Author: Editor

Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia South-East Council of Traditional Rulers; and representatives of Archbishops and Bishops of Igbo extraction, have called for the immediate and unconditional release of the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. The demand is coming  five days after the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, discharged him of all seven counts of terrorism charge preferred against him by the Federal Government. This is contained in a press statement issued Tuesday by the monarchs and revered clerics. The statement made available to Ikengaonline was jointly signed by the Chairman Anambra State Traditional Rulers Council and…

Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki Journalists have been barred from covering the arraignment of Governor David Umahi’s senatorial opponent, Linus Okorie. Journalists from different media houses had gathered at the Magistrate Court 1 in Abakalilki to cover the court process but a woman identified as the clerk of the court announced that journalists should leave the court. There was heavy police presence at the court premises as Mr Okorie was brought to court. Some of his supporters were however allowed into the court. Mr Okorie, the Labour Party senatorial candidate for Ebonyi South, was arrested on Sunday by Ebubeagu security outfit and…

Lawrence Nwimo, Awka The Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Anambra chapter, has lauded the State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, for appointing Patrick Onyedum as Chairman of Anambra State Sports Development Commission (ASSDC). Commending the governor in a statement signed by SWAN, Anambra State chairman, Anthony Oji, and Secretary, Patrick Anaso, Thursday, it described Onyedum’s appointment as a square peg in a square hole. It also affirmed that Onyedum possesses a rich pedigree as an athlete and sports administrator. It read: “The Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), Anambra chapter wishes to congratulate Patrick Estate Onyedum on his appointment as chairman of Anambra State Sports Development…

By Hassan Gimba I had wanted to write about the awards conferred on deserving – and not so deserving – individuals on Tuesday by President Muhammadu Buhari. I thought I would be reading it today in Geneva, Switzerland. I should have been in Geneva, today, attending the 2022 World Cancer Congress organised by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) taking place from the 18th to the 20th of this month. I was not going to the congress as a journalist covering an international event. No. I was going there as a delegate from Nigeria because I founded a foundation…

Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia A chieftain of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Abia State, Dr Sampson Orji, has declared support for the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, against Atiku Abubakar of the PDP. This is as the former Commissioner for Trade and Commence has advised Governor Okezie Ikpeazu who is the Abia South senatotrial candidate of the PDP,  to step down for the incumbent, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA. Dr Orji who spoke during a live radio programme “Open Parliament,” monitored in Umuahia, said that Senator Abaribe is a better candidate than Ikpeazu. The…

By Owei Lakemfa The country heaved a sigh of relief on Thursday, October 13, 2022, as the eight-month strike by academics which shutdown the public universities was suspended. Days before the suspension, many Nigerians were in a jubilant mood as all indications were that the agreement midwifed by the House of Representatives was acceptable to Government and the lecturers national body, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU. But some, like me, were a bit sceptical because during the strike, we detected moves that gave the impression that there are powerful but shadowy elements that do not seem to want an end…

General Martin Luther Agwai (Rtd)  Former  Chief of Defence Staff, ex- United Nations Deputy Military Adviser and former Chief of Army Staff, is to chair a public lecture organised by Society for International Relations Awareness (SIRA), in Abuja on Thursday. The lecture, to be followed by a book presentation on President Muhammadu Buhari’s Foreign Policy, has Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Honourable Minister of Information & Culture as Distinguished Guest Of Honour. Titled “Transnational Terrorism and Insurgency in the Sahel: Implications for National Security and Democratic Governance in the Region,” the Lecture is to be delivered  by   Rear Admiral Murtala Mormoni  Bashir, Commandant, National…

Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has reacted to  the visit by the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, and his running mate, Baba-Ahmed Datti, to the controversial Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, in Kaduna State. CAN commended them for the visit which according to the Christian body, is a demonstration of regard for every faith by the duo. Obi and Datti had Monday, visited Sheikh Gumi when they arrived Kaduna for a meeting with the Arewa Joint Committee. The Labour Party presidential flag bearer who is the leading candidate in many opinion polls so far conducted,…

By Aloy Ejimakor Following the extraordinary rendition of Nnamdi Kanu last year, John Campbell, a former US Ambassador to Nigeria (quoting a journal article published in Council of Foreign Relations) cautioned in a tweet that Nigeria cannot afford any more ‘mishandlings’ of the matter of Nnamdi Kanu, positing that “the safety and security of the country depends on it.” Recently, on two different occasions when the question or request of releasing Kanu was put to President Buhari, he parried the matter by ruling out the prospects of any executive decision on it, stating instead that it is a decision that…

Our Reporter, New York A Nigerian poet and literary critic, Prof. Obi Nwakanma, has said that only a fool will take the Igbo peoples’ agitation for a better deal in Nigeria for granted. The professor of Literature at the University of Central Florida made the remarks while elaborating on the presidential aspiration of Peter Obi during an exclusive interview in the online interview program 90MinutesAfrica hosted by Rudolf Okonkwo and Chido Onumah. Prof. Nwakanma, who is also a journalist and author, described Igbo people as the “spine of Nigeria.” He said the nation would collapse if we removed the spine. “Anybody…