Controversies
surrounding the winner of Okigwe zone Senatorial
election held last December has rekindled the mourning of late Senator Benjamin Uwajumogu by Okigwe
Zone people as no one can say with certainty when the issues surrounding
the said election would be resolved by various courts.
This is even as the 9th Senate would be winding up by May 2023, which hitherto implies
that the remaining tenure for any of the candidates that finally emerges the
winner of the Okigwe zone senate is two years and two months.
At the time of filing this report, Lead gathered
that the candidates of both the PDP Chris
Okewulonu, the APGA candidate, Charles
Onyirimba, as well as the APC candidates, Senator Araraume and Frank
Ibezim were at the election petition tribunal.
In addition to the matter before the Tribunal which centers
on the winner of the December 5th Senatorial
election, the Federal High Court
in Abuja had few days ago, ordered INEC
to issue certificate of Returns to Senator
Araraume as the candidate and winner of the said December 5 election.
While INEC was yet to be served the court judgment
which hitherto ordered it to issue the said certificate to Araraume, another
order of the High Court from Owerri
again ordered INEC not to issue, Araraume with the said certificate of Returns.
Information from the INEC revealed that the
commission is fraught with confusion
over series of court orders and judgments hence restored to consultations.
The High Court judgment from Owerri which stopped
the issuance of certificate of Returns to Araraume has attracted varying
reactions amongst lawyers.
While some lawyers are of the opinion that the Owerri High Court judgment stopping the
issuance of certificate of Returns to Araraume was given in error given
section 251 of the 1999 constitution which hitherto spells out the jurisdictions of the High Courts,
others are in support of the said injunction.
In addition to the following, the Supreme Court of Nigeria is also yet to
give judgment on who is the candidate of the APC in the said election.
Yesterday, March 23, this paper gathered that Supreme Court sitting in Abuja reserved judgment on the actual candidate of the APC.
Former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha has called on the Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma to look for
better projects to carry out as the sitting Governor of Imo State instead of
re-commissioning the projects he did and commissioned while on seat as
Governor.
This is even as he accused the Governor of owing
over N150B domestic debt within one year he has held sway as the Imo State
Governor.
In a release signed by Okorocha’s Adviser on media,
Sam Onwuemedo and made available to Lead, the former Governor, appealed with
his successor to look inwards and look for projects to carryout in Imo instead
commissioning the projects he did and commissioned while on seat as the
Governor in the state.
Governor Hope Uzodinma had last Friday commissioned
and renamed the popular Akachi Road to Evans
Enwerem Road through the Senate President
Lawan.
Reacting to the commissioning, Okorocha said that
the said Road was one of the major roads constructed and commissioned by his
administration in 2011 and wondered why Uzodinma should however claim the
construction.
Okorocha however made it clear that the essence of raising the alarm is to stop the Governor from further claiming by way of commissioning over one thousand projects his administration did while on seat as the Governor.
A former member of the National Assembly, Athan Achonu, has accused South-East governors of trivialising the region’s security.
Achonu, who represented Imo
North at the 8th Senate before he was sacked by a Court of Appeal judgment in
Owerri, urged Igbo governors to take over Eastern Security Network from the
Indigenous People of Biafra and reform it.
The ex- senator was reacting
to the jailbreak in Owerri, as well as the attack on the Imo State Police
Command headquarters and the killings in Enugu and Ebonyi States.
He said that the youths were
angry with the governments because of lack of employment and business opportunities.
Achonu, who said that he was
championing a movement for Igbo billionaires to bring their investments home,
said that without security and infrastructure, manufacturing businesses would
not thrive in the South-East.
He said, “There is problem in
Nigeria. The situation is terrible. Our economy is losing control. Unemployment
rate is unbelievable. The worst hit are South-East and South-South. The youths
have now been turned into Yahoo boys and drug addicts.”
“Our group will make a
presentation to all the South-East governor this April on the need for Igbo
billionaires to invest at home. Without local government autonomy, no true
democracy will happen in Nigeria.
“South-East governors are
joking with Igbo security. They are making the biggest mistake of their lives.
They can take ESN and legalise it. There is no security in Nigeria. Kidnapping
takes place even in Buhari’s village. Nowhere is safe in Nigeria again.”
Fugitives who escaped from the custodial centre in Owerri, the Imo capital, will be granted amnesty if they return voluntarily, the Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, has said.
He
said this during the inspection of the centre on Tuesday after it was attacked
by unknown gunmen.
During
the attack, over 1,880 inmates were said to have escaped while 36 stayed back.
According
to the minister, escape from custody is unlawful, and a crime.
He
explained that if those who escaped return willingly, they will be pardoned
from a trial for unlawful escape.
However,
they will still be made to face a trial for their actual offence and serve
their jail term, if convicted.
He said, “Unlawful escape from custody is a crime but the government in its magnanimity will grant amnesty to prisoners who willfully return.
“They
will no longer be charged with an unlawful escape but only for the initial
crimes that took them to prison. So we urge all escapees to return before they
are caught on the run.”
The
minister also described the Monday jailbreak at Owerri Correctional Center and
the razing of the Imo State Police Command headquarters as the worst in the
recent history of the country.
The
ex-governor of Osun State who said that the attackers operated as terrorists,
ordered the relocation of Owerri Recreational Club and other structures which
he said were posing as a security threat to the premises of the Owerri
Custodial Centre.
He
said that during the EndSARS protest, custodial centres in Ondo and Osun states
were attacked, while an attempt to attack that of Lagos was repelled.
He
regretted the targeting of custodial centres in recent times, saying that the
federal government would soon roll out adequate measures to protect them.
Aregbesola
vowed that those who perpetrated the attack would be apprehended and
prosecuted.