Author: Editor

Lawrence Nwimo, Awka After a long trek, Agnes Nwafor finally makes it to the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in her Nawfija community in Orumba South. She is pregnant and due for a clinic visit. But there is no health worker at the centre. Her saving grace was an auxiliary nurse who lives in the area. Though not a professional in the field, the nurse was able to administer some treatment to Nwafor and advised her to keep checking at the health centre for proper examinations and treatment. The PHC in Nawfija is one of 332 enrolled under Basic Health Care…

Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ebonyi State has described the emergence of Mr Ifeanyi Odii as its governorship candidate as the greatest nightmare for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State. The PDP made the claim in a statement issued in Abakaliki on Monday by Osita Kalu, a member of its state Presidential/Governorship Media Committee. Mr Kalu was reacting to a statement credited to the Chairman of APC in the State, Stanley Emegha, who said Mr Odii’s emergence only succeeded in burying the opposition party in Ebonyi state. Mr Odii was last week declared as…

Media Rights Agenda (MRA) announced Monday that it has filed a Freedom of Information (FOI) suit at the Federal High Court in Lagos against the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for its refusal to act on the organization’s information request seeking details of payments of license fees by broadcasting stations and platforms operating in Nigeria and the amount of indebtedness of each station owing license fees. MRA is asking the Court to declare the NBC’s failure to provide it with the information it requested a breach of its right of access to information as well as a flagrant violation of the…

By Hassan Gimba Last week, we stated that “a leader creates and nurtures others to be leaders. He must possess a clear vision and focus, know what he wants for his country, and should be courageous enough to follow his dream. Apart from possessing integrity and honesty, a good leader has humility, is fair and just with the capacity for self-sacrifice and perseverance. A leader is one whose national interest subsumes his.” We also saw how the late prime minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, made his Private Secretary, who became Nigeria’s President in the Second Republic, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, refund to…

By Owei Lakemfa Mahdi Shehu, one of the supporters of the bloodthirsty Abacha military regime, runs around today in the outfit of a ‘human rights activist.’ I don’t have any problem with that; anybody can call himself anything he wants. He trashes the Buhari presidency when he has the opportunity. As a Nigerian citizen, he has a right to his opinion and in any case, I do not hold the Buhari administration in high esteem. Besides, when the Abacha regime was sending innocent Nigerians to early graves, forcing some into exile, looting our commonwealth and employing terror, including bomb blasts…

Lawrence Nwimo, Awka A coalition of support groups in Anambra State on Saturday held a solidarity march in support for the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, ahead of the 2023 general election. The groups, marched from Alex Ekwueme Square in Awka along popular Arroma to Eke-Awka Road to the U-turn linking Kwata along Enugu/Awka Expressway. The Solidarity March was organised by the Coalition for Peter Obi (CPO), in conjunction with about 60 other support groups and they were carrying several inscriptions which indicated their support for Obi. Some of the inscriptions read: “Obi-Datti for Presidency 2023,″ Obi…

Nonsochukwu Uwa, Owerri The lead counsel to the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, on Sunday raised an alarm over the burning of ancestral market, shops and houses of the people of Orsu Ihiteukwa community in the Orsu Council Area of Imo State, allegedly carried out by men of the state-owned Ebubeagu Security Outfit, Saturday night. Ejiofor disclosed this to newsmen in Owerri, while condemning the alleged act by Ebubeagu. He described it as an obvious crime against humanity and impoverishment of the people by destroying their economic activities. However, he called on the international community to intervene to…

By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu “Indeed, it can be claimed with a large measure of truth, that rigging of elections has become part of our political culture.” Report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Affairs of the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO), 1979-1983, Main Report, Paragraph 10:10 (1986) The electoral landslide of President Shehu Shagari’s National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in 1983 unfolded in installments over different sites of improbable magic across Nigeria. This did not occur in one day. It involved the manipulation of the entire value chain of election administration over the cycle of four years from 1979 to…

Nonsochukwu Uwa, Owerri Imo West caucus of the state Assembly led by the Deputy Speaker, Amarachi Chyna Iwuanyanwu, on Saturday said the allegation by the spokesperson of the Coalition of the United Political Parties, CUPP, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, over alleged fictitious names in the voter register in Omuma, Oru East Council Area of the State came because the plan to scuttle the Continuous Voter Registration, CRV, in the area with violence was unsuccessful. The Deputy Speaker stated this while addressing newsmen in Owerri, on the allegation made by Ugochinyere, who is also the 2023 candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party,…

Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia The South-East Zonal leadership of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, has hailed the expulsion of the suspended presidential candidate of the party, Dumebi Kachikwu, by the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party over “gross misconduct and anti-party activities and reckless breach of the ADC constitution.” This was contained in the text of a press conference addressed by the National Vice Chairman of ADC,  South-East, Chilos Godsent; and the Zonal Secretary, Pastor Agumadu Frank, at a press conference Saturday in Umuahia. The party expressed deep worry over the rising insecurity in the zone which it blamed on lack…