Author: James Nwakere

THIRTEEN persons have been confirmed dead following a cholera outbreak in Ebonyi and Izzi local government areas of Ebonyi State. Ten persons were confirmed dead from the disease a few days back. But while briefing newsmen in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State Commissioner for Health Moses Ekuma said three more deaths have been recorded and about 69 cases reported. Akuma said that others affected are responding to treatment at the different treatment centres activated within the communities affected in Ebonyi and Izzi local government areas. According to him, the state government’s swift response and approval of Governor Francis Nwifuru to procure…

Eligible voters in Anambra State will today elect their local government executives for the first time in 11 years. The last local government election in the state took place in 2013 at the twilight of the administration of former Governor Peter Obi. Since then, successive administrations, particularly under Willie Obiano, opted to manage local councils through caretaker committees. The incumbent Governor Charles Soludo also continued with this tradition since assuming office in 2022 until a recent Supreme Court decision outlawed the practice of running local governments with un-elected officials. The governor recently announced that eight political parties would be participating…

ABOUT 10 persons have died following a cholera outbreak in Ndibokote village of Ezza Inyimagu in the Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. Among the dead person is a nursing mother, who left behind a nine-month-old baby. The Ebonyi State Health Commissioner Moses Ekuma confirmed this in a statement by the ministry’s spokesman Lucy Anyim. Apart from the deceased, about 20 persons affected by the outbreak are responding to treatment as efforts have been made to put the disease under control from spreading around the community. Ekuma noted that the state Governor Francis Nwifuru has approved the procurement of…

THE Anambra State Police Command has arrested two suspects and has recovered a large quantity of gunpowder concealed in a bag of Garri. One locally-made pistol and live ammunition were also recovered during the operation, according to a statement by its Police Public Relations Officer, SP Tochukwu Ikenga on Wednesday. The command said the feat was achieved when its Police-led Joint Security Force was on an intelligent-driven routine patrol along the pillar-pole area of Aguata on Sunday. The command said it had intercepted a suspect name withheld carrying three bags of Garri. The operatives upon search of the suspect discovered…

UNKNOWN assailants on Monday attacked the Umunze Police Station in Orumba South Local Government Area of Anambra State. Some sources and residents in the area said the assailants stormed the police facility in the early hours of Monday, shooting severally into the air before forcefully gaining entrance into the premises. According to the sources, during the attack, some police officers were shot dead as the assailants caught them unawares while some parts of the premises were set ablaze using improvised explosive devices. One of the eyewitnesses said, “The masked hoodlums shot severally into the air as they marched towards the…

AN AIDE has allegedly been sacked from his duties at the Anambra Government House following the leaking of a video where Gov Charles Soludo was dancing to the ‘Gwo Gwo Gwo Ngwo’ song alongside some personalities. It was gathered that the video was secretly shot when there was an order for the proceedings at the venue to be off-record. Governor Soludo had specifically requested that the moment be off-the-record before he began the dancing, an insider told this newspaper. The source added that a majority in attendance complied to the instruction but for a staff that secretly recorded and leaked…

THE Imo State Police Command says hoodlums suspected to members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) launched an attack on Isiala Mbano Local Government Headquarters and Obowo Police Station. According to a statement by the public relations officer of the Command, ASP Henry Okoye, the attacks left two vigilante personnel and a police constable dead. He said that Commissioner of Police, Imo State Command, CP Aboki Danjuma, in coordination with leaders of various security agencies, has initiated a decisive response to the attacks. The statement further read, “The assault by these hoodlums, who came in large numbers, firing…

THE Police-led security force comprising of the Army, Navy, Civil Defence and other security agencies are currently in a joint on-slaught operation, following an attack in the early hours of Tuesday on Oba Police Divisional Headquarters and Oba Civic Center in Anambra State. A statement by the Police Public Relations Officer, Anambra State Police Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga said the suspected armed secessionist group started shooting sporadically in an attempt to gain entrance to the police station. The gunmen also threw petrol bombs at the security facility, setting some of the offices, including the Oba Civic Center on fire. According…

POLICE operatives have arrested a man for the murder of his neighbour’s four-year-old daughter in Enugu. A statement by the Police Public Relations Officer, Enugu State Command, DSP Daniel Ndukwe on Tuesday, said the command had received a distress call on August 18, 2024, around 10:30 PM. The call had prompted police operatives serving in the Nsukka sector of the Enugu State Command’s Anti-Cultism Tactical Squad, to hasten to a compound at Orba Road in Nsukka Local Government Area. The caller had alleged the murder of a four-year-old girl. The Operatives consequently arrested one Nweke Chukwuemeka aged 30, alleged to…

THE All Progressives Congress (APC) has suffered a major setback in Anambra State as a former Managing Director of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and founding member of the party, Chief George Moghalu, has dumped the party. The former National Auditor of APC, in a letter conveying his resignation from the party, dated August 26, 2024, addressed to the Uruagu Ward 1 chairman of the APC in Nnewi, Nnewi North local government area of Anambra State, said: “I bring to you the good wishes of my dear family and to formally notify you of my decision to resign my Membership…

THE national Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, has declared that the party has no parallel executive in Enugu State, stressing that Mr Ugochukwu Agballah remains the state chairman. Justice C.V.C. Ezeugwu of the Enugu State High Court had on August 9, issued an injunction restraining Ugochukwu Agballah from parading himself as the chairman of APC in the state. Also included in the restraining order in suit No: E/548/2024, are: Augustine Alumonah, Jude Chinedu Aniogbo, Moses Emeka Eze, Sunday Ugwoke, Ugwu Christian Kanayo, Eze Chidiebere Johnson, Queen Charles, Onyekachi T. Ezeagu, and Idoko Chikadibia, who were barred…

GUNMEN on Thursday abducted three persons in Enugu State College of Health Technology in Oji River Local Government Area of the state. The Enugu State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, confirmed this in a statement on Saturday. He said that after receiving information alleging an act of abduction around the said college, the Oji River Division of the Command immediately hastened to the scene, rescuing two victims, while three others are yet to be found. He, however, said that vigorous operations are ongoing to locate and rescue them, as well as apprehend the abductors. According to DSP Ndukwe,…

ANAMBRA State Commissioner for Youth Development, Patrick Mba, and his wife have been released by their captors after spending a day in captivity. A reliable top government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, disclosed the development to our correspondent, on Saturday night, adding that the commissioner and his wife regained their freedom on Saturday. “The kidnapped Commissioner of Youth Development and his wife have been released today. To God be the glory. The state government will soon issue a statement on that,” the source added. Some gunmen had on Friday, kidnapped the commissioner, alongside his wife, at an…

ANAMBRA State Commissioner for Youths Development, Patrick Aghamba, and his wife have been kidnapped. Sources said an aide of the commissioner, whose name was given as Kpajie ABK Offiah, an Onitsha youth and a stalwart of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), who was travelling with them, was shot dead by the kidnappers. According to reports, they were on their way to Abuja for the wedding of Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s daughter taking place on Saturday, August 17th, when they were kidnapped at the Kogi axis of the route. Confirming the incident, the Press Secretary to Governor Soludo, Christian Aburime, said…

THE Minister of Art, Culture, and Creative Economy Barrister Hannatu Musa Musawa has pledged to amplify the Iri Ji Ndi Igbo National New Yam Festival to global recognition. The Minister made the pledge when a delegation of traditional rulers and people from the South East states of the country paid her a courtesy visit in Abuja yesterday. Musawa who promised to attend the festival slated for August 31st, 2024 in Igboukwu, Anambra state emphasized  the importance of the New Yam Festival, likening it to other internationally renowned festivals. She  committed to supporting it to attract global attention, particularly from Nigerians…

COMING on the trail of a road accident which claimed the lives of five passengers and injured four others along Port Harcourt – Enugu Expressway on Sunday, another crash has led to the death of 11 persons, while eight others were injured on the same route. Abia State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Ngozi Ezeoma confirmed this on Thursday in a statement sighted by this newspaper in Umuahia, the state’s capital. According to the statement, the accident involved a Nissan Caravan commercial bus with registration no. SSM 320 ZR conveying 19 passengers to Enugu and a…

TRAGEDY struck again in Imo State on Saturday evening when some gunmen reportedly shot dead the President-General of Umucheke Okwe autonomous community in Onuimo Local Government Area of Imo State, Hyginus Ohazurike. Six village heads from the autonomous community were also allegedly killed by the gunmen. An indigene of the community, who pleaded anonymity, told this newspaper that the gunmen, who operated in a vehicle, struck while the victims were having a meeting in the community. The source said, “Some gunmen have just shot dead the President-General of Umucheke Okwe autonomous community and six village heads. “The PG and the…

TWO persons have been reportedly killed during an attack on a military checkpoint along the Amangwu axis of the Amasiri-Owutu road in the Edda Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. According to an eyewitness, the attack was carried out in the early hours of Friday by gunmen who operated on a motorcycle. The eyewitness told News Point Nigeria that a military officer and one of the gunmen were killed during a gun battle which caused panic and apprehension among residents, motorists and commuters plying the road. He said commuters had to spend hours waiting before they continued their movement after…

VETERAN Nigerian singer, songwriter and actress, Ms Onyeka Onwenu is dead. According to reports the iconic singer Tuesday night after performing at an event at Banana Island, Lagos. She was 72. Onwenu was said to have slumped after performing at the birthday ceremony of Stella Okoli, owner of Emzor Pharmaceuticals. She was later confirmed dead at a hospital in Victoria Island, Her family is yet to confirm the death. Apart from her career in the arts, Onyeka Onwenu also had a career in politics. She served as chairperson of the Imo State Council for Arts and Culture and the Director-General…

THE Commissioner of Police Imo State Command, CP Aboki Danjuma has condemned the attack and gruesome murder of four police operatives and a civilian, by gunmen suspected to be members of the Proscribed IPOB/ESN, and has deployed the command’s tactical units to hunt the hoodlums responsible for the attack. The operatives were ambushed and killed while on routine patrol at Irete along the Owerri-Onitsha express road. A civilian was fatally hit during the gun duel. A statement by the Police Public Relations, Imo State Command, ASP Henry Okoye, said on receipt of the unfortunate incident, the Commissioner of Police, immediately…