Politics
COVID-19: Ohanaeze, monarchs raise alarm over influx of Almajirai into S/East
Apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo and traditional rulers in Anambra, Imo and Abia States, yesterday raised the alarm over the increasing number of youths from the -ekomiamiblog- northern parts of the country, popularly known as Almajirai, being dumped in the South East, calling on governors in the zone to take a serious stand on the issue without further delay.
Speaking with Vanguard, Ohanaeze Ndigbo rejected the ferrying of Northern youths and Almajirai in large numbers to the South East States, saying that their movement was not with good intention.
The publicity secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prince Uche Achi-Ogbaga wondered why the large number of youths from the North are making their way to the South East especially when interstate boundary movement is banned.
“This is the most difficult riddle of the years. Most of the palliatives have been shifted to the Northern part of the country. While the palliatives were shifted to North, the people from the North are trooping in thousands to the South East and South South. I wonder what they are coming here to do.
“And the way the so called Almajerai are loaded in vehicles and lorries are alarming. Who provides the lorry and fuels it? Who organized this because it is an orchestrated organization? It is not just that they saw a lorry on the road and climbed on it. It was a well-organized arrangement and they are being pushed to Southern parts without requisite food to eat.
“They push them inside South East and want them to go and earn their living from where? So many of them will turn to criminals and herdsmen and begin to harass people; go to people’s farm, maiming, killing, raping and destroying farm crops and yet, government is encouraging people to go into farming.
“When people take the little they have to go to the farm, another person will come there to destroy the farm crops. So, I don’t understand what the Federal Government is doing with the lives of the people. The most important function of the government is welfare of the people. If the welfare of the citizens is not the concern of the government, that government has failed.
“Secondly, government is called to protect the lives and properties of the citizens. You could imagine if the lives and properties are being protected at this time when people die in hundreds of thousands in the hands of herdsmen, criminals and other names they are being called. They are changing the names from herdsmen on daily bases as if they are not the same persons they used to be.
“They are miscreants who masquerade as herdsmen, go inside the farms and destroy the food stuff and kill the farmers. This thing is getting out of hand. What have the southerners more especially, the South East done to the people?
“Anything other states are getting from the federal government, south east will not be included. It was last December that they closed down the Akanu Ibiam International Airport which was the only international Airport in the South East and up till now has not started functioning.
“But you can see that what they see as disadvantage has turned to be advantage because if the Airport has been functional, many people from overseas, Lagos, Abuja who were affected by the coronavirus would have filled up the zone. Because that one couldn’t work out for them, they now want to flood people from the sea and road to make sure that south east is ravaged by the virus.
“It is unfortunate that this thing is happening to us and I wonder what our people are doing. We have people that are ministers in the federal government who hold one function or the other and this kind of thing is happening in their states and they have no help to render and they have no mouth to speak up.
“It is unfortunate that they are just there eating from the crumbs failing down from the table of the people in charge of affairs. I just wonder that those people could be there and allow this kind of ravaging to happen to their people”, Achi-Ogbaga lamented.
Situation giving lot of concern — Igwe Achebe
In a communique after a meeting in Awka, chairman of Anambra State’s Council of Traditional Rulers and the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, said the influx of Almajirai was giving them a lot of concern.
Others who signed the communique include Achebe’s two deputies, the traditional ruler of Okpuno, Igwe Sunday Okafor, and the traditional ruler of Okakwu Odekpe, Igwe Chuma Onyia.
According to the royal fathers, the worrisome aspect of the situation was that many of the Almajirai might have already been infected with coronavirus disease before being sent to the South East.
They urged the governors in the zone to ensure that the Almajirai were not allowed to enter the states since the Almajirai would not fit into the zone’s economic, social and cultural environment.
The monarchs particularly called on Governor Willie Obiano not to relent in the fight against the long standing menace of some cattle breeders, known as herdsmen in the state.
They however, commended the governor for what they described as his exemplary leadership in the fight against COVID 19.
“Your prompt establishment of Isolation Centres at Mbaukwu -Umuawulu and other locations in the state, including border closure is exemplary, “ they said.
In a significant development, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has officially lifted the visa restrictions that were previously imposed on Nigerian travelers. This announcement came from the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, following a Federal Executive Council meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu.
“I can tell you that the agreement has been reached and effective from today, Nigerian passport holders intending to travel to the UAE are able to do so,” Idris confirmed.
The lifting of these restrictions marks the end of a prolonged diplomatic dispute between the two nations. The UAE initially imposed the visa ban due to several unresolved issues, including financial disputes. Notably, Dubai’s Emirates airline had suspended flight operations to Nigeria over the Central Bank of Nigeria’s inability to remit an estimated $85 million in revenue to the UAE.
In June, after extensive negotiations, the Nigerian government reassured its citizens that the visa ban would soon be lifted. The government also announced that it had paid 98% of the $850 million owed to the UAE, paving the way for this positive outcome.
Further details on the agreement will be provided later today, as mentioned by Minister Idris. This development is expected to strengthen bilateral relations and promote travel and trade between Nigeria and the UAE.
Stay tuned for more updates as the full details of the agreement are released. For now, Nigerian travelers can start planning their trips to the UAE, free from previous travel restrictions.
The Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, told the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party in Abuja on Tuesday that he was leaving the party.
He said he would join the ruling All Progressives Congress which he claimed would protect the interest of the South-East in the 2023 elections.
Our correspondent gathered that Umahi told the members of the National Working Committee of the PDP that his decision to join the APC was irrevocable.
The members of the PDP NWC, who were led to the meeting by its National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, were said to have tried in vain to convince the governor not to abandon the party.
Apart from Secondus, among those that were at the meeting at the Ebonyi Governor’s Lodge in Abuja were Deputy National Secretary, Agbo Emmanuel; National Organising Secretary, Austin Akobondu; Financial Secretary, Abdullahi Maibasira; National Women Leader, Mariya Waziri and Senator Sulieman Nazif.
The governor was said to be friendly when he received the PDP delegation, but stuck to his decision to leave the PDP when the issue came up.
It was gathered that the PDP delegation impressed it upon the governor that there was no need leaving the PDP for the APC, which they argued had become unpopular.
Sources at the meeting, however, said the governor was not convinced, insisting that the APC was planning to zone the 2023 Presidency to the South-East.
He was said to have promised to stay in the PDP if the party could make a pronouncement that it would zone the Presidency to the same zone.
One of the sources said, “I think his (governor’s) mind was made up. We told him there was no need for him to abandon the party that had made him a deputy governor, state chairman of the party, two-time governor and all that. But he refused.
“He wanted us to unilaterally zone the office of the Presidency to his area. We cannot do that. Parties are not run that way. He told us he was leaving. That is what we got from him.’’
When contacted, Secondus confirmed that the party’s leadership met with Umahi.
He, however, refused to declared the details of the meeting, insisting that the meeting was on ‘‘national issues.’’
An Economic and Financial Crimes Commission investigating officer, Adariko Michael, on Tuesday, alleged that N2.2 billion was spent on prayers in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia to win the war against Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria.
Mr. Michael was giving evidence as the first prosecution witness (PW1) in the trial of Sambo Dasuki, former National Security Adviser (ONSA) to President Goodluck Jonathan, in the alleged two billion dollars arms deal fraud.
Others charged with Mr. Dasuki, a retired colonel, are a former General Manager with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Aminu Baba-kusa, Acacia Holdings Limited, and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited.
The EFCC charged them with 32 counts bordering on misappropriation, criminal breach of trust, dishonest release and receiving various sums of money before Husseini Baba-Yusuf.
Led in evidence by the EFCC counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, Mr Micheal said N750 million was allegedly transferred from the ONSA special account to Reliance Referral Hospital Limited’s account with First Bank.
He added that N650 million was also transferred to Acacia Holding Limited’s account with EcoBank, while another N600 million and N200 million were transferred to the company’s account with UBA.
“Between September 27, 2013, and April 16, 2015, N50 million was credited to Reliance Referral Hospital’s account.
“Based on responses from the banks involved, as investigating officer, we found out that money was transferred to several individuals and companies.
“When we went through the account statement, we asked the second defendant (Aminu Babakusa) the reason for this.
“He informed us that the money was used to hire clerics to pray for the nation as regards Boko Haram crisis.
“When we asked him to provide the names, contacts and phone numbers of the clerics he hired to pray for the nation, he mentioned only two,” he said.
Mr Dasuki spent four years in detention, following his arrest in 2015 over alleged misappropriation of N2.2 billion meant for arms purchase during his time as National Security Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan
After the Federal Government had consistently failed to honor court orders granting him bail, including an ECOWAS court judgment in 2016, he was finally released on December 24, 2019
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