06062019 - NSECURITY: Danjuma, Lekwot, others take Nigeria's case to UK

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2019—15
FOR GBAJABIAMILA: Director General of Femi/Wase Speakership Campaign, Abdulmumin
Jibrin(2nd left), addressing journalists on perceived campaign of calumny against Femi Gbajabiamila in
Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: Gbemiga Olamikan.
Ihedioha has no programme,
only wants to squander N42.5bn
I left behind—Okorocha
FORMER governor of
Imo State, Rochas
Okorocha, yesterday, took
a swipe at his successor,
Chief Emeka Ihedioha,
saying the governor has no
programme for Imo people,
but preparing the grounds
towards squandering the
N42.5 billion he, Okorocha,
left in the state
government’s coffers.
A statement by Sam
Onwuemeodo, Special
Adviser, Media to the
former governor, said: “On
Tuesday, June 4, Governor
Emeka Ihedioha of Imo
State said his predecessor,
Rochas Okorocha operated
from a bush bar in
Government House, which
he said was an eyesore
and that is the reason he
has decided to operate from
outside at the moment.
“He had earlier described
the entire Government
House as a decayed place.
From all indications, Chief
Ihedioha has no
programme for Imo people.
He appears stranded since
May 29, when he took over.
That is why he has never
made any policy statement
or any comment associated
with governance.
“He has been threatening
fire and brimstone and
trying to incite Imo people
against Okorocha, but has
met brick wall.”
Okorocha said Ihedioha’s
constant negative remarks
about the brand new
Government House
Okorocha handed over to
him was just to find a way
of squandering the N42.5
billion the former governor
left behind for him.
His words: “He has come
with the known Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, style
of giving flimsy excuses as
prelude to wasteful
expenditures
“The Government House
Chief Ihedioha is labouring
in vain to run down is the
same one of note including
front row media
practitioners in the country
had visited at one time or
the other and made their
complimentary remarks. It
is the same Government
House most Imo people
have also been to.
“We want to say again that
the Government House
Okorocha handed over to
Governor Ihedioha was
brand new with ultramodern
structures, unlike
the ghetto the PDP
administrations had
operated from for 12 years.
Okorocha urged Ihedioha
to appreciate the fact that
he is a civilian governor
and not a military
administrator and therefore
minimise his rate of giving
ultimatums and issuing
threats, adding “he is also
fond of saying ‘I will do this
I will do that’. The
government is not his
private property. He
should be advised on
certain democratic ethos.”
PDP recruited our members to
destroy APGA—Party chieftain
By Ugochukwu
Alaribe
ABA—ALL Progressive
Grand Alliance, APGA,
in Abia State, has alleged
that Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, recruited some
of its members to
destabilise the party in the
state.
Briefing newsmen in
Umuahia, the newlyelected
state chairman of
Abia APGA, Chief Nkem
Okoro, said some persons
who have been
masquerading as APGA
leaders were recruited by
the state government to
hijack the party to douse the
only opposition voice in the
state.
The party maintained that
PDP is afraid of APGA’s
petition at tribunal and has
sponsored its former
chairman to destabilise
and derail the course of
justice in the state.
Okoro, who described
APGA as the main
opposition party and one
that does not dance to the
tune of the government in
power, explained that the
newly-elected 26-man
executive committee are
committed to refocusing the
party in line with the vision
of its founding fathers.
He said: “The purported
By Nwabueze
Okonkwo
ONITSHA—BARELY a
week to the expiration
of a two-week deadline
issued by Host
Communities of Nigeria
Producing Oil and Gas,
HOSCON, to oil-drilling
companies operating in
Anambra State to come
forward for negotiations on
the way forward, they have
reminded the companies of
exercise and the illegal
gathering of some persons
at the party’s secretariat on
May 23, masterminded by
the former state chairman,
Rev. Augustine Ehiemere
and his co-travellers, were
nothing but a sham and
nullity, hence a court of
competent jurisdiction
declared it null and void.”
the need to comply with the
directive or be prepared to
pack their bags and
baggage and vacate the
state.
HOSCON had issued
the ultimatum to the three
oil prospecting companies
operating in some
communities of Ogbaru
Local Government Area of
the state, asking them to
come for negotiations that
will protect the interests of
the companies and
S-East lawmakers not
doing enough to end
herdsmen attacks— Cleric
By Ugochukwu
Alaribe
ABA—A
cleric,
Samuel Okonkwo,
has accused members of
the National Assembly
from the South-East zone
of exhibiting nonchalant
attitude over the problem
of herdsmen attacks in
the zone.
Speaking in Aba,
Okonkwo, who is the
founder of John 3:16
Ministries, lamented
that NASS members
from the South-West and
South-South have
served quit notices to
herdsmen in their areas,
while their South-East
counterparts are yet to
show concern for the
safety of their
By Vincent
Ujumadu
A WKA—THE
Nigerian Institute
of Architects, NIA, has
picked holes with the
panel of inquiry set up
by Governor Willie
Obiano to look into the
immediate and remote
causes of the recent
building collapse in
Onitsha in which two
people died, while
several people sustained
injuries.
Addressing reporters
in Awka, Anambra State
chairman of NIA, Mr.
Osita Okafor, argued that
what the state
government needed to
do was to implement the
white paper on the report
of an earlier panel that
investigated similar
collapse of buildings in
various parts of the state
in 2014.
According to him, the
key thing in the white
Anambra communities to oil firms:
Come for negotiations or vacate oil fields
constituents.
Okonkwo recalled how
a herdsman almost killed
a widow in Aba, but ended
up cutting off the woman’s
three fingers for daring to
question why he took his
cattle to her business
premises and destroyed
some of her wares.
He added that since after
the incident, no member
of the National Assembly
from the South-East has
condemned the action of
the herdsman.
He noted that “from what
is happening, the fate of
Ndigbo does not lie in their
leaders. National
Assembly members from
the South-East have not
shown concern over the
problem of herdsmen
attacks.”
Onitsha building collapse:
Architects fault
Obiano’s probe panel
communities to avoid
clashing with angry youths,
who have been itching to
disrupt the activities of the
oil companies, at the
expiration of the deadline.
Chairman, Elders
Advisory Council of
HOSCON and traditional
ruler of Ifitedunu
community in Dunukofia
Local Government Area of
Anambra State, Igwe
Emeka Ilouno, gave the
reminder in Awka.
paper was the
recommendation of onestop
approach towards
curbing the menace of
building collapse, instead
of wasting state resources
to set up another panel
whose composition did
not include an architect,
who is a major stakeholder
in the building industry.
He argued that the only
core professionals in the
building industry were the
architects and the
engineers, adding that
excluding them in a panel
meant to correct anomalies
in the industry might not
achieve the desired
objective.
Okafor said: “Recall that
Anambra State
government has set up a
10-man panel of inquiry
into the collapsed building
at Onitsha. We, Anambra
State chapter of NIA, are
taken aback by the
inauguration of the panel
without implementation of
recommendations of
former panels set up by the
same government on June
9, 2014.
“We use this opportunity
to draw government’s
attention to the
implementation of an
already published white
paper report on building
collapse published on
October 13, 2014.
“That white paper
stressed the need for a
one-stop approval
process. By this process,
all relevant professionals
in the building industry
vet documents submitted
for approval by the
relevant body.”