NIGERIAN NOTCH

Governor Emeka Ihedioha of Imo State has directed that all Financial Institutions that have relationship with the Imo State Government should not honour any withdrawal instruction by cheques, transfers or in any form. No financial mandates, ISPOs or any form of financial instruction should be treated. All outstanding financial instructions already with banks and financial institutions should be put on hold. This directive covers, but not limited to, all the accounts of Ministries, Departments, Parastatals, Local Government councils, Quasi-government Agencies, and all revenue generating organs of government. Banks and non-bank financial institutions are to take note and ensure compliance as the state government will not be responsible for any disbursement effected contrary to this directive. This directive will remain in force until otherwise advised. Heads of government agencies, departments, parastatals, permanent secretaries and relevant officers will be held responsible...

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has stormed the house of former Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha and his wife. Okorocha had on Wednesday predicted his arrest while warning that he will fight back at all plans to silence him. The commission also sealed his Eastern Palm University, Ogboko.

INAUGURAL SPEECH OF HIS EXCELLENCY, RT. HON. EMEKA IHEDIOHA, CON, KSC, GOVERNOR, IMO STATE, OWERRI ON 29TH MAY, 2019. Protocols: Ndi-Imo ndi Nwem, it is with great humility and gratitude to God Almighty that I stand here before you today, grateful for the trust and confidence you have bestowed on me and the Deputy Governor, Hon. (Engr.) Gerald Irona, by entrusting the leadership of our dear State to us at this auspicious time in our history. 2.​It has been a long journey. A journey that has been guided by divine favour and the endeavours of so many.  We would not be here today but for the enormous sacrifices and prayers of our people. We are here, because Imo State citizens, from all walks of life; market men and women, professionals, students, farmers, artisans, organized labour, civil servants, Women, youths, senior citizens, traditional rulers, the clergy and indeed all segments of the society rallied round our cause and message for a new positive beginning for Imo. Yes...

Anambra state police command has arrested two notorious armed robbery suspects in its renewed efforts to stamp out crime in the state. This was made possible,following   intelligence reports gathered by police detectives attached to Ogidi Division, which led to the  arrest of one Leonard Aghano 'm' aged 27 years of Ekwulu village Umuoji at Akuzor Nkpor in Idemili North LGA of Anambra State. It was gathered that the suspect has been on Police wanted list in relation to cases of armed robbery and other heinous crimes in the past.  A Super Honda cub 90 motor cycle with registration number JJT312 QY robbed from one Ndubuisi lbegbu 'm' of Ire village Umuoji on 7/12/2018 and an iPhone robbed from Barr Obiora Nweze 'm' on 23/3/2019 including two matchets and a big hammer were recovered from him as exhibits. The case is under investigation and frantic efforts is ongoing to apprehend his accomplices and bring them to Justice. In another development, the police a...

President Muhammadu Buhari submitted his asset declaration forms to the Code of Conduct Bureau on Tuesday, meeting the May 28 deadline the bureau set for public officers to make their end of tenure declaration. Buhari will be inaugurated for a second term on Wednesday (today) for another four years. By constitutional provisions, the declaration is mandatorily to precede his oath taking today. “The duly completed forms were submitted to the Chairman of the CCB, Prof Mohammed Isa, on behalf of the President by Sarki Abba, Senior Special Assistant, Household and Domestic Affairs”, the Presidency said last night in a statement by Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu. The President claimed not to own new property than the assets he declared in 2015 when he began his first term. The Presidency said, “The forms, as signed by the President and sworn to before a Judge of Abuja High Court, showed no significant changes in assets as declared in 201...

By Chigozie Igbo Jr I have long waited for a time like this, to pour out my mind, on the sham which ended today in our dear state Imo, which many people saw as a government. The happenings in the last 8 years have shown Ndi Imo, that its proper we become actors in the political endeavors of the state, rather than being passive, which contributed 100% to Rochas Okorocha pocketing the common wealth of Ndi Imo, while we looked the other way. Imo state in the last eight years was ruled by a tyrant who never followed the right channels of government protocol, a government that jettisoned the constitution of the Federal Republic and resorted to lawlessness and outright disobedience of the rule of Law. We pray we never witness in our life time a government that dismembered all the structures of government and civil service in Imo state. A government that destroyed the hegemony that bonded us as Ndi Imo, while we all kept quite. Today, H.E Emeka Ihedioha will be taking up the up hill ...

Governor Willie Obiano has been called upon to  as a matter of urgency review the security and traffic situations at Upper Iweka and Bridgehead, Onitsha in Anambra State. The Human Right, Liberty Access and Peace Defenders Foundation (HURIJE),which made the call in a press conference at Onitsha raised fresh alarm of another impending danger at Upper Iweka near Toronto hospital and Tracas bus Terminals. The chairman,BOT of  HURIJE, Dede Uzor A.Uzor,  who addressed the press conference with its legal secretary, Bar Ada Obinna  Edozie, said that Upper Iweka and Bridgehead and their environs remained the major flash points in crime and traffic accidents in the State. HURIJE said their investigation showed that most accidents and criminal activities in the State took place in these areas due to lack of political will and corruption on part of security agencies . They lamented that a lady recently lost her life at Upper Iweka when she resisted some criminals who s...

As the controversy over the coming Bridgehead Market  election rages, the Leaders of Thought in the Market has endorsed the candidature of  the former Caretaker Committee chairman of the market, Chief Ikechukwu Orizu,  for the position of President-General. In a statement after their emergency expanded meeting on the election, called on the electorates to massively support Orizu during the election tentatively fixed for May 28, 2019. In the statement signed by Chief Festus Obodozie and Kenechukwu Ikpeazu, the chairman and the secretary respectively, they recalled Orizu's numerous achievements when he held sway as the President-general in a Caretaker capacity for about one and half years. The Leaders of Thought said within this period Orizu embarked on the completion and beautification of the market's hall, making it one of the best secretariat in the State, said the Leaders of Thought, stopped the collection of N1,000  illegal levy from lorry drivers at the Bri...

The heaps of dirt lettering the streets of Anambra state is not only worrisome but embarrassing, going by the fact that the state is a gate way to the south east. The neglect of these waste bins by the state government is giving the people of the state sleepless nights because of the envisaged epidemic that can result from such neglect. The state government should know that the essence of governance is to be responsive to the yearnings of Ndi Anambra. Anambra has not being Lucky in the past when epidemics occurred. Several instances of death recorded last year at Atani, though a natural disaster should not be allowed to repeat itself in Anambra. The ministry of environment should wake up from its slumber and face the situation at hand. No excuse is required for the neglect, but rather a proactive measure should be put in place by the ministry to forestall the stench in Anambra. The Governor also should call the ministry of environment or agency in charge of evacuating refuse in Anam...

A relentless police crackdown on students residing in hostels at Umuoma, Umuerim and Umuokomochi communities, near Owerri, is forcing students to flee their hostels. The three communities are in the Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo, which is home to several tertiary institutions. The police are said to have turned the hostels into goldmines, allegedly extorting money from `captured’ students and owners of students’ hostels after each raid. The development is said to have been affecting businesses adversely in these communities with many students seeking abode elsewhere to avoid being arrested by the rampaging police operatives, “who always come in mufti attires’’. NAN learnt that students of the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede are planning to embark on a peaceful demonstration to get government to rein in on the police authorities in Nekede communities. Speaking in an interview with NAN at Nekede on Sunday, a cross-section of the students said that policemen had made life unbe...