Goods worth millions of naira were destroyed in a fire at the popular Ogbo Ogwu Market in Onitsha, Anambra, on Tuesday.
Anambra Fire Service chief, Mr Martin Agbili, who confirmed the incident, said the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.
Agbili said the fire affected a section of the market, but the cause and extent of damage was yet to be ascertained.
“My men are currently at the scene battling the fire,’’ he said.
As the yuletide draws near, the deplorable state of roads in Anambra State has become worrisome, with many motorists complaining of the condition of both internal roads in many cities in the State, including federal highways.
In Awka, the State capital, almost every road is in a very deplorable condition. From roads inside the Government House to the residential areas behind the Government House, to other parts of the State capital, including Ifite, Okpuno, Mgbakwu, Unizik junction and villages within the Awka community, residents are groaning.
This has led to public outcry by some residents of Awka, who have called on the State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, to buckle up and begin to show why he was preferred above candidates of other political parties in the November 2021 governorship election.
Mr Ejike Sunday, a driver who plies the Awka – Ifite route said: “The problem of roads in Awka is just getting out of hand. Every day, what is uppermost in the mind of the State governor is which new tax he should impose on the people, but he does not consider the kind of suffering we go through everyday to make money.
“The only time I drive with happiness while moving from Amawbia to Ifite is when I enter the express from UNIZIK junction and ply it to Aroma. But from Amawbia, I encounter a lot of bad roads, and once I’m at Aroma, it is the worst to drive from there to Ifite. Ifite has the worst roads that anyone can think of, yet we have commissioners quarters there, and many big government officials and professors of UNIZIK live there.”
Another respondent, Mr Joseph Abana, a laundry man said: “My shop is at Nodu, Okpuno, and I also live here. We know that the state of roads in Anambra State cannot be blamed on Soludo, but we are only calling on him to do something. The state of roads around Awka capital territory is very bad. Government needs to look into it.”
A DAILY POST reporter who moved round Awka on Wednesday reports that several roads, including very prominent ones in the State capital territory are in bad shape. Prominent among them are Arthur Eze Avenue, connecting Unizik junction and the popular Eze Awka market, Oby Okoli Street, which connects Unizik junction to Mgbakwu, Ifite road, which connects Aroma to Nnamdi Azikiwe University through the back gate.
Others are roads inside Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital, Awka, High Tension road, which connects Aroma junction to Amaenyi, Dike street, which connects Zik Avenue to Sammy Sparkle and Udoka housing estate. Several other roads within the State capital are near impassable too.
But the State governor, Soludo seems to appreciate the fact that the indigenes are concerned about the state of roads in the State.
Recently, Governor Soludo declared a state of emergency in the state of roads in the State. During a recent visit to various communities, Soludo flagged-off the construction of roads in the State, and pledged to continue, while describing roads as very important infrastructure.
The State commissioner for information, Mr Paul Nwosu, who spoke to DAILY POST, described the governor’s revolution in roads as one that will not end anytime soon.
The commissioner said the roads that had been awarded include: Ezira-Umuomaku-Enugwu Umuonyia-Achina road, 12.5km long and 8m wide, awarded to Tamad Construction Ltd at the cost of N4,68billion.
“This is in furtherance of making driving around Anambra State pleasurable. The road will be completed in 12 months.
“Construction of Ozubulu-Ihembosi-Ukpor road also got ANSEC’s nod to be awarded and commenced. Measuring 6.05km and 10m wide, the work has been awarded to Wakema Construction Company Ltd at the cost of N3.9billion, and Wakema is expected to finish the job in 8 months,” he said.
He also disclosed that the Anambra executive council also revalidated and awarded Ukpor-Umunuko-Nza Ozubulu road at the cost of N1.2billion to IDC Construction Nig Ltd., adding that a subsisting contract for the Okpunoeze-Nnewi Hotel road, Nnewi was also revalidated and approved by ANSEC at the sum of N1.7billion, which was awarded to Benejaf.
Meanwhile, some people have raised eyebrows about the continuous award of road contracts in the hinterlands, when Awka the State capital has many impassable roads.
“We pray that Soludo will not be like his predecessors in the area of development of Awka. Peter Obi tried when he brought UN-Habitat to plan the State, and promised to make Awka what it should be in terms of being a State capital, but he left office without the willpower to implement the recommendations of UN-Habitat. His successor came, and it is under him that Awka is this dirty. We are hoping that Soludo will be able to do it, but he seems to have decided to concentrate on opening up the hinterlands, which is also good,” a resident said.
Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo is, however, not relenting as he has awarded more road projects in Nnewi. The Governor embarked on an assessment tour of the very bad roads in Nnewi, including Ogbufo, Okpunoeze Uruagu Nnewi, and Umudim Road, among others.
Speaking at Okpunoeze Uruagu Nnewi Road, the Governor said that he came personally to inspect the road and feel the pulse of the people by himself.
“I assure you that the contractors will commence work on the road soonest, once the rain subsides. This constructed road will go all the way to Teaching Hospital and Nkwo Nnewi.
“We are very particular about roads that play very vital roles in the lives of the people. We want to ensure that communities are linked together because that is one of the ways to enthrone economic prosperity in the State”. Governor Soludo assured.
The Anambra State government has explained reasons why gaming activities and betting have been banned in the state.
The Soludo led government has clarified the areas where these activities are banned in Anambra state, stating that it only suspended all betting outfits in hotels, restaurants and bars in the state.
The government said the suspension became necessary following alleged fraudulent activities perpetrated in the centres, adding that it has not banned the operations of Bet9ja and other betting outfits in the state.
The clarification was made via a statement jointly signed by the state commissioners for Culture, Entertainment and Tourism, Homeland Affairs, and the Chairman of the Anambra State Internal Revenue Service, Don Onyenji, Chikodi Anara, and Richard Madiebo, respectively.
According to the statement, operators of casino games machines and owners of hotels and bars of non-transparency in the payment of game winnings, which it said were serious violations.
“Consequently, the Ministry of Tourism in collaboration with the Anambra State Internal Revenue Service, AIRS and Ministry of Homeland Affairs hereby direct operators of casino games in hotels, restaurants and bars to suspend all game and casino operations with immediate effect pending the conclusion of investigations.”
The Labour Party, (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has countered claims made by Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai that he was detained during the Anambra governorship election in 2013.
Obi clarified that he was also detained in his local government too, saying he was not behind the directive for El-Rufai’s detention.
Recall that El-Rufai made the claim at an event organized for presidential candidates by the Arewa Joint Committee in Kaduna on Monday
El-Rufai said he was in Anambra State as an official of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to monitor the 2013 governorship election in the State.
The governor alleged that security operatives locked him up in his hotel room on the order of Obi.
Obi was the governor of Anambra state under the auspices of APGA in 2013.
In his reation, Obi said: “When I came in now, somebody told me that my brother, the governor of Kaduna State, said that he came to my State and I detained him. Let me tell you, it is good when these things happen, you clarify them.
“Number one, in my eight years of being governor, only in the first three months did I have a commissioner that is not from the north — commissioner of police. And that’s because I met the person.
“At the time the governor said this, it was during the election. The police commissioner that was there then was from Adamawa — CP Gwari from Adamawa. The AIG that supervised that election was CP Nasarawa from the north. The DIG that came for that election was from Kano.
“Tell me my power, that I was in APGA — government was PDP and APC. Tell me how an APGA person will issue an order for somebody to be detained. Even me was detained in my local government.
“However, the only offence I committed is that when they asked me, I said ‘that’s how they treat everybody; that I wouldn’t be in Kaduna on the day of election’. That was the only thing.”
Chief Sylvester Nwobu-Alor, a popular politician in Anambra State and former political ally of Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party is dead.
It was learnt that when Obi was the governor of Anambra State, between 2006 and 2014, Chief Nwobu-Alor assisted him to stabilise parks and markets in the state as the governor’s aide in that sector.
Nwobu-Alor was credited for using his political connection and native intelligence to sanitise the system and return peace to the state.
He was feared by hoodlums in the state as some believed he was a witch doctor.
Nwobu-Alor was a Second Republic lawmaker and former Director-General of the Peter Obi Campaign Organisation.
He was a founding member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Obi’s former party, on whose platform he was governor of Anambra.
A tribute signed by one of his mentees and political sons, Sir Chris Chikwelu (Jr) (Ichele-Agulu), and obtained by Razor News, said, “My political mentor, a philosopher, an institution, a strategist and a purveyor of knowledge- Chief Hon Sylvester Nwobu Alor (Onwa-Agulu, Okaa Omee-Anaocha) has peacefully gone to be with the Lord.
“A two-time member that represented Njikoka South Central in the Old Anambra State House of Assembly.
“You lived a good life, May your soul rest in perfect peace.
Your Mentee.”
Former governor of Anambra state and the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has condemned an attack on one of his supporters, Joshua Alamu by suspected political thugs last weekend in Nasarawa state.
Alamu was attacked by the political thug on Saturday during a sensitization programme that was held in some parts of the state ahead of the 2023 presidential election in the country.
The development generated reactions from concerned Nigerians who demanded a full investigation to uncover the identities behind the horrible incident.
In his reaction, Obi took to his social media pages to condemn the act, he noted that an anabling environment should be provided where everyone can exercise his/her fundamental human rights without intimidation.
His post reads, “Once again, I wish to stress that Nigerian civic and political space must remain open for the Nigerian people to exercise their constitutional rights of freedom of assembly.
“Physical attacks on individuals exercising such rights is utterly unacceptable. -PO”.
According to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the presidential election in the country will be held on the 25th of February 2023.
Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State has commiserated with the families of persons involved in the boat mishap that left 10 dead in the Umunnankwo Community, Ogbaru Local Council Area of the state.
It was gathered that tens of people are still unaccounted for in the unfortunate incident, as search is still in progress.
TheNewsGuru.com gathered that the boat occupants were on their way to Nkwo Ogbakuba when it capsized by Umunankwo Ossomala Bridge and over 10 persons drowned.
“This development is still a shock to the government and good people of Anambra State. I sympathize with the families of people involved.” Governor Soludo said.
While regretting the unfortunate incident, the governor further stated that several interventions have been sent by the government to various IDP camps within the State.
He assured that government will continue to do its best to reduce the negative effects of the flood disaster.
Soludo, who is also a Professor, serves as the fifth democratic Governor of Anambra State since 17 March 2022.
On 9 November 2021, Soludo, representing the All Progressives Grand Alliance, was declared the winner of the 2021 Anambra State gubernatorial election, defeating his closest rivals from the PDP and APC, Valentine Ozigbo and Emmanuel Nnamdi Uba, respectively.
Soludo is a former governor and chairman of the board of directors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). He was appointed as the bank’s governor on 29 May 2004.
He is also a member of the British Department for International Development’s International Advisory Group and a member of President Buhari’s Presidential Economic Advisory Committee.
Soludo joined the federal government in 2003 and served as chief economic adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Prior to his May 2004 appointment to the CBN’s chairmanship, he was the Chief Executive of the National Planning Commission of Nigeria.
In January 2008, in a speech to the Nigerian Economic Society, he predicted consolidation in the private banking industry, saying “By the end of 2008, there will be fewer banks than there are today.
The restructuring of the banking industry has been attracting funds from local and foreign investors, which have increased banks’ ability to lend to customers”.
![[Video]: NAPTIP arrest woman for beating maid to death](https://thenewsguru.ng/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/naptip.jpg)
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), has arrested a woman for beating her maid to death, and dumping her body in the bush.
In a video making the rounds, the woman was heard narrating in Igo, how the incidence happened.
According to the woman, she said, “I beat her and she started convulsing so I took her to Kings (hospital). Getting there, she died, so I threw her body here.”
it was reported that the incidence took place in Anambra state, and the victims body was already decomposing in the video shared online.
See video below:
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Anambra State governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, and the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Obinna Ngonadi, have been commended by traders in Onitsha for their fight against touts and illegal levy collectors in markets across the state.
The traders led by an industrialist in the state, Chief Mike Emerah, and traders from the New Auto Spare Parts Market, Nkpor, Idemili North Local Government Area, stated this on Wednesday while advising the governor not to relent in the effort at totally sanitizing the markets.
The group dismissed the corruption allegations against the commissioner, describing it as the handiwork of disgruntled elements who want the “business as usual” tradition to continue in the markets.
Emerah, who is also the chairman, the Board of Trustees of the market, said no amount of blackmail would deter the duo of the governor and the commissioner from taking traders and the people of the state to the next level.
He said, “This administration sacked touts on the roads, parks and markets and everybody is happy. As far as I know, the commissioner is not one of those you can easily entice with money or any gift item. That is why they are attacking the commissioner for doing the right thing.
“So when you are ensuring that the right thing must be done, this is the type of attack you get in return for refusing to abide by the business as usual tradition. He should be strong because more of such bullets are coming as they will continue because it is from there that these attackers eke their living.
“Most of them are defeated candidates in both New Auto Spare-parts and other markets, and the offence of the commissioner is that he stopped the continuation of construction of illegal structures, overstay in office, flawed election, wrong shops enumeration, among others, as he insisted that due process must be followed.”
In his reaction, the chairman of the New Auto Spare-parts market, Chief Elysius Ozorkwere, described the allegation against the commissioner as frivolous and a figment of the imagination of defeated candidates and saboteurs who orchestrated such allegation to attract sympathy.
“We have approval from the Anambra State Physical Planning Board and a solid recommendation from the commerce and industry ministry, even before the new commissioner came on board and he merely authenticated the approval after perusal and the project is 30 percent constructed and we hope to get it completed in record time.
“We assure the genuine traders that their shops are intact and those members without shops will have one, despite the antics of the opposition, what the traders should do is to disregard the few that failed election and listen to the executive that is interested in their welfare,” Ozorkwere stated.
In his own contribution, the secretary of the market, Uchenna Malobi, said that the documents were there for all to glance and know that the project has the backing of the state government, duely approved by the state physical planning board and endorsed also by the commerce and industry ministry.
TheNewsGuru.com recalls that Soludo, during his swearing-in as Governor of Anambra State, vowed to end the activities of touts and revenue collectors in the state.
Soludo, a former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, said this during his inauguration as the governor of the state.
In his words, “As a new order, many unproductive systems will give way. There will be new and better ways of managing our parks, managing our markets, different and better ways of collecting government revenues, managing waste, and general service delivery to citizens.
“We must ladies and gentlemen rid Onitsha and all our roads and markets of touts and make Anambra a pleasurable experience.
“Today, I will sign an executive order to suspend all revenue contracts operating in the parks, markets an roads until we put in place a new system within the next four weeks.”
According to the governor, from March 18, 2022, no one should pay cash as revenue to the government in the parks, markets, and roads.
“Market unions must also stop harassing the customers,” he added.
A staffer of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC ) in Anambra State, Okwuonu Jude, has been found dead along Isu-Aniocha-Urum road in Awka North Local Government Area of the state.
INEC National Commissioner, Festus Okoye made this statement on Friday in the state.
According to the statement, the disappearance of Jude was reported on September 28, 2022, to the commission, and the next day, he was found dead.
The statement further revealed that his body was evacuated, saying the police has now launched an investigation to unravel the circumstances that led to his death.
Okoye’s statement reads in part, “On Wednesday, September 28, 2022, the commission’s Administrative Secretary in Anambra State, Mr. Okwuonu Jude, reported the disappearance of staff, Mr. Duruocha Osita Joel, a Principal Executive Officer II on Grade Level 10.
“On Thursday, 29th September, the Administrative Secretary further informed the commission that Mr. Duruocha’s dead body was found along Isu-Aniocha-Urum road in Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State, where unknown persons dumped him.”