News
INCREDIBLE! Criminals invading S’East with hard drug factories under security cover – IPOB
All those involved in the production and sale of mkpulu mmiri, The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, “illicit crystal meth” hard drug, have been served with quit notice to vacate the South East or face their fatal end.
The warning came from the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which bemoaned the devastating and destructive effects of the substance on the Igbo youth, who have embraced it to get high, a development, which has now led to the bigger problems of high crimes.
The pro-Biafra group disclosed that its intelligence unit had uncovered about 10 factories producing dangerous drugs in Umuaka town, Orlu, in Imo State, revealed that the violent crimes going on within the axis had nothing to do with the struggle for Biafra, while tracing the menace to drug dealers in South Africa, who had returned their drug business to Igbo land to destroy Igbo youths.
IPOB accused both the Federal Government and their Imo State counterpart, as well as security operatives as providing official cover for the illicit operation, adding that IPOB was aware that six people were involved in setting up the factories producing the illicit substances.
In a statement signed by Emma Powerful, IPOB, said: “These notorious drug dealers who also own some hotels and night clubs in Owerri, Imo State operate from these hotels to distribute their illicit drugs to other states, like Lagos, kano, River State, (Igweocha/Port Harcourt), Federal capital territory of Abuja, and other places in Nigeria.
“The violent crimes going on within Orlu Province in Imo State have nothing to do with the struggle for an independent Biafran Nation. Some of these drug dealing criminals claim to be agitating for the freedom of Biafra, while in reality, they are simply violent drug merchants.
“Unfortunately, these drug dealers are operating under the cover of the Nigerian and Imo State government and their murderous Security Forces. The Orlu axis in Imo State has the highest concentration of military and Police deployment in Imo State. These military and Police officers were deployed to Orlu Province to give cover and protect the illicit drug production and distribution operations. The government at the federal and state levels and the Nigerian security forces are accomplices to the drug production businesses going on in Imo State. They are either co-owners of these crystal meth (Mkpurumiri) factories, or they are beneficiaries of the proceeds of the drug sales and distribution businesses. There is no way that an over-militarized zone like Orlu, Imo State will have about 10 factories producing and distributing crystal meth (Mkpurummiri) without the knowledge and protection from the Nigerian and Imo State governments and her notorious security agencies.
“IPOB is giving notice to those involved in the manufacture and distribution of Mkpurummiri in Orlu and their kinds anywhere else in Alaigbo to shut down their operations immediately. We have the identities of these involved and their accomplices. If you fail to adhere to this warning, IPOB will not only make your identities public but will also take every measure to ensure that your illicit drug business is terminated.
“IPOB only called for the return of Biafra businesses and investments, not criminality and destructive and illicit criminal activities like the manufacturing of Mkpuru mmiri. IPOB will not sit by and watch criminals destroy Igbo youths with illicit drugs just so that you will be called millionaires. More so, the Imo State government may have tacitly supported this hard drugs production in his own province in Orlu, in the South East as a covert operation to destroy and weaken the mental health of Ndigbo.
“IPOB is calling on all well-meaning Igbo sons and daughters to join hands with IPOB to destroy the illicit drug cartel in Igbo land for our peace and security. IPOB cautions every Igbo person, both old and young, to stop patronizing them by stopping the consumption and distribution of Mkpurummiri. These criminals who set up the production of these Mkpurummiri are wanted criminals in South Africa who ran down to Alaigbo to destroy Umuigbo with the tacit support from the government of Nigeria.
“IPOB volunteers are monitoring them. If you are caught distributing these Mkpurummiri, you will be treated as a criminal and a murderer. We encourage Ndigbo to support IPOB and ESN by providing reliable information on these drug cartels and their channel activities anywhere they operate. We all must protect our land from those bent on destroying us.”
Fuel marketers across Abuja on Wednesday continued to sell Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, at old prices more than 24 hours after Dangote Petroleum Refinery announced a reduction in its ex-depot price, Vanguard is reporting.
The paper reported that its investigation, showed that major retail outlets were yet to adjust their pump prices despite the N75 per litre reduction announced by the refinery on Monday.
At the retail stations visited in Abuja, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Retail and TotalEnergies dispensed petrol at N1,335 per litre, while AA Rano sold at N1,350 per litre. AYM Shafa and Conoil outlets sold the product at N1,330 per litre.
The development comes amid growing public expectations that the reduction in Dangote Refinery’s gantry price would quickly translate into lower pump prices nationwide.
Explaining the delay, the President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Dr. Billy Gillis-Harry, said retail prices are influenced by several factors beyond refinery gate prices.
Speaking to Channels TV, Gillis-Harry said: “Prices reflecting at the pump are dependent on availability of the product, the other is the cost. The cost of purchasing the product and cost in terms of logistics, and preparing the particular petroleum to be delivered to the people”.
According to him, downward price adjustments often take longer to reach consumers because marketers need to recover the cost of existing stock purchased at higher prices before restocking at lower rates.
When asked why increases in fuel prices are usually reflected immediately while reductions are delayed, Gillis-Harry said the dynamics of supply management play a significant role.
He explained: “It is mainly affected by whether the producer has additional resources or not at the time. Increases in prices are mainly caused by the need to restock. There must be that advantage pushing the price upward to be able to pay for new supplies.”
He further acknowledged that marketers generally seek to exhaust existing inventory before implementing lower prices.
“That’s the basic idea. But in petroleum, a mixture is involved, and loss is taken, though not in a way that affects the capital needed to restock,” he added.
Also speaking on the issue, energy analyst Olabode Sowunmi said fuel pricing in Nigeria is influenced by a combination of domestic supply arrangements and logistics costs, rather than crude oil prices alone.
He noted that although international crude oil prices remain an important factor globally, their impact on local petrol pricing is not always direct.
“Global price of crude oil is a factor internationally and not necessarily in Nigeria,” Sowunmi said.
Explaining that Dangote Refinery operates under arrangements that allow a portion of crude supply to be priced in naira, reducing the direct impact of international market fluctuations on local fuel prices, he said: “So basically the issue will have to be from the point of refinery to where it touches the final person. Logistics costs within the domestic supply chain remain a major determinant of the final pump price paid by consumers.”
Peter Obi, candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has given assignment to Nigerians to put all those aspiring to take up political positions in the country through the grill to ascertain their level of integrity, saying it was required as a sine qua non for the job they seek.
Obi, who has been a subject of discussion in the polity since the allegation of corruption was levied against him by Kenneth Okonkwo, spokesman of his campaign in 2023, over the conduct of the party’s primaries to choose candidates for the 2027 general elections, said the grilling must start with his own person.
A guest in an interview on a podcast with Rufai Oseni, a popular television anchor, the former Governor of Anambra State, stated that it was actually for this reason that he had now sworn to see the litigation he instituted against Okonkwo through.
His take is that the Nollywood actor should use the courtrooms to give all the details of bad behaviour, following his threat to expose him fully, after alleging that he was collecting money from aspirants in the said election for electoral favours.
Hear him: “The issue of taking Kenneth Okonkwo to court wouldn’t have arisen if he had stopped at those allegations. But he claimed he still has more he would expose about me in the future. So, I am very happy to take him to court so that he can expose me publicly, alongside other Nigerians. If any of them has any criminal allegations against me, they should bring them to court.
“Not just Kenneth, everybody should now say those things they know that is bad about me or I did that is wrong because it’s good for the system, it’s good for the society,” Obi said.
“So, if you know that when we were in primary school, this man was cheating or didn’t go to the primary school, didn’t go to secondary school, didn’t do, if you know this man has done something criminal somewhere, this is time to bring it up.”
For the umpteenth time, Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned about the dangerous implication of using state institutions, particularly the judiciary to destroy Nigeria’s democracy, saying it is an ill-wind that blows nobody any good.
Atiku, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), speaking on the heels of Tuesday’s verdict of the Court of Appeal, halting the de-registration order by the Federal High Court, insisted that judicial officers must not lend themselves to any act capable of undermining the nation’s democratic process.
The appellate court had ordered a stay of execution on the order made on Monday by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court Abuja, for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the ADC alongside four other political parties).
A totally scandalised Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, had taken umbrage, sparing no hard words in upbraiding the lower court judge, stating that his likes were unfit to sit on the bench.
In a unanimous ruling by a three-man panel, the court held that Lifu’s action was “the highest form of judicial impertinence”, stressing that the Supreme Court previously held that a judge who acted in such a manner.
Describing his conduct as the height of judicial rascality, the upper court, stated: “Courts are enjoined to protect their integrity. This Court has supervisory authority over the trial court.
“The decision of the lower court to proceed with the judgment despite the express order of this court is a brazen violation of the hierarchy of the court and the 1999 Constitution.
This court has the duty to invoke its powers in ensuring that its orders are obeyed. The application for a stay of execution is here yet granted. The enforcement of the judgment is stayed.”
Atiku, who hailed the position of the higher court, which restored his hope to be on the ballot as presidential candidate in the 2027 election, also noted the role of INEC as “significant.”
He said: “I welcome the Court of Appeal’s decision to stay the execution of the Federal High Court judgement seeking the deregistration of our great party, the ADC, and four other political parties. It is particularly significant that INEC itself initiated the application for the stay.
“The development reflects growing public concern over judicial contradictions and politically charged rulings within the judiciary. “Any attempt to undermine Nigeria’s hard-won democracy through judicial manipulation is a grave danger to the Republic. If our democracy suffers further injury, history will demand accountability from those entrusted with dispensing justice.
Outside ADC, Lifu’s order, also included: Action Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), similarly slammed for allegedly failing to meet the constitutional requirements for continued registration and participation in elections.
-
News4 weeks agoBREAKING: US-Nigeria troops slaughter 175 ISWAP fighters
-
Columns4 weeks agoDear General Gowon: That apology you’re running from is your nemesis
-
News2 weeks agoBREAKING: Terrorists strike Ibadan again! Abduct ex-Minister’s sister, twin children
-
News4 weeks agoBREAKING: Wait over! Arsenal are CHAMPIONS! Win EPL after 22 years hiatus
-
Columns3 weeks agoSee Tinubu’s terrible damage on Option A4 and its precious memories
-
News4 weeks agoBREAKING: Jonathan emerges presidential candidate *Gets automatic PDP ticket!
-
News3 days agoBREAKING: Troops rescue wife of kidnapped General! *Terrorists flee scene
-
News4 weeks agoPresidency: Obi met all requirements – NDC *Cleared to contest primaries