength of the achievements of the government he so diligently served as a vice. So, what achievements does Osinbajo hope to ride on and flaunt before Nigerians to make them, as patriots and citizens, rally for him?
As a matter of fact, in a sane clime, the Buhari/Osinbajo government ought to have since resigned or been impeached by the appropriate organs of government. Now, the vice president wants to take over and what is more, he has promised to complete what the Buhari/Osinbajo presidency has started. So, the question is: what exactly has President Buhari started that Osinbajo wants to finish or bring to a logical conclusion?
Though he didn’t tell us what he and his boss started that he plans to complete, we are all living witnesses (thousands have actually died in the last 7 years) as victims of the most clueless and callous government in the nation’s history. Their monumental failures are in every sphere and the nation itself is fast becoming a failed state with all the vital signs in full display.
Professor Osinbajo needs not be reminded that the beautiful manifesto of the All Progressives Congress (APC), contained 222 promises, among them restructuring Nigeria, state police, reductions in exchange rate and pump price of PMS , among others. In short, the APC came into office in 2015, essentially to deal with insecurity, corruption, fix the economy and unemployment.
Can Professor Osinbajo point to one aspect of these great promises that has been fulfilled by the government he serves as vice president? What everyone can see is that insecurity has grown terribly worse and the dangerousness of the situation has engulfed the whole nation, including Abuja the seat of power.
As at 2015 when APC took over the reins of power, the nation confronted only Boko Haram terrorism, which had been confined to Sambisa forest, from where they made incursions. The killer herdsmen only engaged in hit and run. But today, they confidently and defiantly occupy communities they have sacked unchallenged.
Today too, bandits who Honourable Bugaje told the nation were brought into Nigeria to ensure that APC took over power in 2015, have grown in tens of thousands and have also gained the status and stature of a terrorist organisation (as pronounced by Nigerian courts). Meanwhile, Boko Haram terrorism, which the President said had been technically defeated, has been waxing stronger and bigger. ISIS (ISWAP) as well as Al Qaeda from the Maghreb have all converged on the Lake Chad basin to swell the Boko Haram ranks and its capacity to cause more deaths and destructions.
Bandits have grown also in temerity and only days ago bombed an Abuja-Kaduna train, after attacking Kaduna International airport. Then they occupied Abuja-Kaduna road for days while holding over 160 Nigerians hostage up till this moment. In the last couple of months, the bandit terrorists have attacked over 10 military fortresses in Kaduna and in the North East generally, killing over 700 soldiers and unknown number of Nigerians. Governor El Rufai has threatened to import more mercenaries to help his government in dealing with insecurity in Kaduna state.
In the face of these clear and present dangers and national emergencies, the vice president who the governor of his party thus indicted wants to be president and will likely stay in office for 8 years. Is Yemi Osinbajo really aware that Nigerians are praying fervently for the expiration of the government he serves as vice president? Does he know that Nigerians now fear that the nation may not even survive another one year under the Buhari/Osinbajo presidency?
The two reasons a government is formed and allowed by citizens who surrender their freedom and rights are for security of life and property, and for welfare of citizens. Can the man of God – Yemi Osinbajo – honestly say that the government he serves as vice president has discharged these primary responsibilities of government?
Yemi Osinbajo has been responsible for the government welfare package called TraderMoni but hands the money out to select few only during elections for obvious reasons. Let us leave out the nepotistic appointments he has attracted as vice president for another day. The reason most of such appointments went to Redeem pastors will be taken up in another piece.
Corruption has grown wings under the Buhari/Osinbajo Presidency too. There is no doubt there was corruption when the APC took over power in 2015. But according to Transparency International and cursory observations, corruption has grown much worse. Unemployment has tripled and the economy is collapsing.
In 2015, the prices of basic food items were at least 4 times lower than what they cost today. Rice sold for N8, 000. Today, rice is about N40, 000; a mudu of garri was N100 but today, it is approaching N500; a basket of tomato was N2, 500 and today N16, 000 (we hear that a basket of tomato now goes for over N30, 000 in the South-East), to mention a few.
Here is a Buhari/Osinbajo presidency that met Nigeria as the biggest economy in Africa but mismanaged it into a double recession and rebased and debased the country to poverty capital of the world (this is also official). The highest number of poor people are today in Nigeria while the youth unemployment rate is now 55% and over 30% galloping inflation now prevails, which was only 9% in 2015. The Buhari/Osinbajo presidency met $1 at about N190; today, it is about N595/$1. This government met fuel at N87 and today, it is selling from N165 to N250 and likely to go higher.
Professor Osinbajo should spare us any sermons. We hear he couldn’t do much as a vice president due to constitutional constraints. This is not true. There is one thing Osinbajo could have done and today, Nigerians will be looking for him as their ultimate leader: resign. By failing to resign and for not speaking up when the country was being run aground, he became an accomplice and betrayed the masses who hoped in him.
Atiku Abubakar (vice president as he then was) stood up to Olusegun Obasanjo as President when it became necessary. Even one ordinary minister Dora Akunyili spoke up when vice president Goodluck Jonathan was denied the constitutional right of succeeding the incapacitated President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. But as Nigeria faces existential threats flowing from bad government policies and actions, Osinbajo chose to stay put and now says he wants to finish what the Buhari/Osinbajo presidency couldn’t finish. May the question be posed again: what does Osinbajo want to complete when he becomes president? A bitterly divided country, or ‘Land for RUGA or your life’ policy? Or, to watch security and disunity faultlines escalate as he is doing today?
Yemi Osinbajo is a professor and therefore an educationist. Yet, he is vice president in country, which is now rated as having highest in out of school children in the world with over 300 of these students still in the bush with terrorists who kidnapped them from various schools, including Leah Sharibu who, we are told, has delivered two babies in terrorists’ captivity, to say nothing about ASUU ongoing indefinite strike. He is also a senior advocate of Nigeria and therefore should be a legal activist. Yet, the government he serves as vice is sitting on EndSARS Lekki Tollgate massacre report.
Beyond any doubt, Professor Yemi Osinbajo is coming to complete the strangulation of Nigerians and the nation state. He is part of a presidency which inherited almost zero debts but today, Nigeria is borrowing even from the devil to service debts. Like some of us warned when Buhari was elected in 2015, Yemi Osinbajo is clearly a bad omen. He couldn’t stand up for dying Nigerians and the collapsing economy as vice president.
Like George Orwell noted, the people that elect corrupt politicians are not victims but accomplices. For a fact: the Buhari/Osinbajo presidency is a perfect definition of toxic leadership; a toxic leadership is the type that leaves a place worse than it met it. Yes, things were bad when Buhari and Osinbajo took over in 2015 but they have made it worse, thus qualifying ultimately as toxic leaders. Elect such a character at your peril, a pastor who will destroy South Nigeria solidarity and usurp the chance of the South-East instead of standing on social justice and righteousness which is the footstool of God he claims to be His shepherd.
The future of 210 million Nigerians and the most populous black nation on earth cannot be entrusted into the hands of a man of God who sees evil perpetrated in the land and cowers or takes advantage of it. The risk is just too high.
