Anyim, Gov Obi Receive Achebe’s Remains

Senator Pius Anyim Pius, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State led other dignitaries comprising government officials, writers, cultural organisations and other associates to receive the remains of celebrated writer, Chinua Achebe in Abuja Tuesday morning.

The body of the late author arrived on board British Airways at Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport around 5 a.m. Tuesday.

The body of the author of Things Fall Apart was accompanied by Christie, his wife and other close family members from the United States to Nigeria.

The body, which was in a casket draped in national colours of green and white was later brought into the local wing of the airport by pall bearers dressed in full Igbo attire.
Prof. Achebe's body at the Nanmdi Azikiwe airport, Abuja

Prof. Achebe’s body at the Nanmdi Azikiwe airport, Abuja

The entrance of the casket into the hall was heralded by blaring trumpets, songs and dancing.

Also present at the airport were Chief Ogbonaya Onu, Ike Achebe first son of the deceased and some female ministers.

A brief service presided over by Right Reverend Nwokolo was conducted during the very brief reception at the airport after which the casket was again taken into a plane for another reception coming up later Tuesday in Enugu.

Chrstie, the late author’s wife, Governor Obi and other members of the family were in the flight to Enugu.

Achebe, 82, died on 21 March, 2013 in America.

The popular author will be buried at Ogidi, his hometown, in Anambra State on Thursday.

—Oluokun Ayorinde/Abuja

Read more »

Gov. Akpabio, Obong Attah Pay Tributes to Chief F. E. J. Etim

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio and his predecessor, Obong  Victor Attach  saturday buried their differences and united to give befitting tributes and burial to late octogenarian, Chief Fidelis Eno  James Etim, a recipient of the Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR) at Uruk Uso village in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area.

Chief Etim, a pioneer Rector of Federal Polytechnic, Mubi and  one-time Chairman of  Akwa Ibom State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), who  died March 30 this year at the age of 77,  was a bosom friend of Obong Attah and a political godfather to Chief Akpabio.

According to Governor Akpabio,” he was a man of peace;  he brought me into the political circle in 2002 as commissioner and introduced me to the former governor, Arc. Victor Attah and that started the journey of my emergence as governor today”.

“ I am present today as a member of the family. As the state governor, I have not disappointed the late Fidelis Etim,rather, I have made him and the entire state proud. He was my political father and mentor. We would miss his fatherly love and wise counsel.

“So we are all here to bid an icon, father and educationist goodnight, for he was a man with a heart for God, a legend, who would always have a permanent place in our hearts. With his various qualifications, he was an asset to us, he was always there to strengthen the weak and give hope to the hopeless. He was a treasure to all Akwa Ibom people and to the entire Nigeria,” he remarked.

“His entrance into politics was for the betterment of the people. He was a Christian who was never found wanting in his Christian life. He was a role model for Akwa Ibom youths to emulate. He was completely a detribalised Nigerian who believed in one people,” he added. 

Read more »

Nasarawa - Bodies of 25 Missing Policemen Found in Mass Grave

Photo: This Day

Widows of Slain Nasarawa police officers in protest.

The death toll of policemen killed by members of the Ombatse cult in Nasarawa State has climbed to 72 following the discovery of the bodies of 25 policemen that had been hitherto declared missing in a mass grave in an unnamed village in the state.

Security authorities had earlier confirmed 57 operatives, comprising 47 policemen and 10 agents of the State Security Service (SSS), killed in the attack that took place on May 7 when they were on a rescue mission to a village in Nasarawa State.

The police, which launched a manhunt for the killers, had declared the 25 policemen missing because their bodies could not be found to confirm if they were dead or alive and nobody knew their whereabouts.

The manhunt for the killers however yielded fruit yesterday as seven of the suspected Ombatse cultists were said to have been arrested in Borno State while trying to flee to Niger Republic.

While the police are still searching for the killers, the Chairman of the Northern State Governors' Forum (NSGF) and Niger State Governor, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, yesterday called on the federal government to fish out the killers and bring them to justice.

A top police source confided in THISDAY yesterday that contrary to the hope among the police authorities that the 25 policemen might still be alive, their bodies were recently found in a mass grave in a village. But he declined to name the village and when the bodies were discovered.

"By the time we found the missing policemen, their bodies were already decomposing in a mass grave in the village. It was a gory sight," he said.

He promised that the police would spare no efforts and resources in ensuring that those behind the killings are found and prosecuted.

Efforts to get more details from police spokesperson, Frank Mba, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), proved abortive, as he did not pick or return his calls.

It was also learnt yesterday that seven of the suspected killers of the security agents have been arrested in Borno State while trying to flee to Niger Republic.

The arrest has however not eased tension in the state as many people feared that the case will not be closed until the arrest of the chief priest of the Ombatse shrine whose concoction people believed helped the cultists to become invulnerable to injuries from weapons.

THISDAY learnt that the fear stems from the fact that the power and influence of the chief priest is known to the people, especially politicians who had also benefited from his mystical powers in 2011 during the general election.

The cult, according to a source, is said to be bitter that those who climbed to positions of power through its influence turned round to send enforcement operatives to destroy it.

The seven suspected Eggon militants believed to have been apprehended at the weekend by the Joint Task Force (JTF) operatives in Borno State may have been handed over to the Nasarawa Police Command.

Initial investigations have also shown that some top politicians in the state had patronised the shrine during the campaign for the last general election and helped in the funding and provision of logistics, especially sophisticated weapons used by the cultists.

Inspector General of Police (IG), Mohammed Abubakar, while visiting the troubled area at the weekend, had called on elders and eminent citizens of Nasarawa State to collaborate with the police to fish out the killers.

The IG, who was in the state along with the Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade (rtd), described the killing of the security agents as "callous".

He said some officers were still being held hostage by the militants, adding that efforts were being made to free them.

"We are making every peaceful effort to ensure that some of our men still being held hostage are released unhurt," Abubakar said.

On his part, Olubolade said such a "barbaric act" of snuffing out the life of security personnel, who are meant to safeguard lives, was unacceptable in a decent society.

"Somebody, somewhere is causing havoc for whatever reason and the society must not allow that to continue," he added.

The Niger State governor also Monday made a case for the apprehension and prosecution of those behind the killing of the security agents in Nasarawa State.

Aliyu, who spoke in Abuja during a peace forum and launch of polio eradication almanac, which was organised by the Northern State Governors' Wives' Forum (NGWF), also called for equal compensation to families of security agents killed in Nasarawa State.

Over N70 million was raised to encourage the peace mission and polio eradication in the region.

The governor said it was deplorable that security agents who are symbols of the nation's authority could be killed by insurgents.

"I heard that a policeman's life is worth N500,000 and that it took the intervention of the Force Headquarters to make it N1 million, while that of the SSS is N10 million and a house. We should begin to treat our security agents equally," he said.

Chairperson of NGWF and wife of Benue State governor, Mrs. Yemisi Suswam, said the peace forum would allow for open and fair interaction and exchange of ideas on the peaceful co-existence of the nation.

Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Governors' Forum (PDP-GF) and Akwa Ibom State Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, who also spoke on the occasion, blamed ethnic bigotry and religious intolerance for Nigeria's problems and urged women to instil strong moral values in their wards.

Read more »

TORNADO - THE SOONER TRAGEDY

The expression is that "Once a Sooner, always a Sooner". For the "Sooners" in our forum, they would understand what that mean. Our thoughts and prayers go to the Sooner state of Oklahoma. I spent most of my '80s in the Moor-Norman neighborhood when I was at the University of Oklahoma (OU) in Norman. The city of Moore, the "epicenter" of the yesterday tornado, is right on the north of Norman, a suburb of Oklahoma City that houses the National Weather and (Tornado) Center at the OU campus. The center was able to sound warning barely 30 minutes before the devastation. If this sort of aftermath is witnessed with the Weather Center right in the midst of it, perhaps the entire city would have been wiped out had the Center been thousands of miles away! May be not.

 

I had my experience of one of the tornadoes touch-downs in the 80s. What I recall is that on that fateful day, the sky first turned gray-dark. There was no rain involved. Then the siren (alarm), the type that would let you realize that the world is just about to end if you fail to heed by scampering to the shelter which in this case was the Sooner football stadium, built to withstand any force. As naive as I was in my freshman year, I chose to stay put in the school dorm.

 

Momentarily, the city was in complete darkness. The roaring sound, mixed with siren, the super-wind, the kind never seen, the hail storm (edim itiat) falling from the sky or from heaven(?), all added to a perfect storm. The roar was like the sound of a thousand freight trains passing by at the same time. Within an hour, it was all over. Then the news came that Norman was just on the fringe of the twister. Again, the neighborhood of Moore took the brunt of it while we in Norman dodged the bullet.  As for the reason Moore is always in the eye of these twisters, I am yet to understand. I don't think those in the National Weather Center have answers either.

 

Since leaving Norman years ago, I haven’t been back there. I do know there are still a few of our folks down there. I hope they are alright. The scenery shown on the television is heartbroken, especially the school kids “incinerated” as they took shelter in their gymnasium.  Pondering on the death tolls from Sandy, Katrina, and others, California should be a state of destination to many. And it is.  We went over this a few months ago. This is something many of our folks in these disaster-prone areas should carefully but seriously consider. We have one life to live.

 

  

Sincerely,

 

Dr. Tom Mbeke-Ekanem, REA 
Moderator 
Author, Beyond the Execution - 
   Understanding the Ethnic and Military Politics in Nigeria
Los Angeles, California 
Tel: (951) 640-0737 
Email: tedey@aol.com

Read more »

Nigerian Senators approves State of Emergency

Nigerian Senators meeting behind closed doors have overwhelmingly voted to support the state of emergency imposed on three north-eastern states by President Goodluck Jonathan. 100 members of the 109 members by a voice vote unanimously approved the official gazette outlining the emergency measures in Adamawa, Borno and

Yobe states, transmitted to it by President Goodluck Jonathan. 

“We therefore approve Mr President’s request for a declaration of state of emergency,” said senate president David Mark after the voice vote.

The constitution requires an endorsement by a minimum of 72 senators representing two-third of the total members. 

Mark said: “we must emphasise very emphatically that all democratic structures must be left in place and they must be allowed to operate fully and actively and they must also be involved in all the effort by the Federal government to put this ugly situation to an end.” 

The senate  emphasized that the armed forces should be issued proper code of conduct where they will be humane, benevolent and to make sure that all citizens are treated with utmost respect.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives is in session and is also likely to approve the emergency measures.

Read more »

Northern Elders Convene Emergency National Summit On Insecurity

Alarmed by the growing insecurity in the country, some prominent Nigerians, former and current government officials have begun mobilising for a major national summit to work out political consensus on how to arrest the situation.
This hint was dropped in a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja by the Secretary of the National Summit planning committee, Modupe Odubanjo, on behalf of the arrowhead of the summit conveners, Maitama Sule, leader of Northern Elders Forum.

The conveners also said that the three-day national summit initially scheduled to hold next week at Le’ Meridian Hotels and Resorts, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, will now hold from 25 to 27 June 2013, at the same venue.

Ms Odubanjo explained that the national parley is expected to discuss the modality for a nationwide consultations and negotiations, while assessing the controversial issues of amnesty for militants as well as the latest state of emergency imposed in three northern states by President Goodluck Jonathan.

She said those already being invited to convene various sessions of the emergency national summit include eminent jurist and leader of the Patriots, Ben Nwabueze, leader of the Northern Political Leaders Forum, Adamu Ciroma, Former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Emeka Anyaokwu, Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, former Minister of Defenec, Theophilus Danjuma.

According to a draft programme earlier released by the summit organizers, President Jonathan is expected to deliver a keynote address at the event, which is expected to be attended by governors of the three troubled states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

“Also expected to deliver goodwill messages at the historic event tagged National Summit on the Future of Nigeria are the President of the Senate, David Mark, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal and all former Presidents and Heads of State of Nigeria as well as senior members of Project Nigeria, the Nigerian Labour movement, civil and political society in the country,” the statement added.

Read more »

The Probe Of Orji Uzo Kalu By Governor Theodore Orji

It was Hubert H. Humphrey (American 38th US Vice President under Lyndon B. Johnson (1965-69) and US Senator from Minnesota (1949-64, 1971-78). 1911-1978), who said that the essence of statesmanship is not a rigid adherence to the past, but a prudent and probing concern for the future.

But Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State does not want to focus for the future without the unremitting calls to probe his predecessor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu. Perhaps, Gov. Orji wanted reconciliation with Kalu, without knowing how to go about it, hence the probe.

Nonetheless, information has it that Kalu has constantly responded that he has nothing to quiver for the affront called probe; he is only concerned that Governor Orji has slighted him so much, beyond parsimoniousness, by saying that he should appear before the probe panel, as if he is Orji’s apprentice.

Dr. Kalu’s infuriation was noticed after the newsflash on Nigeria Television Authority on May 15, 2013, has it that Governor Orji, who set the panel, was asking him again to appear before it. It is though imperative to say that the vulgarity in the statement on the television by the government of Abia State has further exposed a known fact that the Governor Orji-led Government of Abia State does not know what Due Process is and if it knew, it does not keep to such. Else, how could it not have properly invited Kalu for the probe, instead of addressing him like one loafer in the country? Although, what is the gobbledygook of a probe is this?

In his chase after Kalu inter alia, Orji had said that the probe was to look into the running of the state's newspaper outfit while Kalu was in government; but in a statement by Kalu, he urged Orji to go collect his towel where he took his bath and stop distracting him, as his newspaper outfit, Sun Publishing Limited which operates in Aba, Lagos and Abuja, was financed by Guarantee Trust Bank Plc, and all the equipments it purchased had been fully paid.

It is preposterous how Orji has made governance to look like, without a direct approach to the rule of law, which Kalu is highly committed to, and has vowed that it would be a shame to all the people who may be involved in the kangaroo probe if they fail to invite him in order to put his actions as Governor of Abia State between 1999 and 2007 straight, and stop this government’s distractions of his activities, because he has a lot to do, if the government is less busy in the midst of plenty works to do in Abia State.

As Abia people knew, Kalu had noteworthy achievements during his tenor of which Gov. Orji cannot compete. If he is in doubt, we henceforth challenge him for a debate. How come that since 2012, the major work that Gov. Orji has known to do, is the call to probe Kalu? This has gotten to an irritating stage. Who does not want Kalu to speak about Abia State and her government again and who is afraid of Kalu?

We have to remind Orji that he should own up that he is not at peace with his conscience for all the perceived malevolence he has meted out against Kalu whom he once served his government as Chief of Staff, hence the make-belief probe. Abia people are very sure that Orji is heading to the gulag from where he became governor, if by peradventure Kalu is duly invited and he comes to open the Pandora’s Box containing unprintable things about Orji.

Last time, it was the irritant that the Abia State Government circulated that it wanted to probe Kalu, because according to it, “there has been a lot of anger, irritation and agitation within the Abia populace as a result of the unguarded false utterances being credited to a former governor of the state, Chief Oriji Uzor Kalu”. Nonsense! Arrant nonsense!! Which Abia people were angry over Kalu? Was it Kalu who has been pelted severally in Abia State by the same populace or Governor Orji? Of course, Governor Orji. This is how Abia people have started to probe Governor Orji, while he is still taking Kalu as cover for his non-performance in the Government House, Umuahia, Abia State capital. What an off-beam news state!

How one wishes that traders from Aba will also be invited to the ground of the probe and let us see who would be pelted, booed, jeered again for his clueless, visionless and clownish embarrassment of governance, and because of his misplacement of aggression and misplacing  governance with nastiness. What is Orji going to probe Kalu for, when the present government has been a nonpayer to virtually all the workers in the state? Maybe, Orji is inviting Kalu to help him address his ineffectiveness in governance.   

The present government in Abia State is very funny – it has knack in diverting attention – in lieu of probing into why there are many ramshackle roads, infrastructure, dead commerce/industry, dead education. Which sector is alive in Abia State under Gov. Orji?  Yet, Abia people cannot see where the proper use of the monies due to Abia, since 2007 till date of Governor Orji, is channeled to. Are the monies where? Because, many unbiased Abia people are yet to see any laudable thing that Governor Orji has done with the monies.

It is only in this present government in Abia State that many are regretting that they are cursed with leadership, and they start to equate Governor Orji with a magician, because of his ability to deflect concentration from actuality. It is only in this Orji government that such statement as “this administration is seriously seriousless” is being heard of.

Whether Governor Orji wants to probe Dr. Kalu or reconcile with him, Abia people of good will had already said that Kalu is by 85% better than Orji. The only information that Orji has kept flowing is how to probe Kalu, whereas Abia people had expected the government to flow information to the Federal Government that all the Federal and state projects in the state are in ruins, and instead of travelling to Europe and USA and Abuja that do not add meaning to the wellbeing of our impoverished people.

A bad worker is always quarrelling with his or her good or bad tool. Under Orji, political appointees have cried and cried and are now sacked, amongst others. By mentioning that he would probe Kalu, Orji has started the initiation of probe against himself, being Kalu’s Chief of Staff for 8 years. Why was Orji cooling his feet in detention for alleged financial crimes before 2007, whereas there has not been any case of such against Kalu?

In a state like Rivers State, where the successor had respect for his predecessor, what was constituted was a reconciliatory panel, which brought about the once elusive peace back to the state. Nevertheless, let us not keep out our minds to what Hubert H. Humphrey had said: The essence of statesmanship is not a rigid adherence to the past, but a prudent and probing concern for the future.

Odimegwu Onwumere, Poet/Author, contributed this piece from Rivers State. Tel: +2348032552855. E-mail: apoet_25@yahoo.com

Read more »

Nigeria: That Associations Elections BY PAUL BASSEY

So much has been said and written about the recently held elections into the various sports associations in Nigeria. My view is laced with disappointment, shocked at a system that I thought was going to bring about a change, only to draw us back many years.

I believed in the modalities put in place by the sports ministry. I agreed that those powerful secretaries who took directives from the National Sports Commission, NSC, and undermined the board members should henceforth be appointed on merit and subjected to the boards of the various sports.

I knew that all the attention given to football was because other sports were not living to scratch. In fact, most of them were as good as dead and buried.

After the disgrace at the Olympics and the anger generated in the land, including the Presidential condemnation, I was one of those who clamoured for the complete overhaul of the NSC. That from all indications, the NSC was peopled by human beings who had outlived their usefulness, bereft of ideas and had reached a cul de sac as regards progress and productivity.

We then soft pedaled and made a case for the new sports minister who could not have been part of the rot, since he came in to inherit all the painlessness that predictably resulted in the London disaster that we all saw coming, except the leadership of the NSC.

We said the minister could not have been guilty. The guillotine was meant for those who in their false and bizarre calculations deceived that gold and other medals were going to be won aplenty.

So, we encouraged the retention of the minister and advised him to clean the Augean stable. He was to set up a machinery for the review of the Olympics from where the way forward will be charted including an emphasis on development and grass roots sports

Surprisingly, whereas the Presidential sports retreat was held, ( Still awaiting the findings ) the culprits as it were, were let off.

I switched my hope to the impending elections where I was very sure that those Presidents and members who messed up at the Olympics had no chance in hell to return. I was sure they were going to be booted out and fast too... Surprise ... ..Surprise... When the results were announced, the same people who in the last ten years, (some of them more) held our sports by the jugular and hemorrhaged it have been returned.

This, is disastrous and a great draw back for our sports.

For the past three weeks I have been hooked to tennis on the DSTV Network and every time I do, I see South Africans holding their own in the circuit, I see young tennis players ages seventeen, nineteen breaking loose on the world stage and I ask why we do not play tennis in this country? Who, will revive our tennis?

Every week end I watch live boxing matches in South Africa. I do not want to talk about cricket, rugby, basketball... just name it. What ever happened to the Grass hoppers hand ball team of Owerri?... .Where is Eddy Aderinokun's type Volleyball revolution? The world is developing and practicing sports, not Nigeria. I repeat that to have returned those who over the years dragged our sports into oblivion is the greatest disservice to this country. People who should be tied to sports stakes and shot.

Sponsorship and partnership have become taboo, seminars, clinics and grass roots development programmes are not initiated. Do they even meet as boards? Pray what manifestoes did these individuals present to warrant their return to office? It may be unfair not to say that the Athletics Federation of Nigeria has had articulated programmes over time, including the hosting and winning of the 1st African Youth Championships in March. Which other sport? I stand to be corrected.

The way it stands, no hope in sight, none, even as the next Olympics looms large.

Edwin Clark Invitational hots up in Uyo

Last week end another competition was added to the Nigerian football calendar when the Edwin Clark U-18 international tournament kicked off in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State with eight teams in attendance.

King Amachree Sportive of Benin Republic, Pepsi Football Academy from Lagos, Greater Tomorrow sports Academy of Akwa Ibom, Yenogoa City Football Academy, Delta Stars, Rangers Junior of Enugu, Amakson of FCT and Super Nova Academy of Rivers State were part of an impressive ceremony last Thursday that saw the attendance of ex Super Eagles players Samson Siasia and Peter Rufai.

The final is slated for Saturday May 25 a day that coincides with the birth day of Chief Clark. When it comes to age group and development, count me in.

I thank Chief Clark for initiating this competition and kudos to Governor Akpabio for bank rolling the first edition.

... .OF KANU AND OKWARAJI.

Last week, while lauding the exemplary offer of fifty thousand US dollars to the Super Eagles by injured Emenike, I wanted to find out whether we have had such selfless acts before by Nigerian players who have an history of insisting on their estacodes even to the point of threatening " no show" if their conditions are not met.

Then came this text message from Toni Ekiugbo ( 08037250922) arguing that the Late Sam Okwaraji and Nwankwo Kanu should be singled out and commended, the one for selfless service, the other for putting back into the society.

I promised him his view will be published.

See you next week.

Read more »