Soludo, Don’t Let Abana Die!

Bedridden Kanneth Abana confined to wheel chair. Image via National Light

BY EMEKA OBASI

Economists deserve special attention for you do not know how to place them. They propound theories which do not solve problems most of the time. Human wants are insatiable is the cover that guarantees Prof. Chukwuma Soludo and his men peace.

Kenneth Abana is not abstract Economics. He is living next door to the Anambra State governor. If you understand what Enugu Rangers represent in Igbo land, you must put a call across to the former Central Bank of Nigeria governor immediately.

Abana is a pioneer member of Enugu Rangers. Infact he was the youngest when Chief Jerry Enyeazu, supported by Chief A.W. Ibe and Ajie Ukpabi Asika, founded the all conquering football club in 1970.

They called the Inside Right ‘ Magician’. And he was indeed exceptional. The records recognise him as the star who scored the Flying Antelopes first international goal. It was in 1971 against Secteur Six, a military side from Niger Republic.

The Magic has not left Abana completely. What has departed from him is that right leg that did incredible things in the field of play. On November 16, 2022, he became an amputee. You can imagine losing your leg at 73 years.

When I say Abana is Special, I can bet my last kobo. In 1993,as Executive Editor of Sportstar, a weekly newspaper, I captioned a photograph, The Original Rangers. The picture was graciously handed over to me by Mighty Jets legend, Olayiwola Olagbemiro.

I got a letter from Abana who corrected me that the photo was that of Enugu Black Rocks, an amalgam of all teams in Enugu and was a little older than Enugu Rangers. He then went ahead to list the pioneers of Rangers.

The list had names like Godwin Achebe, Johnny Wheeler Nwosu, Mathias Obianika, Godwin Adimachukwu, Luke Okpala, Chukwuma Igweonu and Cyril Okosieme. There were Dominic Nwobodo, Sam Nwachukwu, Nwabueze Nwankwo and Peter Okeke.

Also included were Teddy Aniputa, Ernest Ufele, Emma Ojirika, Shedrach Ajaero, Sam Okoh, Godwin Nwosa, Patrick Ozuah, Ray Ohaeri, Emmanuel Okala and Abana. It was the first time I would see some of the names who began the journey.

Abana went ahead to attach nicknames. I knew Nwobodo as Alhaji, Igweonu as ‘ It’s a Goal’ and Okpala as Jazz Bukana. I never knew Obianika was Wonderboy. Abana tagged Adimachukwu, Alan Ball. Aniputa was also known as Aji Obi. Okeke became General Gason. Nwachukwu’s was Onyembi.

I loved the name General Gason. All the players were fresh from the Civil War and battle tested. Nwobodo was a Biafran Commando and lost his elder brother, Chris in battle. Achebe retired to the School of Infantry much later.

Enyeazu was a Major. That also was coach Dan Anyiam’s rank. The name Rangers had to do with strategy which was applied by the Biafrans. When General Gowon queried Enyeazu, the former said he copied it from Glasgow Rangers.

Soludo knows the Rangers story so well. Unfortunately, some of the veterans are not happy with him. It appears the governor is playing politics with the Flying Antelopes. Abana looked up to the professor, tears flowed down his face.

When Peter Obi was governor of Anambra State, he recognised Rangers Veterans. Every month, the government set aside some money for ex- players welfare. It went a long way and they looked forward to payment regularly.

Willie Obiano succeeded Obi and did not abandon the Welfare package. Today,it is a different story under Soludo. He stopped the payment and has given no reasons for such act. Abana cried all through the amputation because he bore the responsibility.

Soludo may have his reasons but the Veteran Flying Antelopes were not paid millions. You know Obi does not give shishi so the Anambra treasury could not have been drained. I do not want to believe that Mr. Governor is planning to convert the Rangers handout to Treasury Bills.

How can Anambra abandon Abana? It is possible they want him to trek from Agukwu Nri to Isuofia for due attention. Abana who scored a goal on Accra against Great Olympics and again in Lagos against the same team in 1975.

And Abana played all those matches with injury. He continued until 1976 against Express of Uganda. Magician turned to coaching, doing fine with Premier Breweries, Onitsha, formerly Morning Star. In 1989, pains stopped him.

When Bulldozer Nwankwo passed on last year, Abana was the knowledge bank who supplied the names of the Living Rangers legends. He was in touch all through with Life Patron, Rangers Veterans, Chief Benson Ejindu. I was also communicating with Ezeomeogo same time and remember Abana complaining that sleepless nights had become second nature.

From St. Murumba College on the the Jos Plateau, Abana also trained as a teacher at Amansea. Now the man is at sea, sending distress messages to Soludo. Only that solution may be economical. Let us wait for the news to bypass the Niger Bridge and other Igbo Speaking environment.

READ ORIGINAL STORY HERE

FOR WIDOWS IN AFRICA, VIRUS STOLE HUSBANDS, HOMES, FUTURE

Anayo Mbah, 29, holds her child in her home in Umuida, Nigeria

BY KRISTA LARSON AND CHINEDU ASADU

ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA (ASS)CIATED PRESS) -- As Anayo Mbah went into labor with her sixth child, her husband battled COVID-19 in another hospital across town. Jonas, a young motorcycle taxi driver, had been placed on oxygen after he started coughing up blood.

Jonas would never meet his daughter, Chinaza. Hours after the birth, Mbah’s sister-in-law called to say he was gone. Staff at the hospital in Nigeria soon asked Mbah and her newborn to leave. No one had come to pay her bill.

Anayo began the rites of widowhood at the home where she lived with her in-laws: Her head was shaved, and she was dressed in white clothing. But just weeks into the mourning period that traditionally lasts six months, her late husband’s relatives stopped providing food, then confronted her directly.

“They told me that it was better for me to find my own way,” Mbah, now 29, said. “They said even if I have to go and remarry, that I should do so. That the earlier I leave the house, the better for me and my children.”

She left on foot for her mother’s home with only a plastic bag of belongings for Chinaza and her other children.

Across Africa, widowhood has long befallen great numbers of women — particularly in the continent’s least developed countries where medical facilities are scarce. Many widows are young, having married men decades older. And in some countries, men frequently have more than one wife, leaving several widows behind when they die.

Now, the pandemic has created an even larger population of widows on the continent, with African men more likely to die of the virus than women, and it has exacerbated the issues they face. Women such as Mbah say the pandemic has taken more than their husbands: In their widowhood, it’s cost them their extended families, their homes and their futures.

Once widowed, women are often mistreated and disinherited. Laws prohibit many from acquiring land or give them only a fraction of their spouse’s wealth. In-laws can claim custody of children. Other in-laws disown the children and refuse to help, even if they’re the family’s only source of money and food. And young widows have no adult children to support them in impoverished communities with few jobs.

In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, some 70 percent of confirmed COVID-19 deaths have been men, according to data tracked by the Sex, Gender and COVID-19 Project. Similarly, more than 70 percent of deaths in Chad, Malawi, Somalia and Congo have been men, according to figures from the project. Other countries likely show similar trends but lack the resources to gather detailed figures.

Experts say some of the widows left behind have nothing while others are pressured to remarry brothers-in-law or be cut off. Widows can start experiencing mistreatment by their in-laws before their husbands are even buried.

“Some are treated as outcasts, accused of being responsible for the death of their husband,” said Egodi Blessing Igwe, of WomenAid Collective, which has aided thousands of widows with legal services and family mediation.

In Congo, Vanessa Emedy Kamana had known her husband for a decade before he proposed marriage. She worked for the scholar as a personal assistant. By the time their friendship turned romantic, Godefroid Kamana was in his late 60s; she, a single mother in her late 20s.

When he died, relatives came to the family home where Kamana had just begun her period of mourning. Generally, widows are required to stay in their homes and can receive visitors. Mourning lengths vary by religion and ethnic group. Kamana, whose family is Muslim, was supposed to stay home for four months and 10 days. But her husband’s relatives didn’t wait that long to force her and her young son out on the street, showing up the night of his burial.

She feared her husband’s family would seek custody of her son, Jamel, whom Kamana had adopted and given his surname. Ultimately the relatives did not, because the boy — now 6 — wasn’t his biological child. They did, however, move swiftly to amass financial assets.

She and her son now live in a smaller home her mother kept as a rental property. Kamana sells secondhand clothing at a market. She initially received 40% of her late husband’s salary, those funds will soon stop entirely.

It’s painful, Kamana said, when her late husband’s relatives insist they’ve lost more than she did: “No one will be able to replace him.”

In West Africa, widowhood is particularly fraught in the large swaths where many marriages are polygamous. The first wife or her children usually lay claim to the family home and financial assets.

Saliou Diallo, 35, said she’d have been left with nothing after a decade of marriage had her husband not thought to put her home under her name instead of his. Under Guinean law, a man’s multiple wives share a small percentage of his estate, with nearly all of it — 87.5 percent — going to his children.

Diallo’s husband, El Hadj, 74, had been building the home just for her and their 4-year-old daughter when he fell ill.

Diallo already knew the burden of losing a spouse: At 13, she became a second wife, only to be widowed in her early 20s. Then, El Hadj already had had several wives but wanted to marry Diallo and raise her three kids as his own.

They’d spent a decade together before the virus hit El Hadj. In his final conversations with his wife, he lamented that her home didn’t have windows yet. That he hadn’t lived long enough to build a well so she wouldn’t have to carry water on her head. That other relatives would try to chase her off once he was gone.

Family asked Diallo for the papers of the house El Hadj had built for her. She provided photocopies but secretly kept the originals.

Her extended family ultimately helped raise money to put windows on her house. Still, she feels her husband’s absence. There’s electricity, but no light fixtures. She has just a few plastic chairs as furniture in her unpainted living room.

“I am sure God is saving a surprise for me. I surrender to him,” she said. “I keep my faith.”

Kenyan Nun Uses Law Degree to Navigate Church Through African Society

Sister Leonida Katunge. Image via Global Sisters Report

BY CHRISTOPHER WHITE

ENUGU, NIGERIA (THE TABLET) — Sister Leonida Katunge wears two hats – or habits, rather – spending her days alternating between teaching courses in liturgy and practicing law in her homeland of Kenya.

At 11 years old she knew she wanted to become a nun after being inspired by her cousin who was also a religious sister. Growing up with eight siblings, a father who was in the army, and a mother who was a businesswoman – Sister Katunge developed a hard work ethic and a concern for others. Now, at age 41, she’s one of the most daring and outspoken religious women in Kenya who believes it’s her mission to empower other women to fight for justice.

Sister Katunge was a delegate to the Pan African Congress on Theology, Society, and Pastoral Life December 5-8 in southeastern Nigeria, where she told The Tablet that she believes women shouldn’t be in competition with men, but should work together “in the cause of helping each other in a better society.”

Kenyan Sister Leonida Katunge at the Pan African Congress in Enugu. Image: Christopher White

After completing studies in theology and philosophy at the Catholic University in Eastern Africa (CUEA) in 2006, Sister Katunge was encouraged by an Italian priest to go to Rome and pursue her studies in liturgy. She agreed and after completing her doctorate in sacred liturgy at St. Anselm’s, returned home to her community, the Sisters of St. Joseph in Mombasa, where she became a lecturer at CUAE teaching mainly seminarians.

Yet never one to turn down a challenge, when her community was struggling to navigate a property battle over land they had acquired from a Kenyan businessman, she recognized she had a gift for understanding the law.

“I realized we needed someone in the congregation to handle these matters, and so I found myself in a law class at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa,” she recalls.

After taking evening classes, Sister Katunge received her law degree – even managing to surprise some members of her own community with her new role.

“Even my own superior thought I was doing canon law, not civil law!” she said. “Most of the time when I tell people I’m a lawyer, most people don’t believe me.”

“Given the society we live in, and especially here in Africa, people look at me as a nun and think ‘really, she’s a lawyer? What matters can she handle?’” she continued.

The answer, in fact, is many – ranging from real estate to domestic disputes – and she’s already forcing Kenyan legal professionals to examine their preconceptions about who can practice law in the country.

Once – after showing up in court in her habit and not her full robe and wig – a judge refused to hear her appeal, forcing her to return on a separate occasion to make her case.

Yet while the judge may have had trouble reconciling her two vocations, Sister Katunge sees them as entirely compatible – and, in fact, an extension of the work she’s already been doing as a religious sister.

“The first thing we studied was law and morality,” she recalls of her legal studies. “They must go hand in hand given that they are the guiding principles of society.”

She went on to cite the Golden Rule as “exhibit A” for why there’s a natural link between the two worlds.

Yet while Sister Katunge has earned some street cred for navigating the legal profession as a religious sister, she’s also faced the challenge of navigating life in another boys’ club, of sorts – that of the Catholic Church.

Sister Katunge, however, isn’t interested in matters of ordination, be it for the diaconate or the priesthood, but wants to spend her time – and her voice – rallying for women to know that they have a voice equal to men and shouldn’t hesitate to speak up or lag behind in their work.

Similarly, she dismisses the idea that Pope Francis has a blind spot when it comes to women’s leadership.

“I love the person of Pope Francis,” she said. “He’s exactly what we need in this time,” she said.

“He’s not looking at us as men or women, but he’s focused on the growth of all of humanity,” said Sister Katunge. “We should not be in competition but [working together] in the cause of helping each other build a better society and especially a better Africa.”


SOURCE: THE TABLET

When Nigerian Writers Failed The Nation

Chinua Achebe inspired generations of Nigerian writers. Image: Getty

BY EDOZIE UDEZE

In Enugu last week, the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) for the first time in its 38 years of existence failed to hold its national election. Edozie Udeze gives an eye-witness account of the scenarios that played out at the convention.

EVERY year, members of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) from all over the globe, gather at a particular venue in Nigeria for the international convention. The convention is usually hosted by a state chapter which had earlier won the hosting right. In the past 38 years since the association was formed, the convention has gone on without break or disruption. Every two years, election would hold to elect new national officials to run the national secretariat. As it is usually the case, election years are the most capacious moments, the apt time when most ANA members who had not been to the convention endeavour to attend, endeavour to vote.

Last week, the convention was held in Enugu, the coal city. However, the Enugu convention came with a number of lugubrious and nauseating issues that almost made nonsense of all the efforts made by the founding fathers of the writers’ body who sweated through thick and thin to give birth to ANA in 1981. Even though a lot of members, observers and stakeholders had eagerly looked forward to a glorious and robust literary engagements, but they got to Enugu to meet bundles and bundles of disappointments. The only heartwarming aspect of the convention is that Enugu is naturally clean, conducive and alluring for academic and scholarly hibernation.

Beyond that, the issue of accommodation reared its head, initially distorting the joyful flow in the minds of delegates. Two, from the beginning of the opening ceremony, it became crystal clear that the Denja Abdullahi leadership was not committed to lead on. The opening ceremony slated for 10.00am did not kick off until well into the afternoon. Before then, guests, writers, visitors, observers, lovers of literature sitted inside the huge hall were almost on their tethers, waiting endlessly for the kick-off.

For this, the rest of the day ran along on a slow, steady steam, which also affected the other programmes that took place thereafter. But the most unfortunate incident that nearly tore ANA to pieces was on the second day when the election was to hold. Being a Saturday, members had expected the Annual General Meeting (AGM) meant for 10am to take-off on time. Yet, this was not so. The programme was declared open by a rather reluctant president by 12 noon. By the time the AGM came to an end around 7pm, many people had run out of patience. Election was to proceed since the constitutionally stipulated tenure of the executives had elapsed.

Accreditation alone took over three hours to happen. In the beginning, the electoral committee led by Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo had proclaimed that new members were ineligible to vote. These were people duly registered and people who had paid their state chapters’ dues. They paid their ways to Enugu just to exercise their franchise and enjoy the thrills of national politics played by the intelligentsia. A lot of them told The Nation, it was to be their real test of what voting, what politics stand for in Nigeria.

So, that innocuous, obnoxious and inconsiderate decision opened up the first stage of can of worms. Rumbling and grumbling soon followed. Impatience and loss of confidence in the system had set in. Cloistering around the entrance were delegates who clustered for accreditation, and then tension and temper ran high. People were unhappy. In the midst of this, politics of hate speech immediately began to rear its monstrous head.

At the time of this restrained temper, some of the candidates, those who were forcing ANA to open up a rotational form of zoning began to insult, lampoon and malign the late Professor Chinua Achebe. Achebe, it was who beckoned on other renowned writers to Nsukka to form ANA in 1981. These unwarranted, uncalled for utterances further infuriated some sensitive members. At that point, ANA as a body seemed on a precipice.

What seemed most unfortunate was that while this was going on, electricity went off, it went off only at the venue, more so the international conference centre, Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu, venue of the event. For over two hours there was no light, light was not restored while the whole city of Enugu was enjoying light. What a suspicious development! In the meantime, activities had been suspended, time was fast running out on everyone.

Then confusion broke out. The Liberian civil war type of confusion, scenario and disorderliness erupted. Some insisted the show must go on in darkness while others opposed it. Those security agents posted to maintain peace and order stood aloof while uneasiness reigned supreme. At this juncture, Professor Remi Raji of the University of Ibadan, and a former president of the Association rose to the occasion trying to pacify and assuage members. This cooled off temper temporarily, but then the damage had been done. Now using her constitutional prerogatives as the chairman of the electoral committee, Adimora Ezeigbo ordered that the election be suspended until when issues are well and duly sorted out.

The disturbing situation now is how does ANA convene within 180 days as stipulated by the constitution to have the election? When does it hold? Who will foot the bills for the hosting? How does it go this time around in terms of delegations to the election? Since this is the first time in the history of ANA that an election is being postponed, who runs the affairs until then? It is understood this is the singular responsibility of the advisory board. But meanwhile no one is looking in that direction. Truth is that ANA must come together to steer clear of deeper constitutional crisis. Elders of the house should mediate now; should endeavour to save ANA from the clutches of the mundane, those who are naturally gifted in anarchic and devilish manipulations.

ANA is bigger than divisive and sectionally-minded individuals, who characteristically root for rotational positions even when they do not have the capacity to carry on. Is this a political party where undue idiocy rules; where mediocrity is the order of the day? ANA needs to move on and grow above hawkish tendencies bordering on hate speeches and ethnic jingoism and other sectional postures that have hitherto slowed down the growth of the nation-state.

Meanwhile, the Enugu State government adamantly refused to sponsor or encourage the three-day convention that brought life and literary awareness to the coal city. This was unfortunate and showed some level of irresponsibility on the part of the state government.

Literature and Integration
Nonetheless, the theme of the keynote lecture – literature and national integration, delivered by Professor Emmanuel Sule of Ibrahim Babangida University, Lapai, Niger State, which was meant to stimulate writers turned into sore taste. When Sule began earlier on, his theme seemed to have appealed to the artists, writers and authors. It was received with wide acclaim. But when the election was truncated, it seemed the ingredients of the theme turned to national disintegration instead.

Sule said, “I take a historical view of the formation of nationalism in Nigerian literature from the point of colonial contact. The grand narrative is itself a product of colonialism, the highest orchestration of the notice of the Caliban being equipped to speak, and speaking against his master”. But the Caliban, in the case of Nigeria, has succumbed to constituted violence in the form of present-day democracy unable to confront it. His capacity to speak ought to be a project, ought to be a project of modernity, one not yet concluded. So, rather than continue to speak, the Caliban’s tongue is torn out, under the force of constituted violence. Then condition of post-modernity offers to mend his broken tongue, by globalizing it, by healing it but only at the global stage, at the price of his own humanity. The Caliban is the postmodern Nigerian writer.

In the sections that follow, I elaborate on constituted violence, metanarrative, modernity, and the postmodern reason, by way of situating the Nigerian writer within their conceptual problematic. Drawing mainly from the idea of Chinua Achebe, Michel Foucault and Achile Mbembe, I try to characterize the present context of national (dis)integration, especially in the ways that human agency – dismally unrealized in our halting project of modernity – gradually succumbs to the excesses of post-modernity. I am interested in calling our attention to the uncompleted project of modernity, such as the reconstruction, maintenance and utilization of the neglected National Library complex.

I make the point that unless we complete the project of Nigerian modernity by building not only an elegant and virile National Library, but also a national narrative to demolish the constituted violence imposed on us, to turnaround the condition of our society, we may end up not having a country. Not having a country is not the same as being a global citizen. It means, in spite of the postmodern condition, being homeless, being perpetually haunted by the ghosts of global far-right internationalism. In other words, Nigerian writers may have somewhere to run to, expecting others to build them a nation, but in the long run the shame of not being able to utilize their agency in the face of constituted violence (unleashed by local and international agents of dehumanization) definitely shadows any individual egoism that comes from a globalized position, what Amatoristero Ede calls self anthropologising projection.


SOURCE: THE NATION

Priest’s Murder: Ohanaeze Youths Plan Killer Herdsmen’s Eviction From Forests

Image: Punch

BY MUDIAGA AFFE

ENUGU (PUNCH) -- The youth wing of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo on Saturday said it would intensify efforts to flush out killer herdsmen from the forests in all the 95 local government areas in the South East.

The move, according to the President-General of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, is necessitated by the killing of a Catholic Priest, Rev. Fr. Paul Offu, by suspected herdsmen along the Ihe-Agbudu Road in Agwu LGA of Enugu State on August 1.

He said plans were allegedly underway to kill more church leaders in the South East, urging that steps be taken to avert the impending negative development.

To address the situation, Isiguzoro urged Igbo youths, all Biafra agitators and volunteer security groups to enter the forests to flush out killer herdsmen in the South East.

He said, “We read with rude shock the murder of a Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Paul Offu, who was shot dead by hoodlums suspected to be the notorious and murderous Fulani herdsmen along Ihe-Agbudu Road in Agwu LGA on August 1, 2019. This is a calculated but provocative action with evil intent aimed at rubbishing the proposed establishment of forest guards and Community Neighbourhood Watch by the South East governors.

“With the rising tensions in Southern Nigeria, it is time for us to flush out all the remnants of killer herdsmen hiding in all the forestry reserve areas across the 95 LGAs of South East. This is a Clarion call on Igbo youths, all Biafra agitators and volunteer groups to do the needful across the bushes and forests in search of the killer herdsmen in the South East in bid to flush them out.

“These volunteer youths will serve as temporary Forestry Guardsmen until we pressurise the South East governors to fund them. Their mandate will be to take decisive actions against any armed herdsman found and should be handed over to security agents.”

The Ohanaeze youths also called on the federal government, especially the office of the Vice President, to protect Christians all over the country, adding that there might be deliberate plans to unleash terror on the church leaders in Southern Nigeria.

He also warned that there might soon be revolt along religious and ethnic lines in the country, adding that there was the need to beef up security around churches nationwide.

He also called for the unconditional release of the abducted ministers of the Redeemed Christian Church of God who were waylaid along the Ijebu-Ode axis of the Sagamu-Benin highway while on their way to attend a church conference at the RCCG Camp.

NIGERIA: Imo Frees 101-Year-Old Prisoner

Celestine Egbunuche and his son Paul have been in jail for over 18 years for murder. Image via BBC.

MAGNUS EZE

ENUGU (DAILY SUN) -- The Imo State Government has granted pardon to Nigeria’s oldest prisoner, Pa Celestine Egbunuche.

Egbunuche, who would be 101 years on August 4, has for over 18 years lived in desolation and hopelessness within the confines of Enugu Maximum Prison.

Daily Sun reliably gathered that his release was one of the last actions taken by former governor Rochas Okorocha before he vacated the Douglas House, Owerri, on May 28.

The Global Society for Anti-Corruption (GSAC), a non-governmental organization (NGO), last year, petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari and Okorocha seeking pardon for the inmate.

The NGO, in letters dated September 5, 2018 and signed by its President, Franklin Ezeona, had urged that the centenarian be freed to go home and die peacefully.

South East/South South Regional Director of GSAC, Mrs. Amaka Nweke, confirmed the development yesterday, disclosing that the prison authorities in Enugu were already perfecting papers for his release any moment from now.

Pa Egbunuche hails from Akokwa in Ideato North Local Government Area of Imo State, and was condemned to death along with his son, Paul Egbunuche, and another relation, now 88.

They were said to have been involved in a land dispute in which somebody slumped and died in the process.

Daily Sun had, in an exclusive report of August 8, 2018, captioned, “Nigeria’s oldest prisoner clocks 100 in Enugu,” jolted the world with the pathetic story of the centenarian, who reportedly lost his sight few days after the birthday.

The news went viral on the social media, raising questions to how a centenarian could still be in prison in Nigeria, when in other climes, inmates above 65 years are eligible for either parole or state pardon.

Abuja-based rights lawyer, Ugochukwu Ezekiel, who had lent voice to the call for Pa Egbunuche’s release, yesterday asked government not to abandon the man but instead, he should be fully rehabilitated.

SOURCE: SUN NEWS ONLINE

Stop Depending On Men, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Leader Tells Women

Mazi Nnia Nwodo, President of Ohanaeze Nd'Igbo

BY RAPHAEL EDE

ENUGU (PUNCH) -- The President General of Igbo apex socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Mr. Nnia Nwodo, has charged Nigerian women to rediscover their talents and stop over-dependency on men, adding, “he who dares wins.”

He said that the concept of ‘a woman is a passenger and not a partner’ should be discarded, stressing, “in all civilised climes, a woman gives love, respect and care not at a price but in reciprocity for her partner’s affection and care.”

Nwodo gave the charge in a keynote address on Thursday when Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom recognised Prof. Uche Azikiwe and Prof. Joy Ezeilo for their contributions to the cause of women in Nigeria.

The event held in Enugu.

He regretted that in Nigeria, notwithstanding that women are more than men, public offices are still dominated by men.

“Women find it difficult to mobilise themselves because most of them are economically dependent on men and find it difficult to pursue their convictions when such convictions go against the wishes of their male partners.

“You can’t have talent and hide it like a lamp under a bushel. You must not let people second-guess your abilities. It must be so uncomfortable to see things go so bad when you know that you can do them better,” he said.

While he identified economy of scale as a dire necessity in women emancipation programmes, Nwodo enjoined women to combine efforts and build stronger and broader-based organisation to reach out to more people rather than “have multiple unrecognisable and less impacting organisations.”

In her address, Prof. Joy Ezeilo commended the organisers of the event for identifying her effort in advancement of women’s cause in Nigeria.

NIGERIA: Suspected Herdsmen ‘Kill’ Council Secretary

Fulani herdsmen 

BY CHRIS OJI

UZO UWANI, ENUGU (THE NATION) -- Suspected herdsmen have allegedly killed the secretary of Uzo Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State.

The incident occurred on Wednesday near Olo town in Ezeagu Local Government.

The deceased, identified as Nnamdi Ogueche, was said to have gone for a peace talk between the communities and the herdsmen who have been terrorising parts of Uzo-Uwani Local Government.

It was gathered that the council secretary was in company of three others in a vehicle and were returning from the peace meeting when the suspected herdsmen attacked their vehicle.

There was a stampede. The occupants of the vehicle jumped out and ran.

The assailants were, however, said to have pursued the council secretary and shot him dead.

The fate of others was unknown last night.

Contacted for comments, the Chairman of Uzo-Uwani Local Government, Mr. Fidelis Ani, confirmed the killing of the council secretary.

Police Commissioner Sulaiman Balarabe, who confirmed the incident at a news briefing yesterday, said the deceased was ambushed.

He said three suspects have been arrested.

Nigeria's 100-Year-Old Death-Row Inmate Seeking Pardon

Paul and Celestine Egbunuche have been in jail for 18 years and on death row for four years

BY YEMISI ADEGOKE

ENUGU (BBC)--Death-row inmate Celestine Egbunuche has been dubbed Nigeria's "oldest prisoner" amid a campaign calling for his release.

He is 100 years old and has spent 18 years in jail after being found guilty of organizing a murder.

Small and slightly hunched over, he looks wistfully into space as he sits on a tightly packed bench inside a stuffy prison visitor's room.

Dressed in a white T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops, he lifts his head slowly - his way of acknowledging our presence.

But otherwise he remains quiet during our visit - in stark contrast to the rest of the room that is filled with loud chatter at Enugu Maximum Security Prison in south-east Nigeria.

His son Paul Egbunuche, 41, sits protectively close to him - and does the talking. He is in jail on the same murder charge.

They were both accused of hiring people to kidnap and kill a man over an alleged land dispute in Imo state.

Paul maintains their innocence. They were detained in June 2000 and eventually convicted and sentenced to death in 2014.

It has not been possible to contact the family of the man who was killed - even the Nigeria prison service has been unable to find them.
'Confused and childlike'

As prison officials look on, he tells me that his father isn't really able to talk much any more and is no longer aware of his surroundings.

"When you ask him something, he says something else. The doctor told me that it is his age, he has become like a little pikin [child].

"There are some times when he will ask me: 'These people here [inmates], what are they doing here?'"

Paul says he rarely leaves his father's side now; he has been his primary carer since his health began to deteriorate in prison.

These health problems include diabetes and failing eyesight - and Paul uses what he can to manage them.

"The only thing I'm using to manage him is food, unripe plantain, and they [officials] give him some drugs."
Birthday photo

Father and son share a cell with other death-row prisoners, who are separated from the general population.

"When I wake up in the morning, I will boil water and bath him," Paul says. "I'll change his clothes then prepare food for him. If they open up [the cell] I'll take him out so the sun will touch him.

"I'm always close to him, discussing with him and playing with him."

Paul says the other inmates sometimes help him care for his father and that many of them want his father to be released.

It was after his father's 100th birthday on 4 August that events were set in motion that may lead to his release.

A photo of Paul and a frail looking Egbunuche went viral in August after a local paper did a story about him turning 100 in jail. It sparked a debate about the length of time Nigerians spend on death row and the place of capital punishment altogether.

The latest figures from the Nigerian Prisons Service show that more than 2,000 people are on death row in Nigeria, many of whom spend years waiting to be executed.

The death sentence is not commonly carried out in Nigeria. Between 2007 and 2017, there were seven executions - the last one taking place in 2016, Amnesty International reports.
Poverty and punishment

However, the death penalty is still meted out by judges for offences like treason, kidnapping and armed robbery.

"You have people who have spent 30 years on death row, it's common," says Pamela Okoroigwe, a lawyer for the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP).

"Governors are reluctant to sign [death warrants] and they're not willing to grant pardons - that's why we have a high number of death-row inmates."

Ms Okoroigwe says death row is a "punishment for the poor" and one that a growing number of Nigerians want abolished.

"Have you ever seen a rich man on death row?" she asks.

"How many people can afford to get a lawyer to represent them in court? A rich man who ended up in court can afford to get the best and he'll be free."

This sentiment is shared by Franklin Ezeona, president of the Global Society for Anti-Corruption (GSAC), the non-governmental organisation that brought Egbunuche's case to the public and has been petitioning for his pardon.

"If the man was the father of a governor or a minister, I don't think he would still be in prison," Mr Ezeona says.

"Poverty in most of African countries hinders justice."

He says it is unreasonable to keep people waiting for years on death row as "the trauma and the torture is too much".
'Everyone deserves a second chance'

Mr Ezeona says that he hopes that Egbunuche's case will prompt the government to review other cases and shine a light on the justice system as a whole.

"It will be good for the correctional system. It will show that with good behaviour, the government can give you a second chance."

"Everyone deserves a second chance."

And Egbunuche may get a second chance as he has been recommended for a pardon by Imo state's attorney general, Miletus Nlemedim.

It is now awaiting approval from Governor Rochas Okorocha.

Mr Nlemedim says numerous factors are taken into consideration when an inmate is recommended for pardon - age, time served and the approval of the prison staff.

The family of the victim has not been consulted about a possible release.

"What we do as a government is to try to remove ourselves from sentiment," he says.

According to Mr Nlemedim, the state's Ministry of Happiness offers the chance for reconciliation after a prisoner is released.

In this case Mr Ezeona says it may be unlikely to happen given the length of time that has passed and poor record-keeping.

Nonetheless, he is still confident Celestine Egbunuche will be pardoned.

"If we can't pardon a centenarian, who can we pardon?" he says.

Paul too is confident that his father will be pardoned - and is hopeful that he too will get a reprieve so he can care for him.

"It's good for him to be released. So he will die peacefully in his house rather than in prison," he says.

Governor Chime's Candidate Lose Bid To Lead Enugu USA

DAILY POST STAFF,
TUESDAY, JULY 01, 2014

Enugu State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Jude Akubuilo at the convention

The bid by the Government of Enugu State to install its candidate to lead the highly influential Enugu-USA, an umbrella body of Enugu indigenes living in the United States of America, USA, failed at the weekend as delegates elected the first woman President of the body, Dr. Ifesinachi Ugwuonye.

A strong delegation of the Government to the convention, which held in Houston, Texas led by the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry and former Adviser to Governor Sullivan Chime on Diaspora Matters, Dr. Jude Akubuilo dressed in T-Shirts and faze caps that bore Governor Chime’s picture and had “Sullivan for Senate” boldly written on them, featured prominently at the convention.

Other members of the delegation were the Commissioner for Works, Engr. Goddy Maduaeke; Special Adviser on Diaspora Matters and Special Projects, Prof. Ike Mbah; and the Managing Director, Enugu State Housing Development Corporation, Mr. Ikeje Asogwa,

Their presence was, however, not enough to muster the requisite votes for their candidate, Mr. Leo Ugwu from Udi LGA as Dr. Ifesinachi Ugwuonye, a lawyer and indigene of Obeleagu Ndiuno in Ezeagu LGA cruised to a landslide victory.

Given the influence of the Enugu-USA in Enugu politics, Governor Chime’s strategists, it was gathered, were determined to install a candidate the government was “comfortable with” as a prelude to swaying Diaspora support for the Governor’s preferred successor and his quest for Enugu West Senatorial seat.

It could be recalled that many key members of the Governor’s cabinet, including the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry and former Adviser on Diaspora Matters, Dr. Jude Akubuilo were drawn from the Enugu-USA organisation.

Sources close to the Enugu Government House and the convention said the Enugu-USA election might have cost the State Government more than USD92,000.

However, it was gathered that the efforts to defeat Dr. Ifesinachi Ugwuonye, described by government sources as “rigid and difficult to deal with” were thwarted by the Greater Awgu indigenes and delegates who voted en masse against the Governor’s candidate. 

The incumbent Senator representing Enugu West Senatorial District, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, hails from Aninri, which is part of the Greater Awgu political block in the Enugu West Senatorial District.

Although Dr. Ugwuonye and Mr. Ugwu hail from the same Udi/Ezeagu political block, delegates were said to have routed for Dr. Ugwuonye to prove a point and ensure the independence of the umbrella organisation of Enugu citizens resident in the USA.

Meanwhile, a member of the Enugu State Government delegation to the convention, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said it was not true that the Government sponsored any of the candidates as they were only in Houston to “promote Governor Sullivan Chime’s bid for the Senate”.

But this might have backfired as competent sources insisted that it was one of the major grouses of the delegates against the Sullivan Chime Administration.

A delegate, who gave a detailed account of the election queried: “How could people sit down in Government House Enugu and decide who is going to lead Enugu-USA?

“How could people be so petty to wear senatorial campaign T-shirts and faze to come and disorganize our events in a foreign land? Wasn’t that too petty and desperate?”

With the election, Enugu-USA has become the first major Igbo diaspora organisation to elect a woman as its President.

Other candidates elected into key offices include Hon. Kristy Obimah, Vice President; Hon. Chukwuma Ojukwu, Secretary; Hon. John Agbo, Chairman of Board of Trustees; and Hon. Ijeoma Nweze, Secretary, Board of trustees.

Igbo Leaders Demand Conference Of Ethnic Nationalities

Forget 2015, Nwabueze tells Jonathan

By Lawrence Njoku, The Guardian Nigeria

A group, Concerned Igbo Leaders of Thought led by constitutional lawyer, Prof Ben Nwabueze has written to President Goodluck Jonathan advising him not to convene the proposed national
conference using his inherent powers as enshrined in section 5 of the 1999 Constitution, as said to have been recommended by the Presidential Advisory Committee (PAC), warning that doing so would lead to anarchy.

  At a press conference, Nwabueze restated his earlier call on President Jonathan not to stand for re-election in 2015, stressing that he cannot combine the mobilization of election next year with the national conference.

 “I have advised him (Jonathan) to try and be a statesman, to be a hero and forget 2015. That the day you announce to Nigerians that you aare not going to stand for election in 2015, you become a great hero. You cannot combine these two thing–the mobilization for national conference which is aimed at national transformation and 2015 general elections. It is not possible. I have said it several times, I stated it when I led The Patriots to see him on August 29, 2013. I said it in Uyo, and I am saying it now”, Nwabueze stated.

 In a letter to the president dated January 6, 2014 and titled “ The position of the Igbo Nation on the National Conference, the renegotiated constitution of Nigeria”, the group insisted that President Jonathan should send an executive bill to the National Assembly authorizing the convocation of  an ethnic national conference whose outcome will be subjected to referendum, advising Nigerians to resort to protests should the National Assembly decline to authorize the conference.

   “The trouble here is that we Nigerians are docile, we finish here today, and everybody goes home, nothing happens. In other countries it does not happen. If the National Assembly refuses to pass the bill, the people should troop out to protest because these law makers are elected by the people and it is the people they should serve. The people say they are sovereign, but they are only sovereign by words of the mouth,” he said Reminded that such protests could lead to disintegration and probably affect the general election, Nwabueze said: “You do it to get a new system, you do it because we want a change. We cannot disintegrate, it will lead to desirable change. The general election is not a do-or-die matter, we can leave it for 2015. Many countries change the date for their election; we must get it right before we go to election.”

Nwabueze, who briefed reporters in Enugu on the essence of the letter by his group to the President, stated that it was borne out of the fact that the PAC empowered to ascertain the process of the conference had in their recommendations failed to meet the expectations of Nigerians.

 He added that such expressions were contained in a memorandum submitted to the President on August last year, when The Patriots which he leads visited the President where the idea of the national conference was mooted.

 Nwabueze said; “What the letter to the president is saying is that we wish to adopt a statement of the demand by The Patriots in the memorandum they submitted to you during a meeting with you on 29th August, 2013, particularly the elucidation of the fundamental attributes of the type of conference being demanded. These fundamental attributes are two: namely, a conference to adopt a suitable new constitution embodying renegotiated terms on which the diverse ethnic groups comprised in Nigeria can live together in peace, security, progress, general wellbeing and unity under one common central government, not a conference, the result of which deliberations will only be integrated in the existing 1999 Constitution.

“We don’t want that because the 1999 Constitution is a constitution only in a loose sense, it is not a constitution in the original sense of the act of the people, constituting the state and government. We are saying that this country has never had a constitution in the real sense, right from the colonial times, the constitution was made by the British not the people. The military came and made the constitution and in 1999, the military still made the constitution. We are saying that after all these years, the people of this country as a sovereign people should be given the opportunity to adopt a constitution for themselves and this is particularly important for the Igbo. We want the conference as an opportunity where we will sit with other ethnic groups to negotiate the terms and constitutions in which we will live together with others, the terms and constitutions to be embodied in a constitution.

“Secondly, conference of the ethnic nationalities making up the Nigerian state  should be the focal point, not a conference of individual Nigerians as autonomous entities or interest groups, although the latter should be given sizeable representation. We are demanding a conference of ethnic nationalities in this country. The people who wear the shoe know where it pinches. All the quarrels in this country are between ethnic groups claiming marginalization, some claiming injustice, some claiming suppression and the time has come for these ethnic groups, ethnic nationalities to come together. The autonomous individual Nigerians should not be excluded altogether, they should be given representation. We don’t want conference of interest groups or civil society groups and so on. We want a conference of ethnic nationalities. These are the two attributes of the conference we are demanding and these two attributes were amplified in a 30-paragraph memorandum submitted by The Patriots under my chairmanship to the President.

Nwabueze, Dr Dozie Ikedife, former President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo; Chief Anyim Ude (Ebonyi), Chief Enechi Onyia (Enugu) and two others signed the letter

Southeast Govs Meet Over 2015

GOVERNORS of the Southeast geo-political zone met in Enugu Saturday to articulate the position of the zone on the Southern Nigeria political leaders meeting holding today in Asaba, the Delta State capital.

Although there was no official confirmation to the positions reached by the governors, sources said the Enugu meeting, which lasted for over four hours, deliberated extensively on the role of Ndigbo in 2015 dispensation, stressing that such position would be presented today, when the leaders of the 17 southern states meet in Asaba.

At the meeting were Governors Peter Obi (Anambra), Martin Elechi (Ebonyi), Theordore Orji (Abia), Sullivan Chime (Enugu) and Deputy Governor of Imo state, Eze Mmadumere.

There were also others in the meeting including, Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha Senator Ayogu Eze,Senator Uche Chukwumerije, Minister of Power,Professor Chinedu Nebo, a representative of the traditional institution of the zone, the clergy led by Dr Amos Madu, the archbishop of Enugu Ecclesiastical Province, Anglican communion, among others.

But Governor Obi, who is also the chairman of South East governors forum, who emerged after the closed door meeting told Journalists that the meeting discussed about the visit of President Goodluck Jonathan as well as the burial plans of literary icon, Late Professor Chinua Achebe.

Achebe, he restated would be buried on May 23, this year at his family compound in Ogidi, Anambra state, stressing that the meeting was basically the review plans already made by the burial committee and the governors.

President Goodluck Jonathan will be embarking on a working visit to the Southeast zone of the country within the week. Obi added that the visit formed the reason for the emergency meeting.

The governor, who failed to give the exact date of the President’s visit to the zone, also failed to entertain questions from newsmen on other discussions at the meeting.

--------Lawrence Njoku, Guardian, May 11, 2013

APGA chairman asks NJC to investigate Enugu Appeal Court judges

The acting chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Enugu state chapter, Mr. Jude Okuli has called on the National Judicial Council, NJC to investigate the 3-man appeal court judges currently hearing his suit in the Enugu Division of Court of Appeal.

Addressing journalists yesterday at the premises of the Appeal Court in Enugu, Okuli, a respondent in an application filed by the former national chairman of the party, Mr. Victor Umeh said the action of the Justices led by Mr D. Galinge sparked off suspicion.

Okuli expressed shock that the court went ahead to hear the application and fixed Monday April 8 for ruling when he had not been served.

He described it as an abuse of judicial process and called on the NJC and the Acting President of the Court of Appeal to investigate the three judges.

“I want to let the entire world know what is happening in my case here at the Appeal Court, Enugu Division.

“On the 25th of March, somebody alerted me that hearing was going on in a case involving me and Victor Umeh.

I was shocked because prior to that date, I had not been served a letter by anybody.
“It is then so surprising that the judges led by Justice Galinge, who were hired and brought to Enugu, came here and commenced hearing on the matter without taking due notice of service.

“I rushed into the court and raised my hand; the judge ordered that I should be arrested; he later directed that I should be served there in the court. Later, I learnt that they had actually taken proceedings in the matter”, he said.

Continuing, Okuli said: “if they go ahead and give ruling here on Monday without giving me fair hearing, it will amount to travesty of justice.

“I am asking the NJC to do what it did in the case of Justice Archibong. I am asking that the Acting President of the Court of Appeal should look into this matter with eagle”.

He equally accused the judges of frustrating all the efforts he had made to obtain proceedings on the matter.

According to him: “I applied for the proceedings as soon as we came out from the court that day, but up till now, the deputy court registrar here has continued to frustrate me; he said the judges travelled back to Abuja, that means I should wait till the next 20 years”

In a letter dated 25th March, 2013, Okuli had written the court applying for certified true copy of the proceedings.

It could be re-called that an Enugu High Court presided over by the state’s Chief Judge, Innocent Umezulike sacked Umeh led APGA national leadership.

Unsatisfied with the judgement, Umeh approched the Appeal Court seeking a stay of execution as well as a review of the judgement.

-------------Emmanuel Uzodinma/Daily Post

Jonathan vows to sanitise electoral system

President Goodluck Jonathan says he is committed to bringing transformation to the country by sanitising the electoral process through free and fair elections.

Jonathan made the promise in Enugu on Monday at the dedication/hand-over ceremony of the All Saints Anglican Church, Mpu, in Aninri Local Government Area, built by the Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu.

Jonathan explained that good governance was anchored on free, fair and credible elections, adding that political leadership was transient.

``We should think more of our country; think more of building a society that our children will be happy about. I believe that no leader can do everything for the society but you think about some key things and do those ones very well.

``In this political dispensation, my feeling is to have free and fair elections. You cannot talk about good governance where election of people are manipulated.

``If your coming to power from counsellorship to presidency is based on manipulation, then there is no good thing you can do there.

``My belief first and foremost is to make sure that our electoral processes are sanitised and that the votes of Nigerians count.

``What I can promise Nigerians is that with their prayers, we will succeed and we are committed to making those little changes that will make a difference,’’ Jonathan said.

In a sermon, the Primate, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), The Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, commended Ekweremadu for the bold step toward ensuring the growth of the Church.

The primate urged well to do Nigerians to emulate the good investment made by the deputy president of the Senate.

``The building of this church is a commendable effort. We want to encourage Nigerians to give to the glory of God. This is a place to build human beings for God.

``We must approach God in humility and meekness into the house of God,’’ Okoh said.

In his goodwill message, Ekweremadu said the decision to build the Church was born out of his promise and covenant with God.

``Today is the happiest day of my life because I have fulfilled my long time promise and covenant with God.

``I promised to build a Church for God if He makes me successful in life and since that day, it has been from one blessing to another. I have never lacked since then,’’ he said.

------Daily Times, Nigeria, April 1, 2013

25 Nigerians Languishing In Vietnamese Prisons

No fewer than 25 Nigerians are currently languishing in various prisons in Vietnam, the Nigerian Ambassador to Vietnam, Mr Matthias Ojih-Okafor, has said.

Ojih-Okafor made the disclosure in Enugu on Tuesday at an interactive session, organised by the Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA) with the Enugu Business Community and Vietnamese delegation, attending the ongoing 24th Enugu International Trade Fair.

He listed some assistance the Nigerian Embassy in Vietnam had given to the prisoners as moral support through visits and financial assistance to both the victims and their families.
The ambassador said that the embassy was constrained by inadequate funds to assist Nigerians in various prisons in Vietnam.

He appealed to the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as the National Assembly for increased allocation to the embassy to enable it render legal services to Nigerians in Vietnam prisons.

Ojih-Okafor warned Nigerians living in Vietnam not to engage in criminal activities like drug peddling for their safety in that country.

"When I resumed work as ambassador, I visited all Nigerians in Vietnam prisons. The first thing I did was to give them moral and financial support. We also ensured that we send a staff of the embassy to represent them at the court as well as provide financial support to the families of those incarcerated in prisons,’’ Ojih-Okafor said.

--------Daily Times, March 20, 2013

Eminent Nigerians Call For National ConferenceGua

EMINENT Nigerians Saturday in Enugu said the country is faced with collapse, reiterating the need for a national conference before the 2015 general elections.

They insisted, at the 14th annual conference of Igbo Youth Movement (IYM), that the country has manifested several signs of a failed state, and urgent steps are needed to save it.

At the event were constitutional lawyer, Prof. Ben Nwabueze; former Anambra State Governor, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife; General Alanni Akinrinade; Chief Solomon Asemota; Senator Ben Obi; Chief Mike Orabator; Col Ben Gbulie and Col Joe Achuzia (rtd), among others.

Nwabueze said: “This country is on the verge of becoming a failed state. There are so many failed states in Africa and Nigeria is on the verge of getting that status.

“Before now, we didn’t know about kidnapping, but it has become a way of life. Did we know about bombings before? But today, churches, schools, offices are being bombed daily. The worst is that the bombers are not coming from outside the country; we are bombing ourselves.

“A nation that cannot provide a credible election for its people is a failed state; in 2003, 2007 and 2011, we had no credible elections; yet we are talking about democracy.”

He continued: “A country that cannot secure social and economic rights for her people is a failed state. Read chapter two of Nigeria’s constitution and you will understand what I am talking about; they are not leaders but looters.”

He said to move away from the current situation, a national conference should be organised very quickly, emphasising that the conference should not be seen as a way to destabilise Nigeria.

“Let us come together and deliberate; it will lead to peace; it will lead to a constitution whose source of authority is the people. We can’t have any substitute for the people. We are serious about it; we are working to achieve it and we shall succeed,” he said.

----------Lawrence Njoku, Enugu/Guardian Nigeria

Chime’s Return: End Of Controversy Over His Whereabouts

By Nnamdi Mbawike, Leadership, February 12, 2013

After spending over 140 days outside the shores of the country, Enugu State Governor, Sullivan Chime returned to Enugu, the state capital, last week Friday amid jubilation.

Chime, whose long absence generated a lot of controversy, first arrived Abuja last Thursday morning aboard an early morning British Airways flight from London.

Until his return to Enugu last Friday, many people, especially members of the opposition, dismissed the news of his earlier arrival in Abuja on the grounds that he did not speak with journalists Abuja.

Before leaving the country, Chime had transmitted a letter to the Speaker, Enugu state House of Assembly, a development that empowered his deputy, Sunday Onyebuchi, to assume the position of acting governor of the state.

However, despite the upgrading of Onyebuchi as acting governor, some anxious citizens of the state continued to query the whereabouts of Chime and even went ahead to declare him incapacitated, while some even declared him dead.

While some rumoured that the governor had died, others concluded that he could no longer discharge his official duties following being struck by a strange ailment.

Reacting to Chime’s long absence, some concerned citizens of Enugu State under the auspices of Save Enugu Group, forwarded a letter to the Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Eugene Odoh, requesting him to make public the certified true copy of the letter which the governor reportedly transmitted to the state legislature  before leaving the country.

And apparently irked by the refusal of the speaker to unveil the letter several days after he received it, the group threatened to approach the court to compel him to make available to the public the true certified copy of the letter.

In the letter titled “Re: Prolonged and  Unexplained absence of His Excellency, Sullivan Iheanacho Chime, Governor of Enugu state,” the group expressed regret that the Speaker was yet to answer the questions they raised in the first letter forwarded to him.

“We had written to you on 21 January, 2013, a letter titled as above of which the tenor was clear as simple English. The three point demand we made in that letter was essentially for you to make public, or show evidence of having done so, the contents of the letter purportedly served on you by His Excellency, Sullivan Iheanacho Chime our Governor, pursuant to section 190 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

“On the floor of the hallowed chambers of the State Assembly on 22nd January 2013, rather than answer the specific questions we had raised, you inter alia went on a voyage of discovery and manufactured a curious ‘Doctrine of Necessity’ which we never mentioned in our letter and answered the examination you set for yourself.

“We hereby formally demand that you make available to us, a CERTIFIED TRUE COPY (CTC) of the said letter which you claim was addressed to you by H.E. Governor Chime before he proceeded on leave/vacation.

“TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that should you not make available to us the CTC of the said letter SEVEN DAYS from the receipt of this notice, we shall be left with no other option but to seek remedies from an appropriate High Court to compel you to do so,” the letter signed by Chief Maxi Okwu stated.

But against the backdrop of the governor’s return to the state last week, the arguments about his long absence from the state, his whereabouts and health status, have now become history.

Governor Chime arrived the Akanu Ibiam international airport, Enugu, aboard a chartered flight precisely at 3.05pm last Friday, and was given a heroic welcome by family members, friends and officials of his administration who thronged the airport to receive him.

The governor was later escorted to Government House, Enugu, in a long motorcade, where he was received by several groups. The reception was a carnival of sorts as gaily dressed women sang and danced in turns, praising God for the governor’s safe return to the state.

Expectations that the governor would seize the opportunity offered by the generous reception organized for him to address both anxious journalists and the people of the state were dashed as he remained indoors to receive some dignitaries who succeeded amid tight security to gain access to his expansive office.

A lawyer by profession, Chime served as attorney general and commissioner of justice in the then administration of Governor Chimaroke Nnamani before he was elected governor of the state in 2007, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

It was said that Nnamani chose him as successor on the basis that unlike other PDP stalwarts in the state, including the then deputy governor, Okechukwu Itanyi, Chime never showed any interest to run for the exalted position.

Nnamani had assumed then that with the likes of Chime as governor, he could still control the levers of power in the state even when he was no longer governor.

But he was soon disappointed.  Once he was sworn-in as governor, Chime distanced his administration from his political mentor, choosing rather to call the shots himself.

He has since then succeeded in transforming the state capital to a modern city by building durable roads, providing street lights, attracting investors, and beyond that, ensuring the security of lives and property in a state hitherto known to be the den of criminal gangs.

Educated at the College of Immaculate Conception, CIC, Enugu, and the Enugu Campus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, governor Chime is married and has children.

Igbo Leaders Wade Into Ohaneze Crisis, Sets Up 11-Man Committee

Disturbed by the post-election crisis rocking the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo, leaders of the South-east geo-political zone yesterday in Enugu set up an 11-man committee to resolve the lingering imbroglio and fashion out the way forward for the people of the region.

Rising from a closed door meeting held at the Enugu Government House, the leaders expressed dismay over the crisis rocking the organisation and urged the committee chaired by Senator Ben Obi to find solution to the problem.

The meeting which was attended by notable leaders of the zone including Governors Peter Obi (Anambra), Martin Elechi (Ebonyi), Theordore Orji (Abia), Rochas Okorocha (Imo) and Acting Governor of Enugu, Sunday Onyebuchi, noted that time had come for Ohaneze Ndigbo to become more stronger instead of being faced with myriads of challenges culminating in the emergence of different factions.

Other Igbo leaders who attended the meeting include former Presidents-General of the organisation, Prof Joe Irukwu and Dr Dozie Ikedife, Minister designate, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, chairman of the South-east chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Bishop Emmanuel Chukwuma, Senator Ayogu Eze, Senator Ben Obi, Uche Chukwumerije and Enugu Speaker, Eugene Odoh.

Briefing newsmen at the end of the meeting, the chairman of the South-east Governors' Forum, Governor Obi who also chaired the meeting, said the committee had two weeks within which to look at the remote causes of the crisis and report back to the leaders of the zone, expressing hope that before long, the problem would be resolved.

He further disclosed that the meeting agreed that all issues pending in Ohaneze including the cases at different courts be withdrawn before the next meeting of the leaders.

He therefore appealed to all the people involved in the crisis to desist from making further comments on the issue till an amicable solution is found.

According to him, the crisis facing the organisation was painting a negative picture for the people of the zone, noting that efforts must be made to unite the people instead of fanning embers of disunity.

THISDAY checks revealed that a major crisis had broken out in the organisation shortly after its national election held on January 12 this year as another faction led by the former Secretary of the electoral committee that organised the election, Chief Richard Ozobu, faulted the exercise.

He insisted that the election which produced Chief Gary Igariwey as President-General and Dr Joe Nworgu as Secretary General did not follow due process, insisting that the whole exercise was hijacked by some unnamed forces who were bent on stagnating the organisation and by extension, the Igbo nation.

The crisis later assumed frightening dimension when the new officers went to court and obtained an injunction restraining the other faction from organising a parallel election on January 19 in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.

Since then, the two groups have continued to trade blame in the media prompting the intervention of the leaders of the zone.

Senator Obi has however assured them that his committee would however work hard to find lasting solutions to the crisis which he said has assumed a frightening dimension.

-------Christopher Isiguzo, This Day, Monday, January 28, 2013