25052018 - BENUE KILLINGS: ETHNIC CLEANSING OR JIHAD? Soyinka, Northern leaders tango

34—Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAY 25, 2018
Ohanaeze youths commend
Ndigbo for successful summit
...urges IPOB to embrace restructuring,
work with ohanaeze
:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
By Anayo Okoli
U MUAHIA—
OHANAEZE
Youths Wing, OYW, has
commended Igbo leaders
and youths for their massive
attendance at the just
concluded Igbo summit on
restructuring at Awka,
Anambra State and urged
members of Indigenous
People of Biafra, IPOB, to
retrace their confrontational
attitude and work with
Ohanaeze for the good of
the Igbo nation.
OYW called on IPOB to
embrace the restructuring
agenda being canvassed
by Ohanaeze, saying it
would be good for the Igbo
nation.
Reacting to the outcome
of the summit, the deputy
national president of OYW
Dr. Kingsley Dozie said that
Ohanaeze youths were
happy that despite the
Enelamah, others to speak at
Ausso leadership masterclass
By Destiny
Eseaga
MINISTER
of
Industry, Trade and
Investment, Dr
Okechukwu Enelamah is
expected to address
delegates of the second leg
of the Ausso Leadership
Academy, ALA, holding
from the 4th of June at the
Entrepreneurs’ Hub in
Lagos.
Enelamah will be sharing
his experience and
outstanding success in
business and public service
with the delegates and also
speak on the Economic
Recovery and Growth Plan,
EGRP, developed to restore
economic growth while
leveraging the ingenuity
and resilience of the
Nigerian people.
In his response, Enelama
said “I am aware of what
the Ausso Leadership
threat by IPOB, people
came out and “made
meaningful contributions to
the subject of discourse
which is the need to
restructure Nigeria.
“I wish to commend and
appreciate in a special way,
the charismatic president
general of Ohanaeze
Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief
Nnia Nwodo, who gave
everything within his reach
to ensure that the summit
was a success. I also wish
to commend members of
the National Working
Committee of Ohanaeze
Ndigbo Youths Worldwide
for their resilience and
industry.
“Ndigbo are hereby
assured that today’s
Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youths
leadership is committed to
the general development,
progress, and well-being of
Ndigbo anywhere they
may be."
Ugwuanyi urges lawmakers to
prioritise welfare of constituents
By Ikpechukwu
Ojobor
N SUKKA—ENUGU
State Governor, Rt.
Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi
has charged lawmakers in
the state to prioritize the
welfare of their constituents
above their personal needs.
Ugwuanyi spoke during
a youth empowerment
programme organised by
Hon. Chinedu Nwamba,
representing Nsukka East
at the Enugu State House
of Assembly where about
40youths were empowered
with N50,000 each to
enable them start a living.
Gov Ugwuanyi said the
whole essence of governance
was the welfare of the
people and hailed Hon.
Nwamba for the initiative,
which he said should be
emulated by other lawmakers
in the state.
“I want to commend
Hon. Nwamba for what he
is doing here today. Lawmakers
should remember
their constituents, they
should empower their
people. I came here to
thank you for your prayers
for our administration and
to support Nwamba in this
his empowerment
scheme."
Academy is doing to close
the leadership knowledge
gap in Corporate Nigeria,
and I am happy to support
the effort”.
Speaking on the
development, the Founder
and Entrepreneur-in-
Residence at the Ausso
Leadership Academy, Mr
Austin Okere noted that Dr
Enelamah’s endorsement
is critical to the efforts of the
Ausso Leadership
Academy in the quest for
corporate human capital
development.
Okere said: “It is a
privilege to have one of the
very best public officers,
with an enviable record of
performance come and
share his experience with
the delegates.
"His insights will provide
a robust perspective on the
intersection between
business and public
service.”
GRADUATION: President, African Union of Journalists, AUJ, Dr Samia Abass (5th right);
Mrs Josephine Agbonkhese, Reporter, Vanguard Newspapers (6th right) with journalists
from 21 African countries, at the closing ceremony of the three-week AUJ 51st Training
Course for Young African Journalists held in Cairo, Egypt.
Imo APC crisis: Okorocha's faction takes
over party secretariat
•As APC stakeholders worry over growing economic hardship in Imo
•Palpable fear grips Okorocha's political appointees
By Chidi
Nkwopara &
Chinonso Alozie
OWERRI—The Hilary
Eke-led Imo state
chapter of the All
Progressives Congress,
APC, executive has been
forced out of the party
secretariat by forces loyal to
Governor Rochas
Okorocha.
Okorocha’s parallel
executive headed by Chris
Oguoma, occupied the
office of the party located
along Works Layout in the
state yesterday.
This was even as the
governor and his camp did
not conduct a parallel ward,
local government and state
congresses as they had
hoped the national
leadership of the party
would cancel the
congresses and order fresh
ones.
Reacting to the
development yesterday,
the APC, Publicity Secretary,
Mr Nwabueze Oguchienti,
said that "it would be a
waste of time for them to say
that they have elected
executives after we must
have concluded our party
congresses."
However, Oguoma
insisted that he was the
elected chairman of APC in
the state, after Dr Hillary
Eke, who emerged after last
week’s state congress was
suspended by the party.
Oguchienti said: “The
congresses of the party is
purely an internal affair the
NWC put the guidelines
and if you fail to follow the
rules, then you want to
leave the party. You must
be dreaming when you
think that you can be a
party chairman based on
appointment."
But Oguoma said, “On
May 10, 2018, there was
a vote of no confidence on
Hilary Eke and by that
suspension, he ceased to
be the state chairman of the
party. So if anybody says
it is by appointment, that
person is trying to be
mischievous. So the organ
of the party elected me as
their chairman.”
APC stakeholders
worry over growing
economic hardship
in Imo
Meanwhile, the
Stakeholders Forum of All
Progressives Congress,
APC, Imo State, has said it
is worried by the growing
economic hardship and
burden inflicted on the
people of Imo State by the
outgoing administration of
Rochas Okorocha.
The group also said it was
“disturbed by the
unconscionable rate at
which the commonwealth
of Imo people is being
dissipated by the
conversion of government
assets for personal gains,
and settlement of family
members and cronies
alike,with no end in sight.”
In a statement signed by
the chairman and secretary
of the group, Chief Okey
Ikoro and Kingsley
Ononuju respectively, the
APC chieftains further said:
"In the discharge of our
2nd term: Prove your competence,
Catholic priests tell Buhari
By Chimaobi
Nwaiwu
N NEWI—CATHOLIC
Priests of West Africa,
CPWA, have asked
President Muhammadu
Buhari to prove that he is
competent for a second
term in office, by stopping
the ongoing killings in
Nigeria by killer herdsmen
and other violent groups
attacking churches,
kidnapping travelers in
various parts of Nigeria or
drop the second term bid.
CPWA also called on
heads of security agencies
in Nigeria to stop all kinds
of violent killings, attacks of
churches and kidnapping
of innocent people in
Nigeria or quit their
positions as the confidence
Nigerians have in them is
fast eroding.
Addressing newsmen in
Alor, Idemili South Local
Government of Anambra
State, President of CPWA,
Rev. Fr. Martin Onukwuba,
said that CPWA is solidly
behind the Catholic
Bishops Conference of
Nigeria for their call on
President Muhammadu
Buhari to resign from office
for his administration's
inability to tame the killer
herdsmen.
Rev. Fr. Onukwuba who
is also the priest in charge
of St Mary’s Parish Alor,
said Nigeria is not fighting
a civil war, but the killings
in the country on daily
basis, which has taken the
lives of two Catholic priests
in Benue State are more
than killings recorded in
countries fighting civil war.
“If President
Muhammadu Buhari feels
that he is good enough to
continue as president of
Nigeria, he should stop the
killings going on in
Nigeria, arrest the
perpetrators for prosecution
or he should resign from
office.The perpetrators of
the killings should not be
shielded because they are
from a particular section of
Nigeria or from the tribe of
anybody in power."
moral obligation as the
conscience of the people,
we have resolved to use
every legal means to halt
this wanton and
unwarranted depletion of
our resources by the
outgoing administration in
our state.
"We must preserve the
state’s commonwealth for
the purposeful use,
deployment, enjoyment
and overall benefit of the
good people of Imo State.
"No individual, group,
institution, body or legal
entity, should negotiate or
engage in any form of
transaction with the present
state government for the
transfer of any interest in
land, building, fixed or
floating assets, belonging to
Imo State, whatsoever,
either in part or in whole.”
Palpable fear grips
Okorocha's political
appointees
Palpable fear has also
gripped political
appointees in Imo State,
following what some
pundits called “imminent
sacking of suspected
loyalists of the allied forces
within the Governor
Rochas Okorocha
administration.”
Already, a number of
political appointees have
lost their jobs as a result of
alleged loss of confidence
and deep relationship with
those opposed to the
governor’s succession
plan, since the congresses
of theAPC started May 5,
2018.
A credible source within
the administration confided
in Vanguard yesterday that
“names of political
appointees, whose loyalty
to the governor is in
question, are being
compiled”, stressing that
“we are now moving,
working and talking with
extreme caution for fear of
being found on the wrong
side.”