Author: Editor
Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia The Federal Government seems unrelenting in its “no work, no pay policy,” as it has justified the half salary paid to university lectures who just returned from their eight-month strike in October. Minister for Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has insisted that the half salary paid members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, for their October wage was right and not discriminatory contrary to allegations by ASUU. “They were paid in pro rata to the number of days that they worked in October, counting from the day that they suspended their industrial action. Pro-rata…
By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu When he was appointed Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1993, Yekini Olayiwola Adio had already been on the bench for 17 years. A graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Adio became a lawyer in 1959, subsequently receiving his graduate degree in law in 1964 from the Yale Law School in the United States. In 1975, he became Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice in Western State of Nigeria. When they created Oyo State of the Western State in 1976, the military appointed Adio a judge of…
Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia The apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has criticized the Federal High Court judgment, ordering the interim forfeiture of 40 landed property belonging to the embattled former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu. Ohanaeze argued that the court should have given Ekweremadu the opportunity to defend himself before giving the order which it said, was deficient and hasty. The apex Igbo body in a press statement by its Publicity Secretary, Dr Alex Ogbonnia, said that the hasty and selective manner Ekweremadu’s case was handled was curious and suspicious. Below is a full text of the statement…
Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki The Senator representing Ebonyi Central senatorial zone, Obinna Ogba, has said he has no plans to defect from the Peoples Democratic Party, contrary to insinuations in some quarters. Ogba had contested the governorship ticket of the PDP, but lost to Dr Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii following the Supreme Court ruling on October 21, 2022, which recognised the latter as the duly elected governorship candidate of the party. He spoke to journalists on Saturday, in Abakaliki, saying, “The outcome of the judgment may not be what we wanted or what we worked hard for and I am sorry that we didn’t…
Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia Igbo youths under the aegis of Coalition of South-East Youth Leaders, COSEYL, have warned the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, against endorsing the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Ahmed Tinubu, for the 2023 presidential race. The warning is coming amid claims by the coalition, that it had uncovered plots to financially induce some “unpatriotic Igbo politicians and Ohanaeze Ndigbo chieftains” to endorse Tinubu during his proposed visit to Anambra and Imo States on Monday. COSEYL in a press statement by its President General Goodluck Ibem, claimed that the intention of those hatching the plot was to…
Lawrence Nwimo, Awka Stakeholders in Anambra State have appealed to residents and indigenes of the state to actively participate in the 2023 population and housing census with a view to generate accurate data for policy making, planning and other developmental drives. According to them, active participation in the census would also help address political marginalisation, underdevelopment, lack of social amenities, unemployment and other issues. They made the call at Awka, Anambra State capital, during the State Compendium of Localities Workshop organised by the National Population Commission (NPC) in collaboration with other stakeholders to finalise and present the grassroots final list of localities…
By Owei Lakemfa Lula said his performance in office was partly fired by his desire to make a point that people, despite their very low education and poor origins, can make good leaders. As he left office, he said: “If I failed, it would be the workers’ class which would be failing; it would be this country’s poor who would be proving they did not have what it takes to rule.” Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 77 had done his duty to his long suffering country, Brazil. His origins were rough, like those of his motherland. The product of a…
Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia The suit seeking to sack all candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Abia State in the 2023 election, was Friday, dismissed by the Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia. Some PDP members and delegates, Mr Ndudi Nwagbara, Egege Ikedichi, Ochulo Ulonam Juniour, Onyedikachi Abaribe, and three others, had approached the court on August 4, seeking to nullify the three-man delegate ad hoc congress of the PDP in the state. The plaintiffs alleged that the purported congresses were never held, claiming that the names of delegates used for the party’s primary elections were fabricated. They sued the Independent…
Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki A trafficking victim who hails from Ebonyi State has escaped from her abductors in Mali. The Lady, whose identity is withheld for security reasons, escaped from her captors on Thursday and ran to the Nigerian embassy. She is one of three indigenes of Ebonyi State who were lured to Lagos on the pretext of going for a job interview only to be taken across the border to Mali. The other two Ebonyi indigenes alongside many other women are said to be held in make shift shelters in Mali preparatory to being taken to Libya. One of them,…
Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia Pensioners in Abia State, Thursday, protested 45 months of pension arrears with a plea to the State Government to defray the backlog to reduce mortality rate among the senior citizens. The senior citizens who were decked in black attires marched through major streets chanting anti-government songs with stop-overs at major junctions where they offered prayers. They accused Government of insensitivity towards their plight and called on well-meaning indigenes of the state to intervene. The pensioners noted with despair the miserable condition of their members which they blamed on Government’s lack of care for them. According to them,…