News
Enugu community accuses LP chieftain of inciting communal crisis
The people of the newly created Enu Agu autonomous community, Akpugo in Nkanu West local government area of Enugu State, have alerted the Enu the government of Enugu State and the public to the antics of Amechi John Edeh, aimed at inciting communal crisis in the community.
The members of the community also distanced themselves from a purported protest against their monarch and the town union to the Enugu State House of Assembly and the Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs, saying the protesters were not members of the community.
Edeh, a member of the Labour Party (LP), who was said to have contested and lost the House of Representatives seat for Nkanu East/West federal constituency in the 2023 election, had reportedly resorted to creating crisis in the community.
Ikenna Ogbodo, President General (PG), who conveyed the misgivings of the community on the development, told reporters in Enugu on Tuesday that the said protesting were mere impostors, urging the government and the public to disregard them and pay no heed to their demands, as the people had firm and unwavering confidence for the new monarch and the town union leadership.
Wondering how Edeh, who is not from the community should be the one leading the protest, he explained that the only connection was that he is Ogonogo eji Ndiagu Akpugo, the mother of the three other autonomous communities, of Ogbozinne Community, Ugwuafor Community Enu-Agu, which did not qualify him to lead such a protest.
Maintaining that Enu-Agu was very calm and peaceful, while the people were going about their lawful businesses without any form of agitation from any quarters whatsoever, he emphasiesd that Edeh, had become hostile because his attempt to coerce the monarch and the town union into covering his shady land dealings prior to the creation of Enu-Agu from Ugwuafor, was rebuffed by the two.
Tracing the genesis of all the autonomous communities, Ogbodo recalled that the administration of Chimaroke Nnamani first carved out Ogbozinne community from the mother Ogonogo Eji Ndiagu Akpugo, and later carved out Ugwuafor before he left office in 2007, only for Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the immediate past governor completed the job of carving out Enugu-Agu.
His words: “Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi carved out Enu-Agu from Ugwuafor. After the creation of Enu-Agu, we started the processes for the creation of our Igwe. Many candidates were vying for the position. Igwe Sylvester Ikechukwu Nnaji was chosen by our people. The local government recommended the peoples choice to the Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs.
“The Ministry issued a Certificate of Return to the person recommended by the Local Government. We equally have a town union duly recognised by State Government with a President General, Secretary and other executives. The town union has a tenure of four years.”
Ogbodo, while describing Edeh as a rabble rouser who had been causing trouble in Akpugo because of resistance to his land grabbing activities, added that this penchant for causing trouble led to the ongoing rift between him and the present traditional ruler of Ugwuafor, Igwe John Ideyi Nwodo which led to police involvement.
“This same man is inciting communal crisis in Enu-Agu. Besides, he is not even from Enu-Agu. His community is Ogonogo-Eji Ndiagu Akpugo. He is among those who signed the constitution of Ogonogo-Eji Ndiagu Akpugo town union. These facts are verifiable because they are in public domain.
“After the government recognition of Igwe Sylvester Ikechukwu Nnaji and the town union, the same character who is not from Enugu Agu, approached them to shield him from his previous shady dealings when Ugwuafor and Enu-Agu were one community. The Igwe and the Town Union declined the request.
“As a result, he started inciting communal crisis in Enu-Agu community because the Igwe and the town union rebuffed him. This is the genesis of the said protest.”
Dismissing the call by the protesters for the dissolution of the town union, as unwarranted, unfounded, baseless and mischievous, he also dismissed the claim by the protesters that the monarch sold land for N81 million as a lie from the pit of hell, stressing that the royal father had no such powers to sell land in Akpugo because they belonged to families and individuals, and not the community.
Th PG also challenged the claim by the protesters that the Igwe flagrantly invited the police to arrest people in the community, challenging them to provide documentary evidence to show where the monarch invited the police or any other security agency to arrest people in the community.
Accusing the LP chieftain of being the one organising such arrests people, he said that an example was when he incited some disgruntled elements in the community to lodge reports against the PG and his executive at Agbani Police Station and the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
Ogbodo, who said the town union is in possession of a flash disc containing all the activities of the land grabber in the community, which would be released to the public at the appropriate time, also accused the LP chieftain of using all manner of tactics to scare and intimidate the people.
“The protesters said that the President-General took about 20 boys to sack people mining sand in the community. It is false. Rather, we resumed work despite the fact that the former President General of Ugwuafor, Emeka Festus Chukwuma and his cohorts delayed us for five months, while they were still mining sand in the land throughout this period.
“The same LP chieftain causing trouble in Akpugo took some people to protest against the location of the only smart school given to our ward by his Excellency Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah. Sullivan Chime regime designated the place for secondary school. A sign board was put there. We agreed to use it for the smart school. This man took some people to protest against the location of the smart school. We wrote to the Governor, explaining how the town brought a place and it was approved. The Governor sent GOC Ajah to the place to investigate and consequently, sent police to the place and warned trouble makers to steer clear of the land.”
Ogbodo, who expressed the gratitude of the people and the monarch to Mbah, for his good works in Enugu State, particularly the PRODA-Nchatancha Nike Road, opening up communities in the Akpugo corridor for development and investment, pledged their support for his administration having witnessed the rapid transformation of the entire state under his government.
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.
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