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Tag: Enugu State

  • Gunmen invade Enugu police station, shoot officer, cart away arms

    Gunmen invade Enugu police station, shoot officer, cart away arms

    Gunmen attacked a Divisional Police station in Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State on Tuesday and carted away arms and ammunition.

    Although no officer was reported killed during the attack, one of them was said to have been shot and is currently receiving treatment.

    It was gathered that the assailants stormed the unfenced police station at about 2 am with a Toyota Sienna bus, shouting “Release Nnamdi Kanu,” “No Nnamdi Kanu, no peace.”

    “They came through Eha-Amufu and left through the same axis but it’s not possible they got to Eha-Amufu township or crossed to Nkalagu, otherwise they would have been encountered by the soldiers in that area. It’s possible they went through Aguamede to Benue state,” the source said.

    The Enugu State Police Public command is yet to issue a statement on the reported attack.

  • Sit-at-home: Enugu governor, Barr. Mbah tours market, shopping malls

    Sit-at-home: Enugu governor, Barr. Mbah tours market, shopping malls

     

    Enugu State Governor, Barr Peter Mbah, toured various parts of the state capital to monitor compliance with the ban on the illegal sit-at-home declared by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

    The turnout of traders, sellers and buyers alike were very impressive, says Barr Mbah.

    Spar Mall, Roban Stores at Bisalla Road, Market Square, Shoprite, Zenith Bank at Ogui Road, Celebrities, Ogbete Market, Garki Awkunanaw Market, Mayor Market, Abakpa Market, and the State Secretariat, were parts of the areas the governor toured.

    He warned traders fonmd of sitting at home on traders to stop the act or risk losing their shops to serious-minded businessmen.

    He said adequate security had been provided, observing that there had not been any incident of attack since the ban on sit-at-home in June.

    Mbah, who took time to interact with business owners, shoppers, traders as well as civil servants at the State Secretariat, said “it should never be heard that we were cowed because of the threat of violence by these criminals”, noting that “the poverty that will befall us for sitting at home will kill us even faster”.

    “We are losing over N10bn every Monday that we sit at home. Enough is enough. This foolishness must end and it must end now. We cannot be marginalising ourselves and still complain of marginalisation.

    “So, we must say no to sit-at-home because what it means is that we are destroying our employment, our economy, and our GDP. We must erase it from our memories. We should see it as our shameful past, which we do not want to remember. We must put it behind us and forge ahead, ensuring that we work every working day of the week”, he urged Enugu people.

    To the traders at Ogbete, Garki, and other markets, he warned that locking shops on Mondays would no longer be condoned.

    “But you know, there are also consequences for not heeding our orders. Going forward, I want to put you on notice. I will go around the state again on Monday next week. We are going to come with the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority to put a seal on any shop that is found locked on Monday because of the illegal sit-at-home. We will take it that you are not ready to do business.

    “We are going to revoke your license to operate. We will revoke your shop title and reallocate it to someone else, who is ready to do business. This is something we must enforce with effect from Monday next week”, he warned.

    Meanwhile, the market leaders and business owners have assured the governor that they were now ready for full compliance, saying they were already sick and tired of the Monday-sit-at home.

    At the meeting with the Ogbete traders, President of Enugu State Amalgamated Traders Association, Comrade Stephen Aniagu, assured the governor that they had already agreed to commence full business, saying all shops would be open from next Monday.

    Also, the leader of Abakpa Nike Market, Bernard Anike, also assured the governor that they had since started complying with the ban of sit-at-home

    Meanwhile, a development economist, Richard Emeka Ezeh commended Mbah’s determined efforts to bring sit-at-home to an end.

    “I’m surprised to see the governor here. I like it that he is going round to sensitise the people on why they should come out.

    “Employers of labour were losing so much money to sit-at-home. The economy cannot grow when we are losing N10 billion every Monday. As a development economist, I know that the private sector drives every economy, but the private sector cannot thrive in a place where people sit at home.

    “So, let’s continue to convene town hall meetings, engage the youths, engage the artisans, and continue to sensitise the market women,” he said.

    On her part, Chioma Nwagu, said the sit-at-home was killing the economy.

    “We have to come out to do our business. We can’t feed ourselves while staying at home. We have to come out and do our businesses,” she stated.

  • The Governor of Enugu State – By Chuks Iloegbunam

    The Governor of Enugu State – By Chuks Iloegbunam

    By Chuks Iloegbunam

    There is this social media skit on democracy that is forever entertaining. In it, a teacher tells his students that, despite Abraham Lincoln’s classic definition, democracy was actually “the government of some people by some people and for some people.” Government, stressed the teacher, was for those with “bastard money.” He soon proved the point, for the principal decrees the class must have a prefect. Two students vie for the position. The female student gets a majority of the votes. His male opponent receives a single vote. But he had boasted that his father was stupendously rich and had demonstrated it by giving the teacher a backhander. The teacher announces the briber, the class prefect. To the class’s protestations, he asks them to go to court and storms out.

    That is Nigeria – a huge joke for which it is the world’s laughingstock. But who really cares? As Georgi Plekhanov, the Soviet Marxist theoretician, said, the dominant ideology in any society is that of the ruling class. Thus, the stench runs through the system – from top to bottom. The courthouse is an amphitheatre for abracadabra. The professorship is for sale, and the Ph.Ds abound that cannot render a single correct sentence. The preacher’s utterances from the pulpit are powered by the highest bidder’s whim. The policeman’s post is a turnpike. Examination scores of the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (Jamb) are for manipulation. Nothing is sacred. After all, what money cannot do, more money can effortlessly accomplish.

    Still, things cannot forever remain hopeless because they are terrible today. Recent political developments, especially the youth-powered Obidient Movement, have underscored the imperative of Nigeria taking a redemptive turn. The current chant is that he who comes into equity must come with clean hands. The maxim insists that Nigeria’s elective offices should no longer be confiscated and annexed with the bludgeon of money or the sword of subterfuge. Henceforward, anyone in an elective position must be seen to have attained it on the strength of the people’s mandate. That is the democratic imperative. It dictates, for instance, that the Governor of Enugu State must be someone qualified and deposited in that post by the vote.

    The world waits for the Election Tribunal to pronounce anathema on the political heist that passed for the Enugu State gubernatorial election on Saturday, March 18, 2023. The Governor of Enugu State must not be a politician shown conclusively to have lied under oath through the dissemination of fabricated documents. The Election Tribunal must advance democracy by supporting the Nigerian Constitution, which abhors usurpation.

    I am yet to have the pleasure of meeting Barrister Peter Mbah; the man pronounced the elected Governor of Enugu State by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Long may he live. I hold nothing personal against him. If we met, I should greet him with a warm handshake and, possibly, hold a conversation with him. But I will remind him that in a democracy, elective offices may not be attained by contrary means. I have, on a few occasions, encountered the Mbah guy in the media. Once, someone watching a video with me suggested that he was charming. They, of course, missed the point severally. Apart from beauty being in the beholder’s eyes, an election is far from a beauty pageant. If elections were indexed on a charm offensive, there is today a man occupying a prime estate around Abuja’s Three Arms Zone that would have been chased from its precincts by koboko -wielding musclemen.

    Only last week, Barrister Mbah granted an extensive interview to an online publication in which promises tumbled on additional promises. He would transform hilly and patched Enugu into watery essence! He would seize the state’s obsolete economy by the scruff of the neck and drag it straight into modernity. Take a read: “Peace, progress, and sustainable prosperity are inextricably linked. Without sustainable peace, there can be no sustainable development. We need urgent programmes to turn our youths into productive assets for economic growth and social progress, not sources of fragilities in our communities. Through integrated rural development programmes, we will transform our villages and rural communities to become zones of economic productivity and youth development, not zones of insecurity and misery.”

    Even if the above isn’t horsewallop, how is electoral injustice going to birth sustainable peace? How does the crowning of an underserving pate negate fragility? The arguments against Peter Mbah’s governorship are formidable. On April 5, 2023, Barrister Chijioke Edeoga, the Labour Party gubernatorial candidate, and the Labour Party petitioned the Enugu State Governorship Election Tribunal on the governorship election. The Respondents are the INEC, Mr. Peter Mbah, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The Petitioners are seeking these reliefs: (a) An order invalidating the return and declaration of the 2nd Respondent as the winner of the Enugu State Governorship Election held on March 18, 2023. (b) An order withdrawing the Certificate of Return issued by the 1st Respondent to the 2nd Respondent, allegedly as the winner of the Enugu State Governorship Election. (c) An order directing the 1st Respondent to issue forthwith to the 1st Petitioner the Certificate of Return as the winner of the Enugu State Governorship Election, and (d) And for such further Order as the Honourable Tribunal may deem fit to make in the circumstances.

    The Petitioners argue that: (i) The 2nd Respondent was, at the time of the election, not qualified to be a contestant. (ii) The 2nd Respondent was not duly elected by a majority of lawful votes cast at the election. (iii) The Election was not conducted in compliance with the Electoral Act.

    What are the arguments in support of the Petitioners’ case? INEC’s records showed that voting in 16 of Enugu State’s 17 local government areas produced the following results for the two leading candidates: Chijioke Edeoga (Labour): 155,697 votes; Peter Mbah (PDP): 143,938 votes. This meant that Mr. Edeoga was leading Mr. Mbah by 11,759 votes. What remained were the votes from Nkanu East, the home of Mr. Mbah. At Nkanu East, the number of registered voters was 36,976. The number of voters that collected their PVCs was 27,594. The number of voters accredited to vote on election day was 7,453. This meant that, even if Mbah won all the votes from his local government and the other 16 candidates each scored zero, he still would have lost to Edeoga by 4,306 votes.

    But what happened? INEC posted the following results for Nkanu East: Edeoga: 1,855 votes; and Mbah 30,560 votes. This meant that, just between the two leading candidates, overvoting had taken place by a colossal 24,962 votes in the local government area! People screamed blue murder and INEC suspended further collation of figures, claiming that it needed to go review things. When INEC came from the review three days later, Edeoga retained the 1,855 votes the electoral body had allocated to him, while Mbah’s score was slashed to 16,956 votes. How could this reflect the true count in a local government area that posted only 7,453 accredited voters? Why should this flagrant abuse of the electoral process be abided?

    Clearly, INEC had urinated on Ndi Enugu while lying to them that there had been a torrential downpour. This affront is beyond toleration! The Election Tribunal has absolutely no option but to redress this blatant ballot bastardisation.

    The other issue is equally fundamental. Was Peter Mbah qualified to contest the election? The Abuja-based law firm Omars & Partners wrote to the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), seeking confirmation on the status of the NYSC discharge certificate Mr. Mbah submitted. By a letter dated February 1, 2023, the NYSC’s Director of Corps Certification, Mr. Ibrahim A. Muhammed, told Omas & Partners that, “the Certificate of National Service belonging to Mbah Peter Ndubuisi with Certificate Number: A808297 forwarded for verification was not issued by the NYSC.”

    The NYSC went further. On May 19, 2023, Brigadier General Yusha’u Ahmed, the Director General of the NYSC, appeared on Arise Television’s breakfast programme and pronounced the discharge certificate Peter Mbah was parading to be fake. “(Peter Mbah) came to me and I called my director to confirm the certificate and we discovered that it was fake, and I told him. I wonder how elites who have gone to school will resort to black-market certificates.”

    That was not all. On July 7, 2023, the NYSC appeared at the Election Tribunal as the Petitioners’ first witness. It tendered under oath “the alleged forged discharge certificate, as well as the original discharge certificate which Mbah ought to have collected…”

    Judges especially, but the generality of Nigerians must learn from the DG of the NYSC that honourable people still exist and that a glorious dawn remains possible for the country. It may be that, in some climes, national honours are reserved by owners of “bastard money.” In Nigeria, however, it should be the reward of gentlemen like General Yusha’u Ahmed. As for the Election Tribunal, it must flash the red card. The Governor of Enugu State must be someone qualified and armed with the people’s mandate.

     

    * Iloegbunam is the author of Ironsi, the biography of Nigeria’s first military Head of State.

  • NYSC tenders evidence against governor Mba, insists certificate was forged

    NYSC tenders evidence against governor Mba, insists certificate was forged

    The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Enugu State has commenced sitting on the petition filed by the Labour Party LP and its candidate Mr Chijioke Edeoga against the election of Mr Peter Mbah as the governor of the state.

    Edeoga and his party are challenging the election of Governor Mbah on grounds that he did not secure the highest lawful votes cast in the March 18 governorship election and that the respondent, submitted a forged NYSC discharge certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission in an effort to secure his election.

    Tribunal had earlier subpoenaed NYSC following Petitioners’ application to appear before the panel to certify as true or not its document the respondent (Mbah) had submitted to the electoral umpire before the election.

    Testifying before the tribunal on Friday evening, NYSC tendered among others documents including the alleged forged discharge certificate, as well as the original discharge certificate which Mbah ought to have collected.

    The NYSC also tendered a letter written by Oma and Partners, an Abuja-based law firm, which had asked the Corps to scrutinise the discharge certificate submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission by the governor.

    The Petitioners, represented by Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, who is the lead counsel, alongside Dr Valerie Azinge, SAN, Ifeanyi Ogenyi Esq, and others, led the Petitioners Witness 1 (PW1) in evidence.

    The petitioner’s witness 1 is the Director of Certification, NYSC, Aliyu Abdul Mohammed, who adopted his written deposition on oath.

    Awomolo sought to tender the witness’ deposition on oath as evidence before the tribunal. The third respondent, Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Counsel, Anthony Ani, SAN, objected to the admissibility of the document and opted to move a motion dated and filed on the 7th day of July 2023, which seeks to pray the tribunal to strike out the written deposition on oath of the PW1 on the ground of incompetence.

    The 1st respondent, INEC, as well as the 2nd respondent (Peter Mbah), aligned themselves with the submission of Ani and prayed the court to strike out the written deposition of Mohammed (PW1) for lack of competence.

    Relying on the Court of Appeal decision in the case of ANDP & anor V INEC as well as that of Damina & anor V Adamu and ors, the respondents’ counsels asked the court to strike out the written deposition on oath of the PW1 for lack of competence.

    In response, the petitioners’ lawyers relying on the case of Ararume & anor V INEC, which according to them, is a conflicting decision with the authorities cited by the respondents’ counsel, asked the court to admit the written deposition on oath of the PW1.

    In a short ruling, the tribunal admitted the document and reserved ruling on the objections raised by the respondents for final judgement.

    The PW1 was then taken in for examination-in-chief. Mohammed told the tribunal that he acted on a subpoena served on the Director General of the NYSC or any other official to appear before the tribunal to give evidence in order to clear some issues bothering on the certificate purportedly issued by the agency.

    The subpoena was admitted in evidence without objection from the respondents and was marked as exhibit PTC/01/06.

    Mohammed also tendered his official identity card as a staff of NYSC which was admitted in evidence and marked as exhibit PTC/01/07. In paragraph three (3) of the Petitioners’ Witness’s deposition on oath, the witness stated that in obedience to the subpoena by the tribunal, he came with the authentic discharge certificate of the governor, as well as the one is purportedly given to him. The respondent’s counsel objected to the admissibility of the documents and reserved their reasons for final written addresses.

    The tribunal admitted the documents and marked them as exhibits PTC/ 01/08 a and b.The Petitioners also fielded another witness, an Abuja-based legal practitioner, Mary Nneoma Elijah, a principal partner in the law firm of Oma and Partners. She is the Petitioners’ Witness 2. The Petitioners’ counsel sought to tender her written deposition on oath as evidence, which was objected to by the respondents’ counsel, citing the same grounds raised in the first stage.

    The court admitted the document and reserved the ruling during the judgement.

    She also adopted the subpoena of the tribunal dated the 21st day of June 2023, which was admitted and marked as exhibit PTC/01/09. The witness’ letter to INEC, as well as the reply given by INEC, was sought to be tendered by the petitioners’ counsel amid objections from the respondents’ counsel.

    However, the letters, as well as the discharged certificate were admitted and marked as exhibits PTC/01/11 a, b & c respectively. Also, a letter addressed to the presiding justice of the Federal High Court, Lagos Division, for the production of the appointment letter dated 14 July 2003, appointing Barr. Peter Mbah as the Chief of Staff to the then governor of Enugu state, Dr Chimaroke Nnamani in the same year he (Mbah) claimed he was serving, also admitted in evidence amidst objections and marked as exhibit PTC/01/13 a&b.

    During cross-examination, the 1st respondent’s counsel, Mr Abdul Mohammed, applying for the subpoena, asked “confirm to this tribunal that the subpoena did not ask you about anything at the Federal High court”. In response, PW2 said, ” True”. Mr Abdul Mohammed further asked the PW2: “Confirm to this tribunal that you have given to the petitioners the contents of these letters at the time they were preparing this petition”.

    In reply, the PW2 said, “It’s false, the letters are public documents which are in the public domain. Anybody can ask for the letters and they will be given to him. The matter was adjourned to Tuesday, 11 July 2023 for further hearing.

  • Panic as unknown gunmen enforce sit-at-home in Enugu

    Panic as unknown gunmen enforce sit-at-home in Enugu

    Confusion in Enugu state as residents were thrown into tension and fear on Wednesday over enforcement of sit-at-home.

    It was learnt that unknown gunmen moved round many parts of the State to enforce the one week sit-at-home declared by the Simon Ekpa led faction of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.

    According to eye witness, the gunmen shot sporadically at the New Market axis of the State, Artisan, Emene, New Haven, Abakpa, Agbani Road and NOWAS.

    The gunmen, who had their faces covered with masks, were reported to have operated in a Siena vehicle, as well as tricycles.

    Many parents, whose children were already in school, were seen in panic mode.

    A combined team of the Army and the Police are said to be on chase of the gunmen.

    A helicopter was also seen hovering around major parts of the State.

     

  • Police debunk viral video of kidnapping in Enugu

    Police debunk viral video of kidnapping in Enugu

    The Police Command in Enugu State has debunked a video clip currently in circulation, alleging that a part of the state is not safe due to a series of kidnappings there, as “untrue”.

    This is contained in a statement issued by the Command’s Spokesman, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, on Sunday in Enugu.

    “The Command is in receipt of a viral video clip depicting gunshots and people running in a forest, with the accompanying message that “Enugu-Ugwogo is not safe now, Yesterday (June 23), hoodlums kidnapped three times yesterday.

    The video showed that “The first kidnapping incident took place around 12noon, another at 2pm and another at 6pm.”

    This was similarly published in some news blogs and webpages with the title: “kidnappers conduct marathon operations at Nsukka-Ugwogo-Nike-Enugu Road,” the police spokesperson said.

    Ndukwe said that the Command, therefore, wishes to state categorically that the video, with the accompanying message and the news publications, are “not only untrue, but highly unfounded and misleading”.

    According to him, this is because there was no such serial incident of kidnapping on the same day as reported, or shooting and chaotic incident as relayed in the video, at the mentioned location or any other part of the state.

    He said, “As a matter of fact, forensic analysis of the video indicates that it did not happen anywhere in the country, let alone Enugu State.

    “In the same vein, the Command sees the unverified and unfounded report of repeated kidnapping incidents on the same day, as a misleading and mischievous act of misinformation, aimed at creating panic in the state.”

    The spokesman said nonetheless, the Command acknowledges the recent reoccurrence of acts of kidnapping at some locations of the said road but wished to clearly state that sensationalising and blowing the situation out of proportion was wicked.

    He said that those peddling the fake video clip and the publication were not doing so in the best interest of the security and safety of the state and its people.

    Ndukwe said: “The Commissioner of Police, Mr Ahmed Ammani, has ordered the massive deployment of the Command’s policing resources to the said location and other locations, for the sustained onslaught against criminal elements.

    “He reiterates the unwavering commitment of the Command to contain such acts of crime and criminality in the state and to bring their perpetrators to book.

    “The commissioner, therefore, enjoins citizens of the state, especially those in locations where acts of kidnapping and other criminality are perpetrated, to assist the Command with credible information and intelligence required to tackle the situations headlong.”

    He called on residents to report such incidents at the nearest police station or by calling the Command’s emergency hotlines on: 08032003702, 08075380883, 08086671202 or 08098880172, or send email to infoenugupolice@gmail.com.

  • Gunmen attack senator Okorocha’s convoy, kill one policeman

    Gunmen attack senator Okorocha’s convoy, kill one policeman

    The convoy of Senator Rochas Okorocha representing Imo west was on Sunday evening attacked by unknown gunmen.

    Okorocha’s convoy was attacked at the Ihube community on the Okigwe-Enugu expressway, leaving a poliveman dead.

    It was gathered that Okorocha had finished attending the burial and had returned home in Imo state but his convoy was attacked on their way back to Enugu.

    He disclosed this on Sunday at Amaimo in the Ikeduru Local Government Area of the state.

    Okorocha said it was after he had finished attending the funeral ceremony at Mbaise and the convoy had dropped him at his Spilbat mansion in Owerri and was heading back to Enugu that they were attacked.

    According to Okorocha: “I am angry. I am very angry. I am angry because I spent two days in Enugu and nothing happened to me, but it is in my own state that the convoy released to me by the governor of Enugu State (a very good man) to attend the burial ceremony of Ihedioha’s mother at Mbaise that was attacked and one policeman killed.

    “What is happening in Imo State makes me angry. Many people who are running to govern Imo State are not capable, but I have seen one man whose cap fits. When it is time, I will speak.”

  • Enugu gov, Mbah says economy, security, Nnamdi Kanu top his meeting with Tinubu

    Enugu gov, Mbah says economy, security, Nnamdi Kanu top his meeting with Tinubu

    Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, on Thursday, has said top in his agenda while meeting with President Bola Tinubu were economy, release of Nnamdi Kanu and security as they affect his state.

    The Enugu governor made this disclosure while briefing Presidential Villa correspondents after the meeting, he described the meeting as heartwarming, said partnership and collaboration with the federal government was critical to actualising his administration’s agenda for Enugu State, especially in the areas of economy, infrastructure, security, and activation of dormant assets.

    He also said the meeting equally discussed the need to release the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, saying it is a demand by the South East, which is very much in tandem with President Tinubu’s promise in his inaugural address to engender national healing and reconcilation.

    “I came and frankly I brought to the President, the warm greetings and best wishes from the government and the people of Enugu state.

    “But, above all, you may also know already that we made massive campaign promises to the people of Enugu. And we also have expressed humongous vision. We’ve taken a bold view of what the new government could achieve in the next four years, in terms of growing our economy from the current levels to $30 billion. And one of our core governance philosophies is to collaborate and to have partnership; and we have identified the federal government as our core partner.

    “A lot of people do not know, but we have huge mineral resources in Enugu State. And these resources are sitting under our ground, not being productive. So, we believe with the partnership we’re trying to build with the federal government, we’re able to transform these assets into productive assets.

    “Of course, you know that the growth level we have proposed is one that is going to be driven by the private sector and private sector wants the ease of doing business; and one of the core indicators of the ease of doing business is security and infrastructure. So, we also had that conversation with Mr. President.

    “And finally, we also talked about the release of Nnamdi Kanu. You know, that the South East has made a collective demand to have Nnamdi Kanu released. And we basically identified with that and request Mr. President, who in his inaugural address promised the people that he’s going to engender national healing and he’s going to serve with compassion. So we’ve basically informed him that this would serve as a pointer to his administration’s extension of hands of fellowship to Ndigbo”, he said.

  • Enugu Govt sends out strong warning over IPOB’s Monday sit-at-home order

    Enugu Govt sends out strong warning over IPOB’s Monday sit-at-home order

    Schools, markets, retail outlets, hospitals, transporters, malls that continue to obey the weekly Monday sit-at-home order by the proscribed Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) in Enugu State will be shut.

    The state government declared on Saturday in Enugu that it already cancelled the order of the proscribed group.

    It also set up a taskforce to monitor compliance with its new directive from Monday, June 5.

    Gov. Peter Mbah cancelled IPOB’s Monday sit-at-home order in Enugu State on June 1 when he said the order killed the spirit of entrepreneurship, commerce and creativity of residents of the state.

    The government stated in its Saturday warning that all schools, markets, retail outlets, hospitals, transporters, malls and members of the public must comply with its cancellation of IPOB’s order.

    It directed all residents in the state to go about their normal businesses and activities every day of the week, including Mondays.

    “All concerned are required to comply with government directive as adequate security measures have been taken to guarantee their safety.

    “Members of government’s taskforce will be moving around to monitor compliance.

    “Any market, transport outlet, or any other body that fails to open for business risks being shut immediately,’’ Mr Dan Neomeh, head of Gov. Mbah’s media team stated.

  • Enugu governor, Mbah bans IPOB sit-at-home order, begs Tinubu to release Kanu

    Enugu governor, Mbah bans IPOB sit-at-home order, begs Tinubu to release Kanu

    Enugu state governor, Peter Mbah has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to release the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, for peace to reign in the Souheast

    Mbah made the appeal on Thursday, while listing out the decisions reached at the end of his first security council meeting with the heads of all the security agencies at the Government House, Enugu.

    “I call on our newly-sworn-in President, President Bola Tinubu, to consciously work towards the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. We believe that his release will expedite the healing process Nigeria needs at this time.

    “It will also be a pointer to his administration’s extension of brotherly hands of fellowship to Ndigbo.”

    However, the governor has now  declared  Monday sit-at-home by IPOB to press for Kanu’s release as antithetical to the economic interest of the state, saying it should stop from June 6.

    Although Mbah, has expressed his government’s resolve “to engage in dialogue with people, who have genuine grievances towards bringing lasting peace and security to Enugu State.”

    At the meeting, which also had in attendance the Deputy Governor, Mr Ifeanyi Ossai,  the governor said he had hit the ground running on the day of his inauguration by signing three Executive Orders for the good governance of the state, including Executive Order 002 for the removal of “Unauthorised Street Barriers Across the State Within 100 Days.”

    He said, “There is no time to waste. The clock has started ticking on the mandate you gave me and deliverables I promised.

    “The idea behind sitting at home on Monday, the first working and business day of the week, is abominable and antithetical to greatness and the spirit of industry we profess to have inherited from our forebears. This cannot be us. Tufiakwa (God forbid). It does colossal damage to us.”

    Mbah reminded the people of the direct connection between his lofty promises he made to them and the vibrancy of commerce in the state.

    He added, “For us to transit from a public service economy to a private sector-driven one, we must free our markets from the shackles of restriction to commerce. If indeed we aspire and anticipate an influx of private sector practitioners and investors in Enugu State, we must know that this will not happen where the perception of us is that of unproductive people.

    “Therefore, those that strike on Mondays, putting restrictions in the way of our Igbo spirit of creativity, cannot be our true representatives. In fact, they kill our spirit.

    “To this end, therefore, from Monday June 6, 2023, there will be no observance of any sit-at-home in all nooks and crannies of Enugu State.

    “Government will enforce this with all the powers at its disposal.