Author: Drum Africa Correspondent
By Ferdinand Ekeoma Before the government of Dr. Alex Otti came on board, people’s houses and shops were “painted” with all kinds of demand notices ranging from Property Rate, Infrastructure Levy, Business Premises Permit, Business Licence, Operational Permit, Operational Licence, ASEPA fee, Property and Tenement Rate, House Fitness Permit, Excavation Permit, and many other illegal levies. ASEPA had multiple collection agents and offices in all the zones and streets in Aba and Umuahia. While heaps of refuse littered our streets, illegal agents harassed innocent residents. I make bold to say that era of impunity and negligence is gone, and sanity…
The Indigenous Igbo Congress (IIC) of Rivers State has declared its opposition to what it termed a selective application of ethno-linguistic regionalism in the proposed restructuring of Nigeria. The IIC, in a communique signed by its President, Comrade Chimenum Amadi (Ikwerre); its Vice President, Comrade Azubuike Okere (Ndoki); and Comrade Dimma Iworiso Ojimba (Okirika), its Director of Communication, demands a single, undivided Igbo Region inclusive of the Igbo-speaking peoples of the Rivers frontier. Other signatories to the communique include Comrade Felix Israel (Ekpeye) Legal Adviser, IIC Rivers State, Comrade Osoruchi Okwudu (Ikwerre) Financial Secretary, IIC Rivers State, Comrade Henry Ukwuoma (Etche)…
The Abia State Ministry of Women Affairs has informed the general public that the Government is aware of a case of child abuse involving Mr. Lambert Evans Uzoma against his 12-year-old son, Master Ugonna Uzoma. Dr. Maureen Ijeoma Aghukwa, Commissioner Ministry of Women Affairs Abia State revealed that Master Uzoma sustained serious bruises on different parts of his body as a result of alleged torture by his father. She said that the government is already directly involved in the handling of the matter, which has led to the arrest and detention of the suspect by the Police. Aghukwa said that…
The senatorial candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) for Abia Central Senatorial Zone, Senator Nkechi Nwogu, has described the Nigerian democracy, especially the senate, as a very competitive one where people who want to win only send their champions and not rookies to champion their course. Speaking during the inauguration of her campaign coordinators for the forthcoming election, Senator Nwogu urged all the coordinators to make the campaign issue-based and avoid any attacks on individuals, stressing that only issue-based campaigns can send the right messages to the people. On her senatorial ambitions, Senator Nwogu said that she will not…
A delegation of the leadership of Organized Labour in Imo State paid a courtesy visit to the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the Imo State Health Insurance Agency (IMSHIA), Dr. Donald Osita Eneh at the Agency’s Headquarters in Owerri. The delegation comprised the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Imo State Chapter, the Trade Union Congress (TUC), and the Joint Negotiating Council (JNC). The visit provided a platform for the labour leadership and IMSHIA management to engage on matters of mutual interest, with a central focus on strengthening health insurance coverage and access to quality healthcare for workers in…
The Wife of the President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has empowered 500 indigent women in Ebonyi State with business equipment under the Renewed Hope Agenda. The empowerment programme is designed to promote self-reliance, increase household incomes and reduce the impact of economic hardship on vulnerable women across Nigeria. The items distributed to the beneficiaries include deep freezers, gas cookers with ovens, power generators and industrial grinding machines. The equipment is expected to help beneficiaries establish new businesses or expand existing enterprises. The Wife of the Ebonyi State Governor, Mrs Mary-Maudline Nwifuru, presented the items on behalf of the First Lady during…
The Enugu State Government has moved to end road obstructions, illegal parking, indiscriminate passenger pick-and-drop and roadside trading in the Enugu metropolis, directing commercial vehicles and tricycles to load and offload only at designated parks. The government also announced the establishment of an Access and Sanitation Taskforce to enforce the new policy, with operations scheduled to commence in two weeks. The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, announced the measures on Wednesday at the Government House, Enugu, during a meeting with stakeholders in the transport, environmental, market and local government sectors. He said the taskforce, comprising relevant…
Dr Bamachy Onyemachi, Director of Medical Services at the Abia Health Management Board (HMB) Umuahia, has petitioned Governor Alex Otti over his withheld 20 Months salaries. Narrating his pains in tears, Onyemachi said that he is currently at the point of eviction from his home, as his landlord has threatened to evict him for owing him many months. Onyemachi said he could no longer stop the media from reporting the matter because he had done everything he could do since 2024 but to no avail, added that a bank had taken ownership of a house he used a loan from…
The Benue State Government has denied any involvement in the attack on the convoy of the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, by some youths in the state earlier today September 8. In a chat, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Kula Tersoo,said the state government was not aware of Obi’s visit to the state. “We are not aware of his coming to the state, and if it were to be security agents that stopped him, it would have been easy for us to find out what happened. As presidential candidate of a party and former…
Igbo people residing in Abuja have condemned the continued and unconscionable failure of Nigeria’s security and investigative agencies to act against Senator Shehu Buba, representing Bauchi State, and a sitting member of the Senate Committee on Security and Intelligence. Buba was reportedly fingered in having some connections with the bandits and terrorists that had for years held the Northern parts of Nigeria hostage. According to the President General of the Igbo Community Engr (Nze)Ikenna Ellis Ezenekwe and the Secretary General and Mazi Chinwoke Onah , the Department of State Services (DSS) and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu have both reportedly been…