Author: Editor

By Azu Ishiekwene Seven weeks after the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar announced Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate, the man not chosen remains the talk of the town. I’m not sure Abubakar (fondly called Atiku) expected this amount of pushback when he chose Okowa over Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike. But just as it is with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) too, the choice of running mate has become a national obsession, exposing Nigeria’s deepest religious and ethnic fault lines. On the eve of Atiku’s announcement of his running mate when the…

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By Nnamdi Elekwachi Sam Omatseye is an acclaimed publicist from whose journalistic enterprise and outings I love harvesting, he is as good as they come, doubtless. However Sam caught my attention yesterday with his latest piece on the candidacy of Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential standard bearer. It was, and I must admit, a beautiful piece with respect to syntax, wording and crafting; but yet a sharp disservice to history, especially history of secession and the Igbo in Nigeria, combinedly. In this sense, it was only a beautiful nonsense; yes, that oxymoronic figure of speech captures it best! It…

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By Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo Sam Omatseye finished Peter Obi in his piece titled “Obi-tuary.” Like a crocodile girl, I wept for Obi-dient disciples. I am sure they will spend the next 40-days and 40-nights gnashing their yellow teeth held together by customized toy braces. But what he did to the Biafrans in the same column made me wonder if nobody has ever hugged Sam Omatseye and told him that his story of Biafra is valid, and as such, he should not lose touch with his scented offal. I love the poetry of Sam Omatseye. It is his prose that I…

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Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia The vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Dr Yusuf Datti-Ahmed, has said that the rising profile of his boss, Mr Peter Obi, has become a bitter pill and a threat to anti-progressive political forces in the country, behind various propaganda against him. This is as he accused them of creating fake social media accounts in his name which they use to fabricate and spread falsehood with grave religious implications in their desperation to blackmail and pitch him against some religious groups and leaders. Datti- Ahmed who disclosed this in a press conference, denied ownership of such…

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Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki The Abakaliki Division of the Federal High Court on Wednesday quashed the substitution primary of the Labour Party which it held on Tuesday to replace its governorship candidate. It therefore sacked the new gubernatorial candidate of Labour Party, LP, Mr. Edward Nkwagu, who was elected in the substitution primary on August 2nd, 2022. The sack of Nkwagu by the federal High court, followed a suit filed by Mr. Splendour Oko-Eze who was had emerged from the June 9th primary as the governorship candidate of the party. In his ruling, Justice Fatun Riman, said the party primary held earlier…

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By Hassan Gimba Not to punish evil is like authorising it – Leonardo da Vinci …when the laws have ceased to be executed, as this can only come from the corruption of the republic, the state is already lost – Baron de Montesquieu. A kingdom (nation) can endure with unbelief, but it cannot endure with injustice – Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci died on 2 May, 1519. He was an Italian with encyclopedic learning. There was no branch of knowledge that he didn’t touch. His achievements, diverse interests, personal life, and empirical thinking always spark…

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Imo

Nonsochukwu Uwa, Owerri The Imo State Police Command on Wednesday ordered  investigation into the alleged killing of seven persons and injuring of others by hoodlums in Umuafom, Orogwe community  last Monday. The command stated this in a statement on Wednesday in Owerri. The statement made available to Ikengaonline was signed by the State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Michael Abattam. However, the command described the hoodlums as kidnappers and  linked the killing to the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and the Eastern Security Network, ESN.    The Police agreed it was seven people who lost their lives in that incident, adding…

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By Chuks Iloegbunam Some have called you foolish, dear Sam Omatseye. Others insist that you are plain stupid. There are those who hold you to be beneath contempt. Their howls of execration upon you are in reaction to your August 1, 2022 article entitled Obi-tuary. For me, however, you are a dear friend. Our friendship started in the 1980s at Newswatch magazine where both of us practiced journalism before you travelled to the United States for further studies. It continued upon your return and strengthened to the point that, sometimes, you get the producers of your TV Continental programme to connect…

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Stephen Ukandu, News/Features Editor Penultimate Sunday’s mindless killing of  youths  in Imo State allegedly by armed vigilante group suspected to be Ebubeagu security operatives, has once again brought to the fore the unending flow of blood on the streets of  Imo State, and indeed South-East geo-political zone. The controversy trailing the dastardly act has further exposed the culpability of both the state actors and non-state actors in the on-going hemorrhage in the zone. Up till now, the actual casualty figures of the victims remain a subject of contention as some put it at 21, others 14, while Government only admitted 7.…

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By Ugochukwu Uwaeke As it stands today, every doubt regarding Senator Orji Uzor Kalu’s disastrous representation of the people of Abia North in the Red Chamber must have been cleared, and many of those from among the people of Isuikwuato/Umunneochi who are hitherto contemplating further support for his re-election are profoundly reconsidering their stand given his uninspiring outing and shameful posturing on burning national issues. When the Senator was campaigning in 2019, he exuded warmth and smiles, and came along with lots of grandiose promises and thus, got the buy-in of some of our people who were deceived into voting for him. But…

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