₦airaland Forum

Edward Nnachi

2 December 2021

The Indigenous People of Biafra has said repeated jailbreaks across the country was a plot by the Federal Government to perpetually keep its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, in the custody of Department of States Services.

The group alleged that the DSS always arranged a prisons break, each time a suspect of interest is billed to be transferred from its custody to prison to create the impression that Nigerian prisons were not safe.

The secessionist group said this in a statement by its Director of Media and Publicity, Emma Powerful on Wednesday.

The statement read in part, “Our Intelligence reports and findings reveal that once there is any person of interest in the custody of the DSS that is scheduled to be transferred from their detention facility to prison custody, they arrange these prison breaks in order to convince the court that the prison is not safe and is susceptible to attacks and jailbreaks, and as such, the person in their custody should not be transferred to the prison.

“This is why no meaningful investigation is ever carried out on these alleged prison breaks throughout Nigeria.

“This is further evidenced from what happened in the court on the 21st October, 2021, when the hearing of our Leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s application for transfer to prison custody came up. The road to the court and even the court premises were barricaded on all sides by security agents, such that lawyers and other responsible persons who had legitimate business in the court could not drive close to the court premises, as they claimed that they had a security report that there will be an attack.

“Curiously, the “attackers” who were clearly government sponsored thugs were allowed to drive past all the security posts mounted on the road, and down to where the DSS officers formed a human barricade to attack Omoyele Sowore.

“The same thing happened on the 10th November, 2021, when they hired the “One Nigeria Crooners” who came to confront Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s peaceful supporters who had always been there on the previous court days, without constituting any nuisance or breach of peace.”

It added, “Any reasonable person knows that it is the FG that turns peaceful gatherings to riots and peaceful protests to insurrections. We saw them do it with the peaceful #EndSARS movement. Again, the killings going on in the South-East is part of the game.

“We are putting the world on notice of this evil game being played by the FG in a bid to ensure that Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is held in perpetuity in the DSS dungeon.”

My 10-month-old baby reason I’ve not committed suicide – Amputee impregnated, dumped by Facebook lover

•Says mum also kicked her out

By Gbenga Aderanti

On Nov 28, 2021


For Cynthia Amaka Okoro, a 28-year-old graduate of Physics and Electronics, life has not been fair. Amputated as a student and impregnated by an abusive partner, she now lives in utter despondency. Gbenga Aderanti writes.

Her facial appearance portrays her as one of the beautiful models advertising firms would love to introduce to their clients as the face of their beauty products. There is indeed no way anyone without a hint on her life story would imagine the vicissitudes of life she has had to pass through. Cynthia Okpara, a 28-year-old graduate of Physics and Electronics from Imo State Polytechnic, Umuagwo, became an amputee while she was still a student of the school. As if that was not enough, an abusive partner got her pregnant and she was thereafter rejected and disowned by her mother.

While she is grateful to her friend, who has been gracious to take her in as a squatter, she says the thought of suicide has not stopped crossing her mind and is only being held back by fear of what would become of her 10-month-old baby.

Her plight began in 2013 when she was involved in an accident while returning from school.

A medical report from the Imo State University Teaching Hospital, signed by orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. Okafor Bonny, noted that Cynthia was brought to the hospital on February 20, 2013 with the examination done on her showing a mangled left lower limb with no distal pulse present.

The report added: “The limb was looking pale and extremely cold. So a diagnosis of left lower limb gangrene extending to the proximal thigh was made. Patient had an above knee amputation of the left lower limb on the 2nd of March 2013.

“Patient was managed for three weeks and discharged in satisfactory condition on crutches.”

Cynthia recalled that while she was in the hospital, she enjoyed so much support from her parents, especially her father. Unfortunately, her father, who she regarded as her best friend, died; a situation she said caused her to regret coming into the world.

She said: “When I look at my situation, my child is the only reason why I’m alive. I would have since ended my own life. My condition is making me to think of committing suicide.”

Asked what the problem was as she repeatedly gasped for breath while speaking with our correspondent, she said: “I have ulcer and malaria and I have also been stooling blood.”


Romance gone awry

For Cynthia, getting amputated was bad, but getting pregnant for a partner she described as abusive was worse. Describing the one year she spent with her partner Okpara, whom she met on Facebook, as miserable, Cynthia recalled how she cried every night and repeatedly asked herself how she found herself in such a mess.

She recalled that for four months after their first meeting on Facebook, they engaged each other in animated chats. She said she was honest enough to tell Okpara about her physical condition but he did not believe her until they met physically about four months later.

While they were dating, she recalled that it was love all the way; adding that as soon as she got pregnant, the love that Okpara professed for her literally disappeared.

She said: “My leg had already been amputated before we met. When we eventually met physically, he said he never knew I was telling him the truth about my leg. We chatted for like four months before I eventually met him.”

Things would probably have been better if they had any mutual friend, but that was never the case, as they never allowed anybody in their space and neither of them took the other to meet their family members.

Not long after they met physically, Cynthia said she started staying with Okpara late in 2019 and become pregnant in 2020.

Cynthia’s mother was exasperated when she realised that her daughter was pregnant and decided that she would not allow her to remain in the family house. The only option left for Cynthia in the circumstance was to stay with Uche, which she eventually did.

“I have tried to call her and many people have also tried on my behalf but she refused to take me back,” Cynthia said of her mother.

Reminiscing on her life with Okpara, she said: “His name is Okpara. I was visiting him and along the line, I got pregnant for him and his character changed. He started beating me any time I made any slight mistake.

“The only time he saw his son was when I gave birth to him. And ever since, he has not seen him.

“Okpara is a hot tempered person. He might come and say I did not cook for him and he would start beating me.

“At times, somebody might have offended him before he came home and he would transfer the aggression to me.

“He might even come home and see something somewhere; he would start shouting and asking me why I didn’t remove it and it would lead to him beating me again.”

Cynthia said she never bothered to report what was going on to anyone because it never occurred to her to do so. The only intervention she got was from neighbours who advised her to stay away from Okpara because it appeared as if he never loved her and Cynthia was the one forcing herself on him.

She said: “Neighbours told me that the boy did not love me and that I should go. They said it seemed as if I was forcing myself on him. Eventually, I thought they could be right, so I later decided to leave.”

She is however worried that for more than one year now, she has not been able to contact her former heartthrob and she does not know any of Okpara’s family members she can talk to.

“He never took me to his village while we were together. He only told me that he was from Abia State,” she said.

She also said she has not been able to access her Facebook account through which she could have reached him, because it was blocked when it was discovered that the account was about to be compromised.

It was the Facebook account that she was using to raise appeal from well-meaning Nigerians.

“The phone number I used in opening the Facebook account is also lost. I later went to the MTN office to retrieve the line. They said the name they were seeing on the line was not my name.

“I explained to them that it was my line and it was the time I had an accident that I couldn’t go out, so I sent my younger sister to go and register the MTN number for me. The MTN people insisted that the girl must be the one to go and retrieve it.”

She said she made several efforts to make her sister help her in retrieving the line but to no avail. “I don’t know,” she said with a gesture of frustration.

“Out of frustration, I returned to my mum’s place but my mother couldn’t accommodate me. She said I should go back to the person that impregnated me and that I couldn’t stay in her house. She said I was a disgrace. I pleaded with her but she refused.”

Reprieve however came her way when her sister invited her to come and stay with her. She said that was where she stayed till she gave birth.

“Out of frustration, I deleted Okpara’s number from my phone. And when the SIM got lost, I could not retrieve it because of an identity problem

“When I gave birth, the guy (Okpara) came begging me that he wanted me back. I later went back but he didn’t change his character. He continued beating me even while I was breastfeeding the baby. I later packed my things and returned to my elder sister’s house.”

Unfortunately, her elder sister refused to take her back, saying that even the first time she accommodated Cynthia, her husband did not like it.

“She told me that her husband said I should not come to the house again. She advised me to start looking for a place to stay.”

With the foregoing situation, Cynthia started making contacts on Facebook. Fortunately, she met a lady who was ready to accommodate her.

“She asked me if I could come to Lagos and I said yes. Eventually, I came to Lagos,” she said.

“I did beg on Facebook or on the streets. From the little money I was able to gather, I started selling meat pie.”

But her reprieve was short-lived because after staying a while, the lady in question told her that she wanted to get married, hence she should look for another accommodation.

Cynthia called one of her ex-schoolmates for assistance and “she agreed that I should come to her house. She is living with her aunt. She said she had seen my posts on Facebook. That was how I went back to Orlu, Imo State where I’m currently staying.”


How accident altered her life

Cynthia recalled that she was hit by a vehicle while she was returning home from school on a motorcycle. For close to a year after, she was in the hospital and her leg was eventually amputated.

She, however, did not allow that to deter her as she continued with her education until she graduated from the institution in October 2016.

The second born of the family, Cynthia has six other siblings. She disclosed that her father’s support and encouragement was massive and it kept her going. He was a tax official until his death, she recalled.

Cynthia is currently battling ulcer on account of which she is stooling blood.

“Since my partner kicked me out, I have not had any contact with him. I actually deleted his number and I later lost that line. He too did not bother to call me.

“I’m sick and I have taken drugs but they have not been working. Right now, I’m stooling blood.”

“When I look at my situation, my child is the only reason why I’m alive. I would have ended my life. This condition is making me to think of committing suicide.

Cynthia does not want to depend on people for the rest of her life. She would like to work and do business if she gets assistance

She told The Nation that she could sell clothes if she has people to support her.

“I’ve stopped going to church. I’m tired of going to church. Ever since I started going to church what has that done to my life? I’m no longer interested in going to church.

“I prayed and prayed and nothing changed. I don’t pray anymore.”

“I’m calling on all Nigerians to help me so that I can get an artificial leg that can enable me to walk well, and also help me get a shelter and financial empowerment so I can start up a better business and return to Lagos.

“It was on July 11, 2021 the lady accommodating me told me to leave, that she would be relocating to her husband’s house on the 13th. She said she had given me enough time to get a place to stay and that I was the one delaying her.

“It was then I started making calls and luckily, one of my classmates called me and said she heard my story. I explained to her that I was stranded and that was how she asked me to come down to her place with the promise that she would welcome me if I can make it down to the East. This was what led me to return to the East.

I have always had two businesses on my mind which I will love to delve into if I have the resources, namely a boutique or a spa. I really need the help of Nigerians. Account name: Cynthia Chiamaka Okoro. Account number: 6456545011, FCMB.

November 26, 2021

*As another batch of 172 Libya returnees arrive Nigeria

One of the 172 returnees brought to Lagos early, yesterday, from Libya, Omoniyi Azizat, has expressed regret for deceiving her father to raise N800,000 for her botched trip to Libya.

The airlift of the 172 persons arrived the Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Lagos.

Recounting her experience in Libya, the 21-year-old Azizat from Lagos said all her hope was that Libya would be like London.

She said: “From my father’s custody, a friend convinced me to meet her in Ibadan where I was introduced to the idea of travelling to Libya where I was told that I could work and receive a monthly salary of N120,000.

“I deceived my father that I wanted to establish a business and he gave me N800,000, but I used it for the Libyan trip through the desert.

“I became a slave and prostitute in Libya; I am not lying, I raised equivalent of N2 million as a prostitute to free myself from my trafficker.

“I want to go back to school. I stopped schooling at SS2 and have learnt my lessons. The lessons are very bitter, I wasted my life.

“I do not know my father’s location. I lost everything that I thought I could bring back home when the police raided our house and threw all of us into prison.

“We were dispossessed of our savings and property. I lost the phone in which l had my father’s contact.

“I have to wait till my transport allowance is paid before I can buy phone and try to gamble with numbers to know if I can get my father’s contact.”

Less than 24 hours after a batch of 158 stranded Nigerians arrived the country from Libya, another batch of 172 stranded Nigerians have arrived from same country.

This makes it a total of 330 stranded Nigerians to be repatriated to Nigeria through the European Union.

The returnees were among those who got stranded in their failed attempt in search of greener pastures in foreign countries.

This batch consist of 92 male adults, six male children and nine male infants. In addition were 53 female adults, 12 female children and three female infants.

The returnees arrived the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Ikeja aboard Al Buraq Airline Boeing 737-400 with registration number 5A-WAC about 9.48p.m.

They were received at the NAHCO Wing of the Airport by National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA.

Acting Coordinator of NEMA’s Lagos Territorial Office, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, said the fresh 175 returnees had been stranded in Libya.

He said: “The returnees were brought back by the International Organisation for Migration through a voluntary repatriation programme for distressed persons.

“The EU sponsored the repatriation of the stranded Nigerians who had failed in their attempt to search for greener pastures outside Nigeria.”

•Compromise by Police frustrating war against hard drugs— Abia monarch

•Lack of focus, proper training reason youths resort to drugs— Rev Emeaba

•Govt should tackle unemployment — NMA


By Anayo Okoli, Vincent Ujumadu, Dennis Agbo & Steve Oko

It is often said that speed kills and that is the truth of life. meth falls under the drugs called Speed which is a street name for various stimulant drugs that teens, young adults and others use to feel more alert and focused, and in some cases, to feel high. It is also called Methamphetamine or Crystal Meth, a highly addictive stimulant drug, similar to cocaine which is now on high abuse by Nigerian youths. The abuse is seen in all parts of Nigeria.

However, in Igbo communities, it has assumed a notorious dimension and is fast destroying the youths. This destructive substance has infact become popular among Igbo youths that it is now nick-named meth, literally translated as blocked water or ice block. It’s negative effect is such that after its consumption, they engage in criminal and immoral acts detrimental to the society at large. The notoriety of the abuse of meth is such that it has attracted the attention of the members of Imo State House of Assembly who discussed it on the floor of the House and suggested that the State Ministry of Health runs a vigorous media campaign against its intake.

meth is also taken recreationally, often mixed with other drugs. Despite the sought-after, short-term effects of some forms of speed, all forms of speed are dangerous and addictive.

Noting the increasing damage the drug is causing the youths, the Imo House of Assembly also called on Governor Hope Uzodimma to constitute a state committee that will work with NDLEA to tackle the dangerous dimension it has already assumed in many Igbo communities. Imo House of Assembly further suggested that the Ministry of Health be mandated to educate the youths on the use of the illicit drug. Also, Enugu students have commenced a campaign against meth.

It is a common sight to see addicts on the streets of South-East communities, some of them incoherently walking the streets naked or half naked. You see them, mainly young men in their twenties, murmur to themselves while walking on the streets. Looking haggard and unkempt, they are victims of meth. They entirely operate on a different level from normal human beings.

Viral videos are circulated on daily basis from various communities in the South-East, of victims of meth, with their attendant abnormal behaviours. Some of them were reported to have killed their parents, siblings or burnt their houses under the influence of the drug.

Under the influence of drug, they respect nobody, they look down on whoever they come across. Nobody is anything to them.


Origin of meth

Though its origin is traced to Japan in as far back as 1919, it was reportedly grossly abused during World War II when it was issued to pilots on a suicidal mission called Kamikaze. But after World War II, it was said to have been briefly used as a medication for depression and for controlling obesity. It was however, quickly abandoned and banned thereafter, especially from the 1970s. But it is now produced locally. It was reported that since the 1990s, the production of crystal meth has been hijacked by Mexican drug cartels and they came into Nigeria to set up laboratories in 2016. It is a very addictive stimulant that renders the user hyperactive and prone to destructive tendencies which may include suicide or homicide at the slightest provocation and without a feeling of remorse.

In March 2019, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, discovered a residential building that turned into a drug factory at No 1 Zion Avenue, Phase 6, Trans-Ekulu, Enugu, where Methamphetamine (meth) was being produced in commercial quantities for export to overseas, particularly to South Africa. Three factory workers were arrested, but the main drug baron, whose name was given as Christian Chibuzor, was not arrested since he had fled the country.

Earlier than the Trans-Ekulu discovery, a similar factory was discovered in Ozalla, Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State.

The NDLEA, however, refers to the factories as laboratories where it arrested three persons working there. The agency said their arrests were based on credible intelligence which led to initial arrest of the first two suspects with 100 kilograms of Ephedrine used as one of the raw materials in the production of Methamphetamine, otherwise known as meth.

NDLEA said that due to the hazardous nature of the chemicals involved, the agency dismantled the clandestine laboratory, while the precursor chemicals and paraphernalia and other equipment for production, were seized by the agency.

The Enugu State Public Relations Officer of NDLEA, Mrs. Mmeka Calista, however, said that the fleeing Christian Chibuzor was later arrested in South Africa and prosecuted together with his clandestine group members.

The agency said there was urgent need to decontaminate the neighbourhood in the drug production areas as waste products of the illicit substance in the course of production, seeped into water sources of neighbouring compounds, thus poisoning their source of water supply.

Even though both the Ozawa and Trans-Ekulu factories have remained sealed since 2019, the NDLEA lamented that till date, the Enugu State Government has refused to decontaminate the areas despite NDLEA’s several attempts to make them do so, hence the health implication for the general public remains.

“This is a very serious implication because time will come when the effects of these chemicals will result to deadly health challenges such as cancer, birth deformity, kidney problems, etc. We have called on government to come to the rescue of residents within the neighbourhood and to also appeal to the general public to come up with useful information whenever they notice or perceive strange activities or unusual smells within their environment,” NDLEA said.

[b]Narrating his experience, a neighbour that shares fence with the Trans-Ekulu factory, Mazi Ogunedo Emeruole said: “We started noticing changes in our well (a source of water) for over three weeks but before then, we used to perceive strong smell from our neighbour here. So we were thinking that when the old tenant moved away and the new tenant came, he was trying to fumigate the compound. It got to a point we were worried that every night, we perceived strong smells and it wasn’t abating.

“It got to a point that when we go to fetch water, we would notice the water has oil and very strong smell coming out of it. So I called these Mallams that used to excavate wells. The first person we called could not dig more than two feet; he came out almost lifeless, so to speak, because we had to pour water to resuscitate him. We asked him to come back but he said he was not going to come, that maybe the plumber poured in chemical and we never called any plumber here since 2008.

“Another set came later and the guy dug one foot and said he could not continue because the smell of the chemical was powerful. We now observed that the surrounding of the well had turned black and anytime we fetch water, we discovered powerful smell; we sneeze when we fetch water from the well, so I gave instruction to my family not to use the water again except to flush toilets.

“So we were surprised when the officials of NDLEA came around to inform us that our neighbour here is producing a very dangerous chemical and when they mentioned the name, Meth, I knew I had read about it in social media, a very powerful hard drug. We were all shocked; we never knew that a neighbour that just moved in three months back is producing such thing within our environment.”[/b]

Emeruole said the suspected drug dealer was not the owner of the property but rented it and was not known by neighbours. “We didn’t know him, the only thing is that we used to see a powerful Range Rover sport that parks outside; you know when a neighbour is coming in, we said we have a very rich neighbour within our vicinity. For the two times I saw him park at the gate, he never came out of the vehicle, the engine will be running and he will be inside the vehicle, he never came out. We were told he lives abroad.”

The NDLEA said their arrests were based on credible intelligence which led to initial arrest of the first two suspects with 100 kilograms of Ephedrine.

SEV noticed that the waste from the laboratory was already having corrosive effect on the environment. Flowers and grasses along the waste disposal track had completely dried up, while mango and breadfruit trees there were also shrinking. Some of the trees in the compound had already died while others had withered.

As at 2019, the drug was said to be more costly than cocaine and that its Africa production was rated highly in the international drug market. Little did anyone know that the drug was also consumed in Nigeria which would later become the destroyer of youths of the South-East.

Many Igbo communities are currently facing the dangerous effects of meth and youths are into it, and incidentally, they have become a burden to their families and communities as some of them are reported to have killed or maimed members of their family because the drug is said to affect the brain adversely.

Aside from being unable to sleep and violent, users exhibit anti-social behaviours arising from paranoia and hallucination. The drug takes a toll on the physical look of its users. It typically makes them look older and their faces prone to acne. Sometimes, excessive use leads to damaged gum and teeth, commonly called Meth mouth.

What is most frightening is that meth addiction is one of the most difficult to treat, because no drug can cure it, except by behavioural therapy, which at the moment, is not readily available in the country.

Since the launch of the Offensive Action campaign early this year, NDLEA has recorded significant seizures of kilograms of the drug. Likewise, the Agency has located and destroyed not less than 18 meth- producing laboratories in the country in the past few years.

The Agency has been monitoring the trend in Meth production, abuse and trafficking. And because of the rampant abuse and production of the drug, especially in the Southeast, the Chairman/CEO recently gave specific instructions to relevant directorates of the Agency on how the agency should respond to the development.

Questions are still being asked how Mkpurumiri became popular in the South East zone. The rate at which it has spread across most towns and even remote villages is unbelievable. It was even suspected that the hard drug contributed in no small measure to the problem of the unknown gunmen in parts of the South East in recent time, particularly in Anambra State before the recent governorship election in the state.

Some people actually believe that only people who take such drugs could be killing people and destroying property without any provocation and without showing remorse.

In Anambra State, for instance, the drug has become a house hold name in such communities like Obosi, Enugwu Ukwu, Agukwu, Agulu, Okija, Uli, Awka, Nteje, Awkuzu, Umueri, Umudioka and many more. In the communities where Nkpuru Mmiri has become common, rape has also become rampant as it is believed that the drug increases the libido of the affected youths. Another surprising thing is that some women also

indulge in it and, in their case, the result is usually madness.

Communities wage aggressive war against mpkurumiri

Currently, some communities have started identifying those who peddle the drug in their areas and are banishing them, while their youths who were known to be taking it are publicly punished by flogging them in village squares. For instance, the Umudioka Improvement Union in Dunukofia local Government area of Anambra State has proscribed the sale and consumption of all illicit drugs and substances in the community and warned those still undertaking such business to desist forthwith as they stood the risk of being arrested and prosecuted with the support of the relevant security agencies.

In Okija, Ihiala local government area, youths of the community early this week marched through the major roads to drive home their full commitment towards eradicating the menace of cultism which is linked to drug abuse, particularly Mkpûrû mmiri in the town.

Some stakeholders from the town joined in the campaign during which they warned that anyone found guilty would be seriously dealt with. Several communities have also taken similar measures, but it is left to be seen how effective the measures would be in the coming weeks.

The traditional ruler of Oriendu Autonomous Community, Umuahia North Local Government Area, Abia State, Eze Philip Ajomiwe, has decried the devastating effects of mkpurumiri and other hard drugs among the youths.

Ajomiwe, former Chairman, Council of Traditional Rulers said that the vigilante groups in Ohuhu land had been placed on red alert over mkpurumiri which is a new but worrisome development.

The monarch said he would convene a palace meeting to sensitize his cabinet members on the dangers of mkpurumiri so that a united action could be taken to curb the menace. He however, accused the police of

frustrating the war against hard drug consumption in rural communities.

According to him, compromise by police when information on the hideouts of drug peddlers is volunteered to them sabotages communal efforts on the drug war. This, he said has made his Community to settle for plan B in dealing with hard drug menace.

“When we alert the police about these bad boys that take hard drugs in the communities the police don’t help matters. They compromise. But we have decided on another plan to achieve results”, he said.

The monarch advocated adequate Government funding to traditional rulers to enable them effectively combat crime in their domains.

“Even when you invite the police, you need to fuel their vehicle. That is why Government should adequately fund traditional rulers to enable them fight crime effectively. You can’t properly combat crime with empty hands. The state should also mount vigorous campaign against this menace which is a new development so that our youths will not ruin their future with mkpurumiri.

In his contribution, a renowned Aba-based cleric and former District Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, Aba North District, the Rev. P. K Emeaba, blamed addiction to hard drugs on lack of focus and proper mentorship of the youths.

He noted that if the proper orientation and objectives of life were inculcated in the youths at the right time they would not have room for distractions by hard drugs and other harmful lifestyles.

The cleric challenged parents and religious leaders to lay the right foundation and feed the youths with the right messages that would help place them on the right track for a focused life.

He insisted that a youth who is loaded with the pure, unadulterated word of God and the right orientation on his mission on earth would not have any space left for mkpurumiri.

“Anyone who lacks proper upbringing and guidance will miss direction in life”, he said, adding “my members can’t go for anyhow job because of what I have taught them”.

Also, contributing, the Chairman, Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, Abia State chapter, Dr. Chimezie Okwuonu, stressed the need for community surveillance and enforcement, saying that the consumption of mkpurumiri happens more in rural communities than urban areas.

“We need to identify their hideouts in the rural areas including school buildings and uncompleted structures; then devise strategy to ensure the perpetrators are arrested and punished”.

The NMA chairman, who blamed the menace on the increasing rate of youth unemployment, challenged Government to genuinely address the challenge of unemployment.

Arguing that when youths are meaningfully engaged, they would not have time for deviant lifestyles, Dr. Okwuonu said Government and the political elites should meaningfully empowerment youths and stop giving out stipends in the name of youth empowerment.

“Vocational is important. What our politicians do in the name of empowerment is mockery. They do that for media hype but what the youths need is real empowerment that will meaningfully engage them.

“If they are assisted to acquire the right vocation and established they won’t have time for hard drugs.

“Youths go into hard drugs as a result of depression due to economic hardship. I have a lot of applications on my table, graduates but there is no job anywhere. I think that if these youths are encouraged to acquire vocations and assisted to establish they can stand on their own and also help engage others.

“If you visit car wash spots, you will marvel at all sorts of things that our youths consume. It is not just mkpurumiri, there are other substances they mix and consume which do a lot of damages to their organs.

“They feel those things they sip give them energy but it is gradually eating them up. That is why youths develop kidney stones, heart diseases, and even strokes”, he explained.

Dr. Okwuonu advocated aggressive campaign and sensitization against the harmful effects of methamphetamine and other harmful drugs to save the future of our youths. He also urged State Houses of Assembly to legislative against the harmful drug so that the distributors and consumers could be published as deterrent to others.

By Chidiebube Okeoma

22 November 2021

Gunmen on Monday afternoon killed a military officer when they attacked some soldiers in Awo Mmamma in the Oru East Local Government Area of Imo State.

In reprisal, military men regrouped, stormed the town and allegedly burnt a hotel, cars, houses and shops.

The incident which happened at Ishieke junction in the area has caused panic in the community.

Many indigenes of the community have fled as soldiers took over the community.

A source told The PUNCH that “some hoodlums attacked some soldiers at Ishieke junction in Awo Mmamma and killed one of them. They zoomed off towards Ihiala in Anambra State. Later soldiers invaded the area and caused havoc in the area by setting a hotel, cars, houses and stalls on fire.”

The police spokesperson for the state command, Micheal Abattam, didn’t respond to a text message sent to him by our correspondent as of the time of filing this report.

Also, the spokesperson for the 34 Artillery Brigade Command, Owerri, Sunday Akuga, didn’t take several calls put to his mobile number.

By Nnanna Nwogu - Umuahia On Nov 21, 2021

On the heels of the knowledge about the health condition of the Leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, his cousin, Mr. Chijindu Offor has warned that Kanu must not die in detention.

Offor raised this fresh concern over Kanu’s health and safety as Kanu’s lawyers revealed his condition in detention.

Kanu’s lawyers had raised the alarm that Kanu’s life is in danger over alleged “harsh, degrading and inhuman conditions” being meted to him in detention.

A statement jointly issued by Kanu’s lawyers, Aloy Ejimakor, and Ifeanyi Ejiofor, on behalf of their client on Thursday, alleged that Kanu “is solitarily confined to a very tiny cell twenty-three (23) hours of the day without access to sunlight and any social interactions whatsoever.

The statement further claimed that since Kanu was “renditioned, he has not been allowed a change of clothing; and his Jewish prayer shawls and other religious materials brought to him by his Counsel were rejected and returned.”

They “refused to replace his corrective glasses (lenses) which were smashed to smithereens by agents of the Nigerian government in the process of the violence they unleashed on him while abducting him in Kenya. This has led to a rapid deterioration of his sight.

“That he is not allowed to sleep with a pillow and this has led to him developing acid reflux which comes with acute burning sensations in his chest, chest pains, and extreme difficulty in swallowing.

“That, to date, he is denied his repeated requests for an independent medical examination to determine the extent of damage done to his body by a suspected substance he may have been injected with during this abduction and extraordinary rendition.

“He has reason to believe that the said injected substance is depleting the potassium content of his body, thus causing him constipation, a feeling of skipped heartbeats, palpitations, fatigue, muscle weakness/spasms, and numbness.

“That in the circumstance of the forgoing, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu continues to have a persistent and heightened feeling of portent threat to his overall well-being and safety within the DSS facility where he is currently detained.”

Kanu’s cousin, Offor, therefore pleaded with the Federal Government to heed the various pleas for the IPOB leader’s unconditional release, advising that Kanu’s should not be allowed to die in detention or be incapacitated, warning that Nigeria might not be able to contain the aftermath of any such eventualities.

“I appeal to the Federal Government to listen to the voice of wisdom and allow my cousin, Nnamdi to go home so he can attend to his failing health.

“Nigeria may not survive the fallout of anything untoward happening to my cousin. So, why not save the country such needless pains”, he said.

''Bandits are still killing people in Igboland. Musa Ukagba goes down in Akwakuma Okporo Orlu, Imo State today. He just came back to the village.Who's next?''he wrote.

November 16, 2021

•Says zoning presidency to region’ll douse tension, create stability

•Umahi’s Presidential posters flood social media

•Nigeria won’t have peace until Igbo become president —Northern communities

•Ex-APC chairman urges Ndigbo to declare interest for president

•S-East APC group demands Igbo presidency

By Clifford Ndujihe, Peter Okutu, Steve Oko, Chinedu Adonu & Chinonso Alozie

THE apex Igbo Socio-Cultural Organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has urged other parts of the country not to deny the South-East the presidency in 2023 because of the agitation for Biafra by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, saying such is lame and weak.

Noting that equity, justice, and fair play support zoning the top job to the Igbo, Ohanaeze National Publicity Secretary, Chief Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia, in a chat with Vanguard, yesterday, said ceding the presidency to the Igbo will douse tension and create stability in the zone and by extension the country.

Ohanaeze spoke as the 2023 presidential campaign posters of Ebonyi State Governor and Chairman of the South East Governors’ Forum, Dave Umahi, flooded the social media, with a South-East All Progressives Congress, APC, group, demanding Igbo presidency.

Also, Northern communities in the South-East geo-political zone declared that peace would remain elusive to Nigeria until an Igbo man or woman is allowed to become President.

Meanwhile, former Chairman of the APC in Enugu State, Dr. Ben Nwoye has charged Ndigbo to indicate interest in the presidency.

It’s turn of Igbo to \candidates of major parties —Ohanaeze

Speaking on the issue, Ohanaeze said: ”Our position on Nigeria president of Igbo extraction is clear. It is the turn of the Igbo to produce the presidential candidates of major political parties so that ultimately, the next president of Nigeria will be an Igbo man. That is in response to equity, justice, fairness and also for the stability of the country. For the corporate existence of this country, we must recognise the need for that to be done. As a matter of fact, there was an agreement on that in 1998 and people have been observing that agreement.

”When some people say it is not in the constitution, whatever you find in the constitution there are two things about it: morality and legality. Morality is the unwritten or what you call the spirit of the constitution. Morals sometimes have to do with conscience.”

On comments that Igbo politicians are not aspiring, mobilising and reaching out to other parts of the country,Ogbonnia said: “They are rather saying that the Igbo aspirants are not extravagant like some others but we have people who can achieve results.”

On fears that the agitation for Biafra by the IPOB could hurt the Igbo quest to produce the president in 2023, Chief Ogbonnia said: ”Anybody who comes with that, comes with a lame and weak excuse. The Niger-Delta came with their own agitation and at a point they said to reduce the tension and agitation they zoned the vice president to the South-South, which led to the emergence of Dr Goodluck Jonathan as vice president, and he went on to become acting president and later president after President Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua’s death.

”The Arewa people and Boko Haram also came with their agitation. President Jonathan said it was better for Nigeria to remain in existence than to struggle for the victory, and he relinquished power.

”After the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by late Chief MKO Abiola, the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, and South-West mounted an unprecedented agitation never witnessed in the history of the country. And they said, let’s settle them and all the presidential candidates were pushed to Yorubaland. Why should that of the Igbo be different? As much as Ohanaeze is not saying that it is a bargaining chip, nobody should use it to deny Igbo the presidency.

”As a matter of fact, if you zone the presidency to the Igbo, it will be easier for any Igbo to tell Mazi Nnamdi Kanu (IPOB Leader), ‘hold on, don’t go on this again.’ It is the greatest palliative whatsoever.”

Nigeria won’t have peace until Igbo become president—Northern communities

Northern Communities in the South-East under the aegis of Arewa communities in Igbo land also threw their weight behind Igbo presidency.

Addressing a press conference in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, they said that Igbo should be allowed to succeed President Muhamnadu Buhari in 2023 in the spirit of equity and justice and fairness.

National President of the group, Alhaji Mohammed Nalado Umaru who spoke on behalf of the Arewa communities, said it is now time for power to shift to South-East as that will help to douse tension, engender peace and national cohesion.

“The unity of this country should be paramount in our hearts. This, we can achieve by allowing an Igbo man to emerge as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria come 2023″, they said.

They, however, advised Igbo political elites to reconcile their differences and produce a competent and popular detribalised Nigerian to contest for the 2023 presidency, assuring them of full Northern support.

Alhaji Mohammed Nalado Umaru urged other geopolitical zones not to contest for the office of the President but leave it for South-East in the spirit of brotherhood. We are sure that the North, West, South-South and others will support this noble agenda.”

Alhaji Umaru expressed concern over the lopsidedness of Nigeria’s leadership against Igbo, and called for the correction of the anomaly in 2023 for Nigeria’s continuity, adding:.

“We, the Northern people living in Igbo land are highly in support of an Igbo Executive President in 2023. We live and earn our living in Igbo land and we will continue to live together as an indivisible entity.

“Igbo are accommodating and pan-Nigerians. What will be required from them is to harmonise themselves and produce a detribalised person that will be contesting the 2023 Presidential election.

“Late Sarduana of Sokoto, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Tafawa Balewa and Obafemi Awolowo did not envisage disunity and war when they fought our colonial masters to secure our political and economic independence.

‘“Our experience today centres on tribalism, nepotism, marginalisation, religious sentiment, bribery and corruption which have eaten deep into our hearts. If we can tell ourselves the truth, the leadership in the country has been lopsided as sensitive positions are denied a particular ethnic group.

“President, Vice President, Senate President, Speaker House of Representatives, Inspector General of Police, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, Chief of Air Staff, Director General of DSS are all occupied by an ethnic group, leaving the Igbo to feel marginalised.

“ We should not fan embers of crisis because where there is war, nothing is secure, let us give peace a chance like our founding fathers.”

Umahi’s presidential posters go viral

Meantime, the campaign posters of Governor’ of Ebonyi State and Chairman, Engr. David Nweze Umahi, yesterday appeared online to the surprise of those not following the trend in the nation’s political arena.

The presidential posters of the governor was pasted on the glass doors and windows of an establishments in the country.

The posters, which are currently making waves have in a way confirmed the governor’s interest for the position of the President in 2023.

Many who spoke with Vanguard believe that the emergence of Governor Umahi as president in 2023 will lead to the infrastructural revolution of the country, especially in the area of road construction.

According to Chief Onyekachi Nwebonyi, Commissioner for Capital City and Urban Development, Ebonyi State, “Nigeria will miss the train again and lose out in the race for economic competitiveness in the comity of nations” if Umahi is not elected in 2023″.

He added: “In view of these reasons, it is vital that physical infrastructure needs to be as efficient and as productive as possible. That is why Governor Umahi, in his knowingness of the intricacies of the drivers of development, opted to tackle infrastructure headlong upon his assumption of office as governor of Ebonyi State.

“Talking of road infrastructure, it is axiomatic that nobody has equalled Governor Umahi since Nigeria’s Independence, be it president or governor. Upon the inception of his administration, Governor Umahi wasted no time in embarking on aggressive road construction in all the 13 local government areas of Ebonyi State. He saw rural roads as important as urban roads and highways, which made him come up with the 15 kilometres rural road per LGA policy.

“For Nigeria to leapfrog into the elite club of developed nations, which most Nigerians yearn for, Engr. Chief David Umahi needs to be the next president of the country. This is because he will invest in all elements of the infrastructure component which will restore Nigeria as the giant of Africa and project it to the status of developed nation.

“From the foregoing, it is undeniable that if Nigerians fail to elect Governor David Umahi as president in 2023, Nigeria will miss the train again and lose out in the race for economic competitiveness in the comity of nations.”

Ex-APC chairman urges Ndigbo todeclare interest for president

In a related development, former chairman of APC in Enugu State, Dr. Ben Nwoye has charged Ndigbo to indicate interest for presidency.“Nwoye who made this call during the inauguration of State executives of the Enugu State Chapter of South East Mandate, SEM, at APC State Secretariat in Enugu, said, “it is not enough for Ndigbo to sit down and claim that it is their turn to produce the president.” He maintained that Nigerian president of Igbo extraction will not be built on a magical planet, hence the need for Ndigbo to indicate interest and fight for it.“”We need Ndigbo to come out and indicate interest for the position of president of South-East extraction in 2023. They should present themselves and run for the president.“”You cannot be given the presidency because you are saying it is our turn. President is not given but contested.”

S-East APC group demands Igbo presidency

However, members of the Liberation People of South-East Assembly, LPSEA, a group in the APC, yesterday, called on the national leadership of the APC, to zone its presidential ticket to the South-East zone.

The National President of the group, Henry Chikodiri, in a statement issued in Owerri, said the APC ought to zone the presidential ticket to Igboland for equity and justice.

Furthermore, they revealed they would begin mobilization and uniting of South-East people to mount pressure for the actualization of a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction.

According to them: “There is no other time better than now for the quest for the South-East to produce the next President of Nigeria. The National Leadership of APC should zone the party’s presidential ticket to the South-East for equity and justice.”

Lidocaine:
Yellowstone is back......!!!!!


First episode is a BANGER..

By Ekaete Bassey On Nov 9, 2021

It is no news that actors from various nationalities abound in Hollywood. You will be quite amazed when you also realise a good number of these film stars have their roots in Yorubaland, South West, Nigeria.

Here is a list of 8 American actors who are originally Yoruba:

ADEPERO ODUYE

Adepero Oduye is an American actress who is also a singer and writer.

Oduye’s breakout role came in 2011 when she starred in Dee Rees’ critically acclaimed and award-winning independent film Pariah, for which she received several awards and a nomination for Best Female Lead at the Independent Spirit Awards.

The following year, she joined an all-star cast in the “Steel Magnolias” television remake as Annelle Dupuy-Desoto, a role originated by Daryl Hannah.

In 2013, Oduye co-starred alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor in Steve McQueen’s historical drama “12 years a slave” and was winner of the 2014 Academy Award for Best Picture.

In 2014, she made her directorial debut with “Breaking in”, a short film about a young black man’s first time being stopped and frisked by the NYPD, based on her brother’s early experience. The film has garnered several film festival acknowledgments and awards.

Born on January 11, 1978 in Brooklyn, New York, Oduye is of Yoruba descent.


DONALD FAISON

Donald Adeosun Faison is an American actor, comedian, and voice actor best known for his leading role as Dr. Chris Turk in the ABC/NBC comedy-drama Scrubs (2001–2010) and a supporting role as Murray in both the film Clueless (1995) and the subsequent television series of the same name. He also starred as Phil Chase in the TV Land sitcom The Exes (2011–2015).

Faison has also co-starred in the films “Waiting to Exhale” (1995); “Remember the Titans” (2000); “Uptown Girls” (2003); “Something New” (2006); “Next Day Air” (2009) and “Kick-Ass 2” (2013) and several other movies.

Although Faison was born on 22 June 1974 in Harlem, New York, United State, he is originally from the Yoruba tribe of Nigeria.


DAYO OKENIYI

Oladayo A. Okeniyi is a Nigerian-American actor popularly known for playing the role of Thresh in “The Hunger Games” and Danny Dyson in “Terminator Genisys.”

Prior to being cast in “The Hunger Games”, Okeniyi worked in local theatre and in film shorts. Okeniyi starred 2014 in the drama film “Endless Love”, also portrayed Danny Dyson in the 2015 film “Terminator Genisys” and starred in the NBC series “Shades of Blue”.

Born on June 14, 1988 in Jos and grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. In 2003, he moved with his family to Indiana, United States and later moved to California. Dayo is Yoruba by tribe.


FOLAKE OLOWOFOYEKU

Folake Olowofoyeku is a Nigerian-American actress and singer.

Olowofoyeku appeared in guest starring roles on television shows that include 30 Rock, How to Get Away with Murder, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Modern Family, Westworld, and White Collar.

Olowofoyeku also starred in the 2017 film, Death Race 2050, as Minerva Jefferson. The film is a sequel to the 1975 cult film, Death Race 2000 and was shot in Lima, Peru

Born on October 26, 1983, Folake is of the Yoruba tribe.


GBENGA AKINNAGBE

Olugbenga Enitan Temitope Akinnagbe is an America actor and writer best known for his roles as Chris Partlow on the HBO series “The Wire” and as Larry Brown on the HBO series “The Deuce.”

He starred in leading roles in two independent films as Jack in “Home”, directed by Jono Oliver and as James in “Big Words”, directed by Neil Drumming.

Akinnagbe made a guest appearance on a season 10 “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” episode entitled “Hell” as Elijah Okello, a former Ugandan child soldier living in New York, facing deportation

Born on December 12, 1978 in Washington, he is also Yoruba.


OLAMIDE FAISON

Olamidé Aladejobi Patrick Alexander Faison is an American actor and singer. Olamidé is the youngest brother of Donald Faison.

He came to limelight after playing Miles Robinson on the children’s television show “Sesame Street” making history as the third to play the role after Miles Orman and Imani Patterson.

Born on July 21, 1983 in New York City, Olamide Faison is Yoruba.


RICK FAMUYIWA

Rick Famuyiwa is a Nigerian-American director, producer and screenwriter of productions including The Wood (1999), Brown Sugar (2002), Talk to Me (2007), Dope (2015) and Confirmation (2016).

Famuyiwa’s first feature film, “The Wood” is a semi-autobiographical account of his upbringing in Inglewood. Born on June 18, 1973, Rick is originally from the Yoruba tribe.


ROTIMI AKINOSHO

Rotimi Akinosho is an American actor, singer, and model. At his first trial with acting, Rotimi auditioned and subsequently got his first acting role on “Boss” as a drug dealer, Darius Morrison.

He also appeared in three episodes of ABC’s “Betrayal.”

Rotimi made his silver screen debut in the film Black Nativity (2013). He next appeared in the high grossing film, Divergent (2014).

Born on 30 November 1988 in Maplewood, New Jersey; Rotimi is of Yoruba descent.

2023: Former Aviation Minister, Osita Chidoka, points out the absence of Igbo presidential aspirants at the PDP convention

As the clamour for an Igbo president continues, former Aviation Minister, Osita Chidoka, said at the PDP convention held in Abuja earlier today, no Igbo man or woman signified interest to run for president.

According to him, the presidential posters of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Senate President Bukola Saraki, Sokoto state governor Aminu Tambuwal, and others were brandished at the convention ground but not one Igbo man with presidential aspiration shared even a leaflet during the event.


See what he wrote below:

October 27, 2021

. We won't allow terrorists hijack Anambra election, FG vows

…Calls on Nigeria govt to immediately Withdraw forces from Igboland

…Describes as criminal violent enforcement of sit-at-home


By Chinonso Alozie, Owerri

The De Facto Customary Government of Biafra, on Tuesday, said November 6, 2021 Governorship election of Anambra State, must hold as scheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

The Head of Information and Communication, Uche Okafor-Mefor, disclosed this in a statement obtained by Vanguard in Owerri.

They said those instigating violence to stop the election was engaging in a counter-productive mission that would deny the people of the State from voting and protecting their votes for their preferred choice as governor of Anambra State.

Also, the De facto Biafra Customary Government said it was against the use of violence to force the people of the Southeast Zone to obey the sit-at-home order adding that such action was criminal.

Just as they demanded the federal government should immediately withdraw their security forces deployed to the South East region, pointing out that the use of violent approach against the Igbos would no longer be acceptable.

According to the De Facto Biafra Customary Court as captured by Vanguard, “In the light of the complex developments, hydra-headed security challenges and other sundry issues adversely affecting the indigenous civilian populations lumped up together against their will in Nigeria, the De Facto Customary.

The government of Biafra hereby declares as follows; the hydra-headed government believes absolutely in the sanctity of human life – the protection of lives in the Biafran territory – and therefore condemns in no uncertain terms the ongoing wanton destruction of lives and properties in Biafraland by both state and non-state actors irrespective of their motives.

“That the De Facto Customary Government of Biafra extols the democratic ethos for which Biafrans are known and as such declares support for the people of Biafra to exercise their democratic rights to vote and be voted for in Biafraland in the current and future elections.”

On the Anambra governorship election, “That in line with this pronouncement, the De Facto Customary Government of Biafra affirms that elections in Anambra State and elsewhere in Biafraland must hold by the extant laws; that any boycott of the Anambra elections and others elsewhere remains fruitless, counterproductive and would be incapable of invalidating the electoral process because a winner must emerge eventually by the circumstances strongly urged to go out and vote for the preferred candidates of their choices.

“That the continued violent campaign for the boycott of elections and other ancillary unethical conducts which are inimical to the advancement of the Biafran cause are subsequently frowned at and as such must be discouraged forthwith.

“That the proponents of this self-annihilating strategy must be reminded that in reality, the best way to be in control of political power is by engaging and by going through the democratic process itself or they will otherwise and in effect be aiding and abating the same Fulani-controlled Nigerian state to all the more heavily militarise Biafraland, impose a state of emergency, kill more Biafrans, ultimately rig the elections and fraudulently install their stooges.”

Just as the group condemned alleged violence against the people of the Southeast region saying: “That the De Facto Customary Government of Biafra further condemns without any equivocation the associated systematic subject on of Biafrans to torture and the targeted assassination of Biafrans on Biafran soil. These are heinous conducts against the laws of the land and prohibited as atrocious crimes by the international community.

“That the De Facto Customary Government of Biafra calls on the Nigerian government to withdraw her forces from the Biafran territory forthwith and to arrest and bring to justice all her security personnel implicated in the commission of crimes against humanity, enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings in Biafraland.

“That the De Facto Customary Government of Biafra opposes and deplores in its entirety any torture or killings of Biafrans by Biafrans on Biafran soil. Henceforth, anybody or group of people embarking on this criminality remain the enemy of the people.

“That the De Facto Customary Government of Biafra welcomes any civil disobedience measures taken by Biafrans in response or protest to the violations of their fundamental human rights this criminality which advances the ever legitimate Biafran cause. In this regard and with particular reference, any sit-at-home in line with the above-stated objective which is voluntary is welcome.”

On the issue of incessant Sit-at-home order, he told Vanguard that, “However, any violent enforcement of such exercise leading to the forcible restriction of movements, destruction of businesses, above-stated in Biafraland must be challenged. We further reiterate that violent enforcement of any said sit-at-home exercise is criminal conduct, and anybody indulging in those despicable conducts remains a criminal.

“Finally, that the De Facto Customary Government of Biafra reaffirms and reasserts that Biafra is our heritage and would do everything humanly possible to defend, and her people. Long live the people of Biafra. Long live the State of Biafra.”

October 22, 2021

By Okechukwu Onunaiju

EVEN in this modern time of centralised political authority of the contemporary state, the nature of the political process among Ndigbo remains essentially consultative and in addition to the horizontal and fragmentary structure of its underlining political system is also the philosophical rationale that no one knows it all, notwithstanding the brilliance and exceptional knowledge of anyone or group of person as the reason why consultations is at the core of the Igbo political, social and cultural life.

The political and philosophical rationale puts a high premium on reaching consensus through deliberate and extensive consultations. Beyond the authority of the contemporary government that cut across the units of various communities in Igbo land, there is no traditional authority that exercises control or power beyond its domain which highest unit is usually a town, and are most times culturally homogenous.

The nature of the political process makes it impossible for anyone person or group of persons to claim to act on behalf of Ndigbo except on the basis of delegation reached by consensus through deliberations and consultations. Even the declaration of the defunct sovereign state of Biafra was not the act of a reckless individual or personal adventure.

On May 26, 1967, the 335 Consultative Assembly of Chiefs and Elders, had drawn the attention of the then military governor of Eastern Nigeria, Colonel Odimegwu Ojukwu, to the then plight of Ndigbo in Nigeria and mandated him to “as soon as practicable”, declare the sovereign state of Biafra.

The important thing is that the declaration of Biafra and struggle to sustain it which lasted for nearly three years was a decision borne out of extensive consultation and consensus of Ndigbo with adequate knowledge of the risks and sacrifices implied in such a decision.

When the struggle for the sustenance of the defunct Republic failed, Ndigbo despite all the structural constraints and the psychology of defeat re-entered Nigeria with vigour, spreading out to all its nooks and crannies in confidence of an inclusive and enterprising republic.

With the Nigerian state faltering, especially since the start of the century and a return to civil rule, under the vicious corruption assault, launched by the predatory political elite, a new wave of restiveness have crept in, empowering hordes of nihilistic traducers masquerading as “freedom fighters”, “ethnic liberators” and other assorted irredentists.

From among the Igbo nation, has emerged the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, with self-proclaimed mandate to restore the defunct sovereign state of Biafra. From the current activities of this group in using terror and extreme intimidation against Ndigbo, mostly resident in Igboland, it is clear that it does not seek to liberate Ndigbo but to conquer Ndigbo in Igboland.

By its series of imposed lockdowns enforced by the use of extreme terror, IPOB with no known structure of organisation and no iota of pretence to consult with any group or community in Igbo land relishes with pleasure the bludgeoning of Ndigbo, especially those residents in Igbo land to bankruptcy and penury.

Every liberation movement in history takes its battle to the enemy and defends its own territory with suicidal determination. Only IPOB makes its own territory a battle frontline, mindlessly destroying facilities and other infrastructures that would rather serve well, the so-called sovereign state it craves.

Imposing sit-in and lockdown orders, depriving Ndigbo of the essential and life-saving economic activities to fend off extreme deprivations emanating from the debilitating hemorrhage of a bankrupt Nigeria state is a total disservice to the Igbo nation.

With a Nigeria state whose extant national security has shrunk to the mere physical security of its political bosses around their fortified exclusive zones of residences, the least expected of the IPOB if any of their messianic invocations about Biafra and by implication Ndigbo is to be taken serious, is to protect and secure Ndigbo in their farms, markets and any other places they are engaged in productive activities.

But a maniacal power hungry and bloodthirsty IPOB seemed only interested in “Biafra” and certainly careless about the Igbo nation and Ndigbo, otherwise in whose interest do they enforce the earth-scorched hard restrictions order enforced by extreme brutality of burning, looting, killing and complete destruction of lives and property.

The defunct Biafra survived for nearly three years on account of the collective determination and sacrifices of Ndigbo through consultations and consensus. And IPOB, who wants now to own what it did not create, does not have the modesty and humility of generating a modicum of consensus through consultations rather it seeks to criminally conquer the Igbo nation through a relentless campaign of terror and intimidations.

Since its leader, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, was captured by the Nigeria federal authorities, the group has gone berserk and misguidedly turned its venom against Ndigbo, leaving unscratched the Nigeria federal authority which snatched their hero.

By the way, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu who excretes bile and contempt for the Igbo elite and arrogates encyclopedic knowledge of history to himself does not know that Kenya is not hospitable terrain for insurgents. If he truly knows history as he arrogantly claims, he would have known that it was Kenyans who tricked the highly elusive leader of the Kurdistan workers party, PKK, a Turkish insurgent militia, Mr. Abdullah Ocalan, from the Greek embassy in Nairobi in February 1999, with a promise to fly him to the Netherland only to march him to the waiting Turkish jet painted in Malaysian national colours at the Nairobi airport and flown straight to the waiting arms of the Turkish authority in Ankara that has been desperately seeking his capture since 1984.

Mr. Ocalan has been imprisoned since then in the Turkish Island of Mamara, and despite that his armed group has been on and off negotiations with Turkish authority has not seen the light of day since his capture in 1999.

And significantly, the PKK fighters and the huge Kurdish diaspora that finance their operations have not turned on their people as cannon fodder as IPOB has and continues to do in Igboland today. Since the attack of the US embassy in Kenya in1998, Nairobi usually brims with the prying eyes of several national intelligence services, including the CIA, Israel’s Mossad, British MI5, etc.

Any one of them irritated by the antics of Nnamdi Kanu of his bogus claims about networks of international support would have raised a red flag. Had the IPOB leader benefited from the insight of history which he claims to know more than anyone else, he would not have touched Kenya with even a long spoon.

Whether kidnapped, “illegally renditioned” or by other ways his supporters describe his capture, states don’t hand out rose flowers to their most wanted persons when they found them or organise an elaborate party to welcome them, in the form of the Biblical prodigal son who returned home.

Mao in China, Ho Minh in Vietnam, Castro and Che in Cuba all have huge state bounty on their heads for their capture and they scrupulously eluded their state enemies until their revolution triumphed.

For his reckless and thoughtless adventure, Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB is leaving aside, the Nigeria and Kenya authorities and hounding Ndigbo and locking them indoors causing them to die in deprivations and hunger when they neither send Mr. Kanu on any errand nor were complicit in his capture.

But, should Ndigbo spread across professions, business, politics, academia and all endeavours of life watch helplessly as a rump of self-appointed messiah despoil the land? Nigeria state is vegetating and its security apparatus is simply not up to the task of halting the IPOB marauders.

In a long-standing tradition of self-defence, communities in Igboland should organise themselves in vigilantes to help reform and redirect the many misguided youths involved in the murderous campaign of the IPOB.

Onunaiju, a social commentator, wrote from Abuja

The governing All Progressives Congress (APC) has ruled that all State Congresses conducted last Saturday across the country by non-accredited committees were null and void.

The party insisted on Sunday that there were no parallel congresses as reported in the media.

But at the close of the nationwide exercise on Saturday, reports from Kwara, Niger, Ogun, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Kano, Bauchi, Abia, Rivers and Cross River among others showed that parallel congresses were conducted depending on the number of political factions in each State.

The party also ordered the last-minute suspension of congress in Oyo State due to alleged irregularities in the conduct of the exercise.

Secretary to the party’s Caretaker Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Senator John Akpanudoedehe, however, told The Nation in an interview on Sunday that only congresses conducted by accredited Congress Committees by the party were recognised.

He maintained that there was no parallel congress anywhere, insisting that any congress conducted outside the published guideline cannot stand.

“Anything (congress) outside the guideline is an exercise in futility. Anything that we (Caretaker Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) did not authorize is not permissible.

“We are a structured and a well-organised party. We gave notice to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). We submitted the guideline and the list of committee members to conduct the congresses to INEC. If you go outside that arrangement, it is an exercise in futility.”

The Chairman of CECPC, Governor Mai Mala Buni, in a statement through his Director-General Press and Media Affairs, Mamman Mohammed on Friday warned that the party will not condone deliberate acts of sabotage by anyone or group intended to ridicule the process and outcome of the Congress.

Akpanudoedehe on Saturday after the exercise, adjudged the Congress as successful, rating its conduct as high as 99 percent.

He bluntly refused to accept there were States where parallel congresses took place.

It was a shock seeing Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State ordering members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP opposed to his plans for harmonization of the executive of the party at all levels to leave the party.

He spoke at a gathering of stakeholders where the decision to suspend the national vice-chairman of the party, South-South, Chief Dan Orbih from the party was adopted.

The developments in the Edo State chapter of the PDP flow from the defection of Obaseki to the PDP penultimate June.

It came upon the determination of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to use his position as national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, to stop Obaseki from having the second term ticket of the APC.

The Edo State governor at that time last June was practically reduced to a political wanderer.

It was a sight to behold that day last June at the APC national secretariat as Governor Obaseki, clutched his credentials as he appeared before a committee constituted by Oshiomhole to defend allegations of certificate forgery.

For one reason or the other, the Oshiomhole panel eventually disqualified the same man that four years ago, Oshiomhole had stumped through Edo State to enthrone governor.

After Obaseki was forced out from the APC, and following flying visits across the country – Uyo- Port-Harcourt-Asaba- he landed in Benin where the PDP grudgingly accepted him.

Two men who were crucial to the final acceptance of Obaseki into the party were Ogbeide Ihama, the member representing Oredo Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives and Dan Orbih, the man who had built and held the party in the days of the wilderness when Oshiomhole was in power.

At the time Obaseki came in, Ogbeide-Ihama was in pole position to emerge as the PDP candidate for the 2020 governorship election, having built synergy with the party structure across the state that was effectively in the control of Orbih.

For a man that had set his sight to be governor in 2020 it was unarguably a bitter pill being asked by party grandees in Abuja to resign for the governor to take the ticket.

Especially given the tardiness that characterized the process at that time, Ogbiede Ihama had the opportunity to scupper the emergence of Obaseki as the party’s candidate by insisting that the timeline for the process had been breached. He could have affirmed that the bus had left the station by the time Obaseki entered.

He was, however, made to withdraw alongside other leading contenders.

At that time too, Orbih had relinquished his position as party chairman in favour of Dr Tony Aziegbemi, the former member of the House of Representatives.

However, as everyone in Edo knows, the Edo PDP had over the years been infused with the fighting spirit that Orbih brought to bear.

With Orbih as party chairman, the PDP had put the Oshiomhole led APC to task in elections winning the majority of National Assembly seats and numbers in presidential counts in 2011, 2105 and 2019.

However, Orbih like Ogbeide-Ihama also kowtowed to the party grandees plea and became Obaseki’s campaign manager in 2019. The sight of Orbih on the rostrum campaigning for Obaseki did not foretell the kind of development now ensuing in Edo.

The suspension of Orbih and Ogbeide-Ihama, the two critical factors in Obaseki’s emergence as governor must have befuddled many. Especially given that it was under the watch of the governor.

Obaseki’s allies allege that the two men were frustrating the governor’s move to harmonise the PDP structure.

For them, it is especially painful that ahead of the PDP National Convention this October that the governor would not be in a position to have a say in the Edo delegate list which they claim is being dictated by Orbih.

Even more, the governor’s allies allege underhand schemes by Orbih and the Old PDP to frustrate the governor through many court actions and underhand schemes.

The development has led to the new phrase in Benin that “Obaseki should take his government and leave our party for us.”

The division has been hampered by the seeming lack of communication on the part of the governor.

The nomination of 11 new commissioners all from the former APC helped to worsen perceptions about a governor regarded everywhere as a fighter.

“How can you bring all 11 commissioners from your side after taking deputy governor and SSG,” many in the Old PDP have been asking.

Sources say that the governor has promised another 10 commissioners for the Old PDP but after harmonization.

However, what Obaseki and perhaps the Old PDP are not seeing is the role of fifth columnists in the whole matter. That is the role of PDP chieftains who lost out during the congresses in 2020, chieftains with national reputation but bereft of local support. A number of these chieftains have been egging Obaseki on in his new fight with the intention that what they lost during the congresses of 2020 that they would get through harmonization.

In his first fight with Oshiomhole, the Obaseki crowd was able to get the executive in Oshiomhole’s ward to suspend him. In Orbih’s case, that has been unsuccessful putting the whole suspension drama into a constitutional nullity.

Social media is now suffixed with Obaseki as a fighter and a man of ingratitude. It doesn’t do him good, especially given his sight towards a legacy.

One can only imagine the imagination of Comrade Oshiomhole at this time.

After repeated disappointments, Oshiomhole may now laugh as Obaseki who seemingly betrayed him and Orbih who tormented him government fight one another.

N45bn IGR: Seizure of funds by OBJ’s govt made Lagos think like sovereign state — OSINBAJO

October 15, 2021

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has challenged state governors to invest in areas of economic advantage, saying that Lagos State was able to grow its Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, because it started thinking like a sovereign state when its allocation from the central government was seized.

Professor Osinbajo said this at Ekiti Economic and Investment summit tagged ‘Fountain Summit 2021’ organised by the Ekiti State government to find sustainable solutions to some socio-economic issues besetting the state.

Recall that the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo withheld the monthly allocation to Lagos State for a while.

At the summit, he, alongside Governors of Ekiti, Lagos, Edo and Kaduna states, Kayode Fayemi, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Godwin Obaseki and Nasir el-Rufai, respectively, also called for state police.

While speaking on economy, the Vice President said: “Attracting investments to any state should be the major focus of state chief executives because that is the revenue hub and determinant of how happy the people of any state will be in terms of economic development with their standard of living.

“But while trying to grow investments, we must be cautious of multiple taxations; it weighs down businesses.

“Ekiti is a business-friendly environment. Ekiti has also excelled in the aspect of ease of doing business. You have vast arable lands for agriculture.

“Let me say that Ekiti has a bigger economy than many Africa nations. The question we should ask ourselves is that if I were the landlord of this sub-nation, how do we survive?

“During my time as a Commissioner in Lagos, we started with N600 million monthly Internally Generated Revenues, IGRs, in 1999.

“The seizure of Lagos funds by President Olusegun Obasanjo made us think like a sovereign state.

“Today, Lagos is making over N45 billion monthly."

October 14, 2021

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri – Abuja

A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting at Maitama, on Thursday, barred the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from recognising or acting upon a resolution of its chapter in Edo State, which ratified the suspension of its National Vice Chairman (South-South), Chief Dan Orbih for allegedly engaging in anti-party activities.

The court, in an ex-parte order that was issued by Justice O. A. Adeniyi, ordered the party not to give effect to Orbih’s purported suspension, pending the determination of a suit pending before it.

Justice Adeniyi directed that the order should be served on the PDP forthwith, even as he adjourned hearing of the suit till December 10.

It will be recalled that the Edo State chapter of the PDP had last Monday, ratified the suspension of Orbih and others accused of sabotaging the interest of the party.

Their suspension was reportedly ratified by all PDP leaders across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state during an enlarged meeting of leaders of the party in Benin.

Motion for ratification of their suspension, which was moved by a chieftain of the party in Oredo, Mike Nosa-Ehima, was seconded by a leader of the party from Etsako West council, Sylvanus Eruaga

Moving the motion, Nosa-Ehima said: “All those that have refused to allow the party (Edo-PDP) to grow are being suspended, in the interest of the PDP.”

However, dissatisfied with the action, Orbih, in the suit marked FCT/HC/CV/2646/21, which he filed through his team of lawyers led by Chief Godwin Obla, SAN, queried the constitutionality of his suspension.

Pending the determination of the suit, Orbih filed a motion ex-parte for an order barring the party from giving effect to his suspension.

In his ruling on Thursday, Justice Adeniyi said he took into account an affidavit that was deposed in support of the suit by one Mr. Ode Aoyi, as well as submission by the counsel, M. O. Onyilokwu.

“Accordingly, interim order of injunction is hereby made restraining the Defendant at any level of its organs or howsoever described, from giving effect to, recognizing or acting upon the resolution of a group calling itself Edo North Leaders/Stakeholders of the Defendant made on October 7, 2021, purporting to suspend the Applicant from the party and which resolution was purportedly ratified by the Edo chapter of the Defendant without due consideration to the provisions of Article 57(1)- (7) of the Constitution of the Defendant, pending the hearing of and determination of the motion on notice”, Justice Adeniyi held.

The PDP was cited as the sole Defendant in the matter.

Victoria Edeme

12 October 2021

The Actors Guild of Nigeria, has secured the release of Nollywood actor, Chiwetalu Agu from the Department of State Service on Tuesday.

AGN made this known via a statement on their official page titled, “Chiwetalu Agu released to Actors Guild Of Nigeria”

The statement signed by the AGN Communication Director, Monalisa Chinda read, “The National President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Ejezie Emeka Rollas has yet again secured the release of Actor Chiwetalu Agu from the custody of the DSS.

“On behalf of the Guild, I was at the DSS office with my colleague, the Senior special Assistant on Military Affairs and Inter Governmental Relations to the President Steve Eboh to receive Mr. Agu today.

“The elated veteran Actor thanked God for surviving the ordeal and commended the leadership of the Actors Guild of Nigeria headed by Ejezie Emeka Rollas for their relentless efforts in securing his release from the detention.”

BENIN CITY – SOME leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Monday evening ratified the suspension of the National Vice Chairman South-South of the party Dan Orbih, the member of the House of Representatives representing Oredo Federal Constituency, Hon. Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama; State Secretary of Edo State PDP, Hilary Otsu; the PDP Chairman in Oredo local government area, Oduwa Igbinosun, and the Chairman of PDP in Oredo Ward Four, Mr Friday Enaruna.

Vanguard gathered that the leaders who met in Benin City were selected from the 192 wards of the state.

This position is despite the position of the National Working Committee (NWC) through its spokesman, Kola Ologbodiyan nullifying the suspensions which were carried out last Thursday.

The motion for the ratification of the suspension was moved by Mike Nosa-Ehima, a leader of the PDP in Oredo Local Government Area, and was seconded by Sylvanus Eruaga, a leader of the party from Etsako West local government area.

Nosa-Ehima said, “all those that have refused to allow the party to grow are being suspended in the interest of the PDP.

Earlier in the meeting, Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, said, “There are people who have continued to come and feed you with lies. That is the nature of their politics if there is no confusion they will not eat.

“Last year, when we joined you, we started a movement that has never happened in Edo before not even in our politics. If we go for election today, we will win by 85 per cent. It means we don’t have meaningful opposition and if this is the situation, we should not create opposition inside.

“I will not leave PDP. I am the leader of PDP and by the grace of God I will lead PDP well. Any body that doesn’t want me to lead or want to accept my leadership will leave PDP for me.

“We are here to stay and invest in PDP. Am the governor to join PDP last and was made chairman of our e-registration process so why should I leave the party. We came to meet PDP as a solid Party the only true party in this country while others are special purpose vehicles for elections.

“I said come let us Harmonise and the harmonization is to carry everybody along. We don’t need to lie in politics. Politics is a game of numbers. For one year I have been begging for us to Harmonise. Went round when we wanted to make appointment and the numbers of application, we have been almost same with the petition we received, it shows we have not harmonised.

“I call all of you leaders of the party to come to build a solid Party. We won our election last year because of our cooperation. United we stand and divided we fall. We are in PDP now for over a year.

“We can’t escape from harmonization if we want to go for National Convention. I have almost 300 to 400 Political appointment I want to make.

“People are greedy, politics is all about give and take. I appreciate PDP, we came we won we are not leaving PDP, will not accept any opposition within PDP, if you are not happy with my leadership you can leave us. Let’s all of us Harmonise some Local Government have done there own while some are still far behind.

“By this weekend, please complete the harmonization. I am here to assure you that there is something for everyone that have worked for us and continue to work for us. The important thing is for us to continue to grow our party”, He said .

Leaders from Edo Central, Mrs Philomena Ihenyen and Johnson Abolagba from Edo north pledged their support for the governor and said they were against those frustrating the harmonisation plans in the party.

As at the time of filling this report, the state chairman of the PDP, Tony Aziegbemi and the State Publicity Secretary, Chris Nehikhare have not picked repeated calls neither have they responded to text and WhatsApp messages to them.

But a high profile member of the party who did not want his mentioned since he is not an official of the party said “The PDP has a constitution and it is an institution, check if those people who met are officials of the party. The party spokesman at the national has spoken, the spokesperson of the party in the state has spoken so they are the best to still speak on this. However the governor is our governor, we have the government and the governor is our senior brother we all worked for him win, we will not quarell and we have refused to quarrel with him.”

Godwin Isenyo

10 October 2021

The Coalition of Northern Groups has frowned at the resolution of the National Executive Committee meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party zoning the national championship to the North ahead of the 2023 general elections.

The CNG said that the development was a threat to the consolidation of democracy in the country.

The CNG spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, told newsmen in Kaduna on Saturday that it was contradictory and deceptive for the PDP NEC to leave the contest for the party’s presidential ticket open to all, while restricting the national championship position to the North.

He said, “It is as much an abuse of acceptable democratic process as it as is contradictory, deceptive, ultra vires and alien to political party traditions everywhere.

“One fails to understand why the PDP would rather exclude the entire Southern Nigeria and deny them the right to vote and be voted for in a free and fair process for the highest position in the party and at the same time, allow open contest for the presidential ticket.

“This is only a veiled tactic to deceive the North into ultimately ceding the presidential slot which must be rejected by insisting on an inclusive process for all party and offices in all the parties.

“It is unfortunate that the PDP after the humiliation of 2015 has still not learnt from lessons of history and is still bent on enforcing arbitrary, undemocratic practices that are harmful to internal party democracy and potentially threaten the consolidation of democracy in the country.

“We at the CNG are insisting on the emergence of a purposeful, credible, capable, and result-oriented leadership that would be achieved through a free, fair and inclusive process and not by deceit, blackmail, threat or grandstanding.

“We therefore reiterate our call for all the political parties to internal democratic processes to prevail in the selection of both party and elective positions freely and fairly without the need to disenfranchise any group of people or tribe for whatever intent and purpose.

“We therefore warm that any party that attempts to disenfranchise any group or section of the country stands to be roundly rejected by the North.”

• ‘All parties should pick their candidates from our zone’

By Egbo Grace - Abakaliki

On Oct 9, 2021

GOVERNORS of the South East zone on Friday asked all political parties in the country to pick their 2023 presidential candidates from the zone. Chairman, South East Governors Forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, while making the call asked political parties in the country not to scheme out the zone in the race.

According to him, the region has sacrificed a lot and must be allowed to produce the next President of the country whether zoning or not zoning.

Umahi made this known during a prayer summit organised by the state government at Ecumenical centre, Abakaliki.

He called for intergration of the zone in the affairs of the country. According to him, Nigeria must treat South East fairly and on equitable order.

He said: “We will continue to say as a father of the statement that we will not belong to Biafra, we will not.

“We will not go back to second slavery, we will not. We want to belong to Nigeria, we want to belong to fair play and equitable Nigeria.

“And let me state very clear, zoning or no zoning party or no party, south east must not be schemed out of the affairs of this nation, it must not be schemed out.

“What is good for other states, is good for south east, it doesn’t matter whom God enthrones. Let south east be properly intergrated in the affairs of this nation. We are nation builders, we should not be filt.

“We have investments in every part of this country and people use hate speeches to keep us down, people should not be afraid of us.

“We will work with the people for love and unity of this country. Give us a chance, treat us fairly for we have sacrificed. Even the states that are asking for VAT to collect, we have contributed alot in building those states”

…..CP Odumosu urge residents

‘not panic, Lagos is safe’

By Esther Onyegbula

Ogbuagu Kingsley Kachi who was kidnapped from the premises of a church at FESTAC Town, Amuwo-Odofin, Lagos State has been rescued and reunited with his family.

It would be recalled that Ogbuagu was kidnapped from his church premises on Sunday 26th September, 2021 around 11am by unknown gunmen in a Lexus.

The Commissioner of Police who spoke through CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, the command’s spokesperson, revealed that the victim who was kidnapped from the premises of a church at FESTAC Town, Amuwo-Odofin, Lagos State on Sunday 26th September, 2021 has been rescued.

While soliciting the support of the public, sister agencies and other strategic partners by giving prompt but actionable intelligence that would further decimate criminal elements and their nefarious activities in the state, Odumosu
appealed to members of the public to believe in police’s ability to protect them at all times”.

He assured residents that Lagos is safe and there was no need to panic on account of the viral post or the recent security infringement in Ajah where AVM Sikiru Smith (rtd) was abducted on 27th September, 2021″.

The statement read: “The assurance becomes imperative in view of the unnecessary alarm and concerns being raised on the social media about isolated security infractions in some parts of the state”.

“Operatives of the Command are being tactical so as not to jeopardize the lives of the AVM and the pastor. Concerted efforts are ongoing to rescue them and arrest their abductors in due course”.

“The isolated incidents notwithstanding, Lagos State is, and will remain one of the safest states in Nigeria”, he added.

“To allay the fear of the people, therefore, the Command has restrategized to provide watertight security for all law-abiding residents of the State. The Commissioner of Police has given standing order to all field Commanders, tactical unit Commanders, other uniformed and plain-clothed police officers to intensify visibility Policing, vehicular patrol as well as intelligence-driven raid of all flashpoints/blackspots and identified criminal hideouts to smoke out men of the underworld hibernating in them”.
“The Police Command is conscious of its statutory duties of protecting lives and property among other duties, and would not for any reason or at any time abdicate these important duties”.