News
Chukwuma raises campaign team: Says, time to rescue Anambra, chase out Soludo
With the parlous state of affairs in Anambra State, the prospect of its indigenes not finding a home to return, is becoming quite real, was the battle-cry with which Paul Chukwuma, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), launched a fresh bid for the governorship office of Anambra State at the weekend.
The bid came with raising of a 15-man primary election campaign council at a ceremony in Abuja, where he painted a picture of the stark realities in the state, where residents could no longer sleep with both eyes closed, as a result of the high level of insecurity in the state.
Charging the team, led by Ifeanyi Ibezi, former House of Representatives member who represented Idemili North and South Federal Constituency in the 9th National Assembly, to action, he said: “My dear brothers and sisters, I want you to see your acceptance to serve in my campaign council as a call to serve Ndi Anambra. We are all familiar with the current situation in our dear state. Everyone is feeling the effects of insecurity and other challenges facing our people.
“The time to turn the corner is now, or else, we will wake up one day and we won’t have any state to return home to. Our message which we are pitching to our party people, to guide their decisions during the party primaries is anchored on my ‘HIS’ vision – Human Capital Development; Infrastructural Development and Security. Every other thing or enabler will ride on these three critical pillars.”
Apart from Ibezim, the team also has Uzu Okagbue, who doubled as Chief of Protocol and Deputy Chief of Staff of former Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State as Deputy Director-General of the campaign in Anambra Central senatorial zone.
Others, include: Raphael Okeke, Deputy Director-General, Anambra North Zone, Jude Osude, Deputy Director-General, Anambra South Senatorial Zone, C.J Chinwuba, Secretary of the Campaign Council, Hillary Udeanu, Director of Security, Elijah Onyeagba, Director of Finance, Tony Onyima, Director, Research and Documentation, and Uche Nworah, Director of Media/Communications.
Ifeanyi Njelita, was appointed Director of Protocol, Chinedu Eluemunoh, Director of Contact and Mobilization, Chinedu Nnatuanya M, Director of Strategy, Planning and Monitoring, James Eze, Campaign Spokesperson, Emeka Ahonu, Director, Chieftancy and Town Union Matters and Fort Dike, Political Adviser.
Ibezi, while observing that Chukwuma’s decision to join the gubernatorial race was a clear sign that God’s appointed time to redeem Anambra State had finally come, said: “Paul Chukwuma is like a special purpose vehicle through which Anambra people are quickly coming together to rescue our dear state.
“With our collective commitment and God’s blessings, we will deliver Sir Chukwuma as the APC candidate for the 2025 Anambra gubernatorial election. Sir Chukwuma is ready and prepared. He is tried and tested. He is a God-fearing family man who is passionate about service. He is ready to lead the charge to birth the new Anambra. On behalf of the gubernatorial campaign council, we thank you for finding us worthy to serve in the council and Ndi Anambra. We accept this challenge.”
The event, which eventually dovetailed into a seminar, meticulously planned to wake the council members up to the great task at hand, offering them a conceptual handle for the challenge they had accepted, saw 20 scholars delivering lectures.
While Tochukwu Okeke, Professor of Political Science at the University of Abuja, delivered the opening lecture entitled Pragmatic Politics that Wins or Emotive Politics that Marginalizes, Chukwuemeka Jaja Nwanegbo, another don from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka spoke on the topic: Team Leadership, Developing Shared Vision and Success in Campaign Management.
The seminar was marked by intense exchanges and brainstorming as council members swung into action, analyzing the current leadership incubus in Anambra State and making scenario planning on what Sir Chukwuma must do to get his party’s nomination and eventually reset Anambra State.
Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor of Oyo State, on Thursday, finally threw his hats into the ring by declaring his intention to run for president in 2027, with a message – history beckons.
The governor, whose ambition has been a matter of speculations for months now and who had teamed up with forces angling to force President Bola Tinubu, out of power, told a teeming crowd in Ibadan on Thursday that time had come to reset Nigeria.
At a mega-rally to announce the alliance between the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Allied Peoples’ Movement, (APM), Makinde, expressed worry over the dwindling fortunes of Nigerians, vowing to engage Nigerians to end the drift.
Hear him: “Without a multi-party system, there is no democracy. Where is our multi-party? Where do we go from here? We have been pushed to the wall.
“They calculated and self-opposition cannot unite but I am here to say that the opposition is the everyday Nigerian. This is the time for all us to ensure Nigeria works for us. This is the time to confront it fears. It is time to engage as citizens and not spectators.
“For the opposition political parties, this is the time to unite and work in unity and give our nation the much reset it needs. The time to reset Nigeria is now. Ibadan is the city of warriors. The first grand alliance is formed. The PDP and APM is formed. This handshake will allow us to field candidates from presidency to state Assembly. And so, I declare my candidacy for office of the president of Nigeria.”
Eyo Ekpe, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), on Wednesday, gave a detailed account on how operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) manhandled him on Monday.
He told reporters that he was at sea on why he should fall victim to the assault against his person and eventually arrested given that was not right person directly involved in the information the agency sought.
Some operatives of the EFCC who invaded the hospital, had whisked Ekpe away after firing teargas to scare away the workers, patients and visitors to the hospital, following what appeared like a fracas the ensued over what it claimed was a routine duty in the facility.
Ekpe, Deputy Chairman of the hospital’s Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), described how an operative had first entered his office to make inquiries on why the hospital was yet to give a response to an EFCC inquiry over a medical report linked to a suspect facing trial.
He detailed how he briefed the operative that the said response was being prepared and even went ahead to show him the draft of a letter in that regard, which needed to go through the gamut of official endorsement before being released.
Hear him: “The head of that internal medicine department looked at the report and also discovered that the name of the doctor that signed the report is not a member of staff of that department.
“I had prepared prepared a response to the EFCC on Monday, May 11, 2026, based on the findings. When the EFCC operative visited my office the next morning to collect the document, I told him that the response was ready in draft. I even showed him the draft, but told him that the document still needed approval from the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital before it could be officially signed and released.
“He pretended to have accepted that. He left, but later later returned with another armed operative and informed me that I was under arrest. I asked him why. I was not the one that issued the medical report. My name is not on the medical report. The report was not issued from my unit.
“But he said I would get the answer when I get to their office. I then asked him to at least wait for my staff member who I sent on an errand before joining them. But they refused.
“They started pushing me. They dragged me out of the office. Then I began to cry while they were dragging me. They had warned me not to speak. They had taken my phone. My cry as they were dragging me, attracted the workers to the scene, who enquired what was going on, but because they ordered me not to speak, I couldn’t say anything. They had their guns.
The members of staff of the hospital initially blocked them from taking me away. They then made a call. After that I saw many masked and armed men came violently, broke the protector, threatening the people that were around and people ran away.
“They picked some staff that were still by me. they dragged me and other staff, five of us into their van downstairs. By that time they discovered that the gate of the hospital were locked. So, they drove towards the gate and packed and the commotion continued. We were inside the van.
“I was so emotionally and psychologically traumatised that I couldn’t even look out of the vehicle to see what was happening outside. But I know that teargas and live bullets were shot. That’s all I can say for now.”
Joyce Abdulmalik, of the Federal High Court, Abuja, heard on Wednesday, how Zenith Bank raised alarm over the huge transaction in one of its branches by Abubakar Malami, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF-MoJ).
The bank said it immediately filed a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) in respect to the transactions, during its appearance in the ongoing trial of Malami, his wife, and son over allegation of massive looting of funds belonging to the Federal Government during his tenure.
Mashelia Bata, a compliance officer with the bank, who appeared as witness in the case, where Malami, et al, are facing a 16-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering to the tune of N8.7 billion, to which they pleaded not guilty, gave the testimony while being questioned on the bank’s roles in the matter.
Details of the testimony conveyed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated how the compliance officer who was cross-examined by Adebayo Adedeji, lawyer to the defendants admitted that the deposits in the account statements complied with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Arguments had stretched when Adedeji, opposed Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), lawyer to the EFCC, who had asked the witness to explain the meaning of a suspicious transaction report, stressing that there was no ambiguity in the term.
However, Okutepa, in response, maintained that section 215(3) of the Evidence Act did not preclude him from re-examining the witness while urging the court to allow the question for proper explanation.
After Abdulmalik, agreed and overruled Adedeji, the witness told the court that banks were required to alert the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) about fund deposits coming in a repetitive pattern, adding: “Any deposition of funds seen in a pattern or repetitive, you must escalate it to the NFIU.”
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