|
Police Stray Bullets Kill 2 in Enugu
Policemen in Enugu who went for an arrest have ended up killing, at least two innocent persons while two others, who also sustained bullet wounds are currently receiving treatment at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu .
The five-man police team went to arrest one Obiora Utondu of 23 Ochi Street , Achara Layout but failed to effect the arrest as the suspect reportedly turned violent, using a machete to inflict serious injury on one of the policemen.
The police in turn opened fire and in the process innocent passersby were gunned down and others wounded.
One of the victims was identified as Augustine Osita Obe, a 25-year-old trader at Timber Market, Maryland , Enugu, while the identities of the others among them an Okada rider, who also lost his life, were not disclosed.
Obe hailed from Amachalla, Enugu-Ezike in Igboeze North Local Government Area of Enugu State and was said to have just completed his secondary education before delving into buying and selling of plywood. .
It was gathered that the five-man team, led by one Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Ituma Ituma, from the Uwani Police Division who had gone for the arrest met a strong resistance.
Irked by the alleged recalcitrance of the suspect who allegedly displayed dangerous weapons including a machete, the security operatives were said to have opened fire, shooting sporadically and in the process, one of the bullets hit the young Obe on the chest, killing him instantly. Other victims had similar gun wounds.
An eye-witness told our reporter in Enugu that the incident occurred along Ochi Street in Enugu metropolis when the victims were returning from their day's businesses before running into the scene of the police shooting.
When visited, the residence of one of the deceased at Agbani Road , Enugu , scores of sympathizers were seen consoling the parents of the victim, who threatened to prosecute the police officers in court until justice was done.
Meanwhile, the bodies of the victims have been deposited at the Eastern Medical Centre, Enugu, waiting police autopsy.
It was learnt on Wednesday at the Uwani Police Station that the five member police team was already in cell waiting for interrogation. When contacted the Enugu Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Ebere Amaraizu only confirmed the death of one person.
Said he; "A case of assault was reported against one Obiora Utondu, a case of wounding in which he inflicted injury on one Pastor Jude Utondu of 23 Ochi street. Based on this the police went in to arrest Obiora who became violent and used machete on a police Corporal, Hycinth Ugwu. The suspect also went ahead to break the windscreen of the police Hilux van."
Amarizu said in an attempt to demobilize the violent Obiora the policemen reportedly opened fire and in the process an innocent victim was killed.
He said the police corporal was receiving treatment in hospital and that investigation was on.
He said the State police command was not taking the incident lightly especially with the murder of an innocent citizen, assuring that justice would be brought to bear on the matter.
Source: The Sun, 4th March 2010.
Enugu Residents Protest Police Killing
From Lawrence Njoku, Enugu
WHAT could have resulted in a breakdown in law and order was averted by the police in Enugu yesterday as residents of Achara Layout trooped to the streets in protest over the killing of two persons, including a 25-year-old trader at the Timber Market, Maryland, Enugu, by the police.
The residents, bearing green leaves were on their way to the state police headquarters to register their displeasure over the alleged shooting and killing of the two innocent persons, when they were encountered by the police who fired several canisters of tear gas that dispersed them.
The incident occurred at about 7 p.m. on Tuesday night, on Ochi Street, Achara Layout, leaving two other victims lying critical ill at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku/Ozalla, Enugu.
But the police yesterday insisted that only one person was killed in the incident from a stray bullet fired by the team that carried out the operation, explaining that the gunshot was fired to demobilise and ward off a violent situation caused by the culprit it went to arrest.
The dead trader, who was identified as Augustine Osita Obe, hailed from Amachalla, Enugu-Ezike in Igboeze North Local Council Area of the state. He was said to have completed his secondary education two years ago before delving into the timber business and was returning home when he met his untimely death.
Source: The Guardian, 4th March 2010.
Enugu Lauds FG on New Polio Vaccine
Enugu—Enugu State Commissioner for Health, Dr Uche Uzochukwu has applauded the introduction of the new bivalent Oral Polio Vaccine, OPV, in the ongoing first round National Immunization Plus Days, NIPDS, in the state, noting that it was the only way of ensuring that children below five years of age are properly immunized against the deadly type 1 and type 2 wild poliovirus cases recently discovered in the country.
The wild polio virus according to medical experts is tenacious and could circulate very quickly in un-immunized children, causing lifelong paralysis.
The first NIPDs of 2010 was marked at the weekend, as the country tries to vaccinate more than 40 million children under five between 30 January and February 2.
Only about 388 polio cases were recorded in the country last year with majority of the victims coming from the Northern region. The Commissioner enjoined parents in the state to ensure that their wards were vaccinated during the NIPDS exercise.
Source: Vanguard, 1st Feb 2010.
Chime's Ploy Dims Opposition in Enugu
From Lawrence Njoku, Enugu
THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State may have devised a ploy to deplete the ranks of the opposition in the state. The state Governor Sullivan Chime, who had to contend with some opposition party candidates during the 2007 election, may have succeeded in wooing those who contested with him.
The latest captors are the governorship candidates of the Accord Party (AP), Chief Ugochukwu Agballah and Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), Rev Oscar Egwuonwu. The two were guests of the governor at the swearing in of council chairmen in the state last week, and had visited and pledged their support to him. The two were among those who contested Chime's victory at the tribunal.
The development is part of the intrigues and realignment towards the 2011.
Explaining further the significance of the presence of the two politicians in Chime's camp, sources said that with the two politicians, a major hurdle on the governor's re-election bid in 2011 might have been removed. He said that the movement is only logical and in the best interest of the politicians, since their area might not get the chance to govern Enugu until the next 16 years.
Agballah was campaign manager to former Governor Chimaraoke Nnamani during the 1999 elections. He ran for governor in 2003 on the ticket of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) against Nnamani and in 2007, and against Chime in Accord Party when APGA denied him ticket.
Egwuonwu served as chairman of Udi council under Nnamani and later became a staunch critic of Nnamani following a petition against the administration at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). This action raised his profile and encouraged him to challenge Nnamani in 2007. He remained a strong voice in the state until the verdict of the Court of Appeal in 2008, which restored Chime's victory.
Sources said that they fear for a mass exodus of their supporters to the ruling party. It was gathered that soon after Chime was declared victorious, supporters of the two men began to abandon them, due to what a former supporter described as "inability to oil the machinery of the party." The two men ran the election without campaign offices.
Another source attributed their defection tent with the governor as part of 'economic survival strategy," alleging that they had actually paid courtesy call to the governor, where they assured him of their support.
But sources closed to the government said that the romance was the outcome of intervention by prominent Udi persons in government, who had said that it was out of place to continue to fight when Chime, who is also from Udi is in power.
"I think the important thing is that Udi now has political power and that is why, even if there should be opposition to Chime at all, it should not come from Udi. What we are looking at is a situation where we can form a bloc to make it easy for the governor to return in 2011."
Agballah, last Monday, rode with the governor to the swearing in of new council chairmen, who are all PDP in the state, had sat with Egwuonwu and the governor, while the event lasted.
Although Egwuonwu refused to comment, one of his supporters said, "what do you expect him to say? He is a citizen of the state, who has no problem with the governor and since circumstances have changed, he ought to change as well. It is a demonstration of politics without bitterness."
At a public function recently Chime told party supporters that Enugu lacked credible opposition. He said that those who still pride themselves as opposition lacked principle and ideology. He said that the development strides and pattern of the administration of the state were responsible for the development. He advised the returnees to be patient and assured that they would at the appropriate time be rewarded for their loyalty.
Agballah and Egwuonwu have not formally declared for the PDP and there are doubts on how their loyalty would be retained by the party in the event positions in the state elude them.
On the equation of power in the state, should the rotation principle be followed, power will switch to Enugu North (Nsukka) for eight years and return to Enugu East for another eight years. This means that if Adada State is not created, the two men would not have enough political will or resources to prosecute another governorship election when it returns to Enugu West.
With the movement to PDP, it is believed that voices of dissent may have been finally buried in the state.
Mr. David Oko, said he did not believe that the romance by almost everybody in Enugu with the PDP could be sustained for a long time, stressing that the lure for occupation of office by those who felt that they have relationship with the governor or his relations would derail the process.
Oko said he had no sympathy for any group in the state but faulted the governor's statement that his achievement was attracting opposition to PDP.
"People flock to the PDP because they believe they would find what to eat there, not that the governor has been marvelous. It is just that for you to become anything in government or state, you must be identified with the PDP. And when these people feel they were going to be dropped from government, they will return to oppose," he said.
But Okey Ezea, the Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in the 2007 election, said that the opposition parties and their supporters were not aware that Agballah and Egwuonwu had switched camps. Explaining that though it is their rights to join any party, he said their presence in the opposition dimmed after the Court of Appeal ruling that revalidated the mandate of Chime.
According to Ezea, "we have lost nothing as far as I am concerned because, so many factors could contribute to their movement. It is now that the stage is defined, people now know who the true opposition in the state is and those who have been pretending to be part of it. I will remain opposed to what is happening in Enugu and there are so many people in Enugu who are not satisfied with what is happening in this state.
"They are from Udi and no one expects an Udi man to fight or criticise what his brother is doing. I don't expect anything less. It is in line with our peculiar politics."
"I have always disagreed with the governor on principle. He is not a product of a fair and free democratic process, the way he conducted the council election for 2007 and 2009 has remained fraudulent. A situation where people cannot be allowed to elect their leader is tyrannical. Since he assumed office, he has not done much to make me change my position. Since 2007 he has not accounted to anybody how he has been spending Enugu money and his sycophants said he is performing. I have challenged him often to tell the people how he is spending the state's resources."
Although celebrations have been on air within the party over the recent development, it does not seem that all is well after all, following the persistent frosty relationship between the former governor Senator Chimaraoke Nnamani and the leadership of the state. Nnamani and his ally in the House of Representatives, KGB Oguakwa have vowed not to identify with the administration of the state.
When the state leadership of the party released recently the 2010 calendar, with the pictures of current members of the National Assembly from the state Nnamani and Oguakwa were omitted, giving indications that all is still not well in both camps.
The calendar has the functionaries of the party even to the council level as well as the only minister from the state. There were also the national chairman of the party, the South East Zonal chairman, the governor, his wife and deputy governor.
Criticising the party for humiliating the former governor and Oguakwa, who are still members of the PDP in the state, Chief John Ngwu said that, "it has shown there was no true reconciliation in the party."
He noted that the fact that the calendar was capturing functionaries of the party as well as those produced by it who are serving at the federal level should have as much as possible recognised the duo, stressing that they have overstretched the imbroglio.
"I thought we have realised that there is no need for quarrels. What you should realise is that these people that are being humiliated have strong supporters; one way or the other, they would one day, work either in the interest of the party or against it. The entire thing would depend on the way we are treating them today. We should learn to forgive and let go no matter the cost," he said.
But the State Publicity Secretary of the party, Dr. Okey Eze, said that the party wrote its members informing them of the calendar and requesting their portraits. "We did not get any picture from either Nnamani or Oguakwa. If they had forwarded their portraits, we would have used them, because they are still members of the PDP produced by the party in the state", he said.
Source: The Guardian, 20th January 2010.
Enugu Explains Repair of
Old Assembly Town Clock
From Lawrence Njoku, Enugu
ENUGU State government has said that it decided to rehabilitate the old Eastern Province House of Assembly Town Clock in recognition of the importance of the monument to the socio-political development of the area.
The Commissioner for Enugu Capital Territory, John Egbo, explained that Governor Sullivan Chime embarked on the rehabilitation of the Town Clock built in 1948 as part of his administration's commitment to the upliftment of the state capital and the enthronement of a maintenance culture.
Egbo disclosed that the rehabilitation of the clock was undertaken by its original makers, Messrs Smith of Derby, who he said, were invited from the United Kingdom (UK) to maintain quality and ensure that the instrument was upgraded properly.
He noted that the slight adjustment in the mechanical structure of the clock was made by transforming it from manual to electronic, adding that the rehabilitation by engineers from the UK company had shown Governor Chime's commitment to a maintenance culture and a departure from the common belief that government's property is no man's property.
Egbo stated: "What His Excellency has done is a demonstration of his insistence that the labours of our heroes past shall never be in vain. You would be sure that the Enugu Town Clock is at the centre of the Coal City legend. It is, therefore, instructive that the rehabilitation of the clock at this point in time is a veritable way of bringing back the original vision of our founding fathers and rekindling unity and love among residents".
While listing the benefits of the town clock, the commissioner stressed that whenever the clock ticks, it would not only rouse residents into productive activity, but also help in planning for their day's activities.
Egbo noted that the hurry and desperation exhibited by commuters were traceable to the lack of time consciousness.
"Our people should learn to plan adequately for their movement, especially for the day's activities. The rush and desperation that describe the city is traceable to lack of time consciousness. His Excellency has given impetus for our people to make hay while the sun shines. The clock is also a reminder of how far the city has come and it is a symbol of our unity and sense of enterprise", Egbo added.
Describing the town clock as the pride of old Eastern Region now spread into nine states, the commissioner disclosed that his authority was embarking on the resuscitation of other dilapidated monuments including the old Eastern Province House of Assembly, which he said, would serve as the temporary site for the Eyo Ita Hall of Fame for past leaders of the region.
Egbo explained that his authority would continue to search and rehabilitate other historical monuments in the capital city, pointing out that so, far the urban face-lift of Enugu would be in top gear this year even as he warned residents to desist from building shanties on open spaces or abandoned access roads in the city.
Source: The Guardian, 14th January 2010.
|
