₦airaland Forum

Ahead of the November 6 gubernatorial election in Anambra State, residents have begun to flee to other states.

Speaking with FIJ, residents who have now taken refuge in other southeastern states said they fled Anambra for fear of violence during the election.

“I’m not voting. I am in Imo already; I am staying with my friend now. Many of my friends have also left that place,” one of them said.

Other residents who spoke with FIJ from their new locations said with the threats posed by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the show of force by security agencies, they feared a bloodbath.

Several residents of Ananmbra who are still in the state said they had travel plans.

“I will be leaving Nnewi next week because of this election,” someone told FIJ on the phone. “The east is hot. I’m not even going to any state around here; I’m travelling far.”

Students at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) also told FIJ that they had received calls from family members begging for their exits from the state, and many left in the later hours of Friday, after their first-semester examination, while others said they would leave on Tuesday, after IPOB’s Monday sit-at-home is observed.

FIJ earlier exclusively reported that IPOB and its combat arm, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), were listed as top threats by the police ahead of the election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday revealed that there were no registered voters in 86 polling units in the state ahead the election.

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s latest invention, eNaira Speed Wallet, has disappeared from the Google Playstore, FIJ can confirm.

Launched on Monday, the application garnered over 100,000 downloads on the Google platform in two days. However, a search on the platform on Wednesday revealed it is no longer hosted for downloads on Android devices.

FIJ earlier reported how the eNaira application received a one-star rating on Google Playstore from over 50 percent of its reviewers within 24 hours of launch.

While it no longer exists on Google, it is still available to iOS users on the Apple Appstore. However, a variant of the eNaira application, eNaira Speed Merchant Wallet, is on Google Playstore with over 10,000 downloads.

A High Court in Owerri, Imo State, has ruled in favour of Rosena Akuwodor, a widow with four children, who was wrongfully evicted from her residence by Maxwell Akuwodor, her brother-in-law.

On October 20, Justice K. A. Ojiako, the presiding judge, set aside the August 31 ruling that enabled Maxwell throw out his sister-in-law and her children, barely a year after the demise of Reginald Akuwodor, his brother and Rosena’s husband.

On September 4, FIJ had reported how Maxwell, with the writ of execution he had secured, and in the company of police officers, stormed the house in Umuokoji Umuorii Uratta, Owerri North Local Government, to evict Rosena and her four children.

Maxwell, 84, had argued that he was the rightful owner of the land on which Rosena husband’s house and a six-apartment structure belonging to late Nelson Okuoma Akuwodor, the father of Maxwell and late Reginald, were built.

Although his writ of execution had stated that the structure built by Nelson be vacated in Maxwell’s favour, while carrying out the order, Maxwell had gone ahead to eject the occupants of his brother’s building as well.

Following the ruling, the compound gate was reopened by the court on October 27 and Rosena and her four children returned home.

“The eviction was a horrible experience for mum, my siblings and myself. We lost some of our belongings to rain when we could not find a suitable place to keep them,” Ahunna Victory, one of the daughters of late Reginald, told FIJ.

“Right now, I am very happy that the initial ruling has been set aside and justice has prevailed. For two months, my family was rendered homeless because of our wrongful eviction. My mother also went through a lot during this period. But above all, we thank God that it has ended well for us.”