Ebonyi Law Maker & His AK 47 Rifles

There are fears of violence and bloodshed in the coming elections in
Ebonyi state, as law enforcement agents uncover arms pillaging by
desperate politicians.

Ebonyi state police command, recently, recovered fifteen assault rifles from those suspected to be behind the protracted Ezza/Ezillo bloody clashes, and paraded 16 suspects including Chief Geoffrey Chukwu, pioneer chairman of the state branch of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), three traditional rulers, as well as an
officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the area, Joseph Amanga. The paramount rulers were listed as Ezes Christopher Ewa, Lawrence Akochi, and Basil Nwafor. (Photo shows Odefa Odefa, gun running member of Ebonyi state House of Assembly)

Ammunition displayed by the police in the course of the suspects’
parade in Abakiliki included an LMG Machine gun which, according to
Police Commissioner Emmanuel Ayeni, could load over a thousand
bullets. Other recovered dangerous weapons were seven G.3 rifles, a
LAR rifle, a SMG, three AK47 rifles, two LAR, rifle magazines, a toy
pistol, an axe, a sword and a cutlass. Ayeni disclosed that the
suspects themselves confirmed that it was prominent Ezza perspnalities
of the area who regularly met and donated money, in addition to
imposing levies on other Ezzas for the procurement of arms and
ammunitions among other things.

But the foregoing scenario seems like scratching the surface of the
story of the violence and mayhem that may signpost the council and
other forthcoming elections unless Chief Martin Elechi government and,
indeed, other security apparati in the state take urgent precautionary
measures to nip the imminent untoward situation in the bud.

Just recently, a member of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Odefa
Obasi Odefa, and his political cronies were nabbed with AK 47 rifles.
Hon. Odefa, in his reported confessional statement to the State
Security Services (SSS), admitted that he had in his possession 19
(Nineteen) AK 47 and Pump Action rifles out of which five were
recovered from his village home when the SSS operatives conducted a
search there.

A petition to the Assistant Inspector General of Police, dated April
31, 2010, and signed by Chris Eze Omukwu (Esq) of Chris Eze Omukwu &
Associates, Abakiliki, narrates several deadly outings of Hon.
Odefa-led killer gang in the area.

Stated the petition, ‘It is pertinent to remind you, Sir, on
the 9th April, 2010 at about 9 pm, a 16-man gang comprising Messrs
Odefa Obasi Odefa, Ali Odefa Obinna O. Odefa…stormed the premises of
Chief Elebe Nwekeye in Umualoke in Umungbala-Oshiri where a funeral
wake-keep was holding. The gang was armed with AK 47 riffles and other
kinds of guns. They sacked the funeral wake-keep and scattered the
crowd as they were rampaging the entire compound and shooting
sporadically.’

The petition added that the honorable member (Odefa Obasi Odefa)’s
killer gang, in the ensued pandemonium, pounced on one Chiadikaobi
Eze, tied him up, and dragged him on the ground to about 200
kilometers distance where Odefa himself was waiting for them. The
petitioner alleged that Hon. Odefa, immediately Chiadikobi Eze was
brought before him, drew a gun and shot him (Chiadikaobi Eze) on his
right leg.

The shocking aspect of this story is that not only that Odefa shot
Eze, he, subsequently, reportedly implicated him in a murder charge.
The magazine was told that nothing came out of the reports made to the
Coordinator of Oshiri Development Area for onward official report and
transmission to the police.

Part of the petition accused the law maker of being responsible for
the formation of a cult gang called the ‘Broom Fraternity’ which
allegedly uses to terrorize Oshiri community in particular and Onicha
council area in general.

‘This cult gang formed, financed and led by Messrs Odefa Obasi Odefa,
Ali Odefa, Obasi Nwode and Victor Obaji attend funerals and openly
display and shoot sophisticated guns like AK 47 rifles and pump action
guns.

‘During the burial of their grand mother on March 12/13, 2010 at their
residence at Oshiri, Messrs Odefa Obasi Odefa, Ali Odefa, Obinna
Odefa, Obasi Nwode, Victor Obaji and others openly used AK 47 rifles
to show off their newly-acquired intimidating fire-power over the
community. Their display of firepower was generously captured by their
own video of the burial ceremony’, the lawyer wrote.

According to the petition, ‘Hon. Odefa has already confessed to the
crime of illegal possession of and use of prohibited firearms,
admitted having 19 (Nineteen AK 47 rifles) and has even surrendered
some of them to the Department of State Security’.

Odefa’s accusers, also, cited several instances where his alleged 29
member-gang of the ‘Broom Fraternity’ storm burial ceremonies armed
with sophisticated weapons including AK 47 rifles. The petition added
that ‘the intimidation and brigandage of the Odefa family in Oshiri
since 2004 had actuated the community in 2006 to petition the office
of the Inspector-General of Police to come to their rescue’.

The petition, therefore, called on the IG to direct the arrest and
investigation of the honorable member, (Odefa Obasi Odefa), Ogbonnaya
Ogo and other mentioned persons for conspiracy and murder. Another
appeal to the IG hinged on the arrest of the accused legislator and
his cohorts for forming and operating an unlawful (cult) which has
unleashed a reign of terror, murders, violent activities and
gangsterism on otherwise innocent rural dwellers. Hon. Odefa and his
co-accused cultists, the people begged, should be arrested to explain
the source of their illegal acquisition, possession and use of
prohibited firearms of the caliber of AK 47 rifles or such other
firearms.

Rather than good reputation, it has been all knocks for Hon. Odefa
from the home front. A press statement by the people of Oshiri
enumerated several acts of terrorism which they claim to have
undergone in the hands of their law maker son and his ‘Broom
Confraternity’.

‘We like to use this opportunity to call the attention of the state
government to the political thuggery and terrorism of Hon. Odefa
against the people and Oshiri community. There is nobody in Onicha
Local Government Area who is not aware of the evil activities of Hon.
Odefa and his gang who have also gone into armed robbery. While we
seek the protection of the state government from Hon Odefa and his
thugs, we make it clear here that the maiming and destruction in
Oshiri by this group cannot continue’.

Oshiri people expressed shock that in spite of the weight of evidence
about the illegal possession of arms by Hon. Odefa and his ilk, they
are still walking the streets free, lamenting the indignation with
which security agencies (especially SSS) have ignored the video and
photo clips given to them showing Hon. Odefa, Hon. Obasi Nwode and
some members of the gang carrying AK 47 rifles. The SSS unfortunately
lost their grip on the ‘legislator cultist’ even in spite of the
confessional statements he (Hon. Odefa Obasi Odefa) was said to have
made on record.

The people thus called on Governor Elechi to immediately order the
arrest of Hon. Odefa and his cult members so as to stem the
replication of the Ezillo crisis in the area.

‘This situation must be nipped in the bud before it explodes because
this gang, which is behind the robbery and kidnapping in Onicha Local
Government Area and some parts of the state, has terrorized the area
enough. Also, the Governor is prayed to order the removal from office
of Hon. Obasi Nwode as the Chairman of Onicha Local Government. These
actions, when taken, will stem the kind of crisis that took place at
Ezillo and sustain the confidence of the people of Oshiri in the
ability of the government to protect lives and property’, Oshiri
community cries out.

The people, equally, called on the state House of Assembly to
immediately suspend Hon. Odefa and hand him over to the law
enforcement agents for prosecution as he has, according to them, by
all intents and purposes, shown that he is not worthy to continue as a
member of the House.

The petition, further, added: ‘He (Hon. Odefa and his brothers are
simply outlaws and should be arrested before they cause greater havoc
than they have wrecked on the community since 2004. Similarly, we urge
the PDP as a peace loving and security conscious party, to disqualify
Hon. Obasi Nwode from contesting the forth-coming local government
elections. Unless this is done, it will be understood that they are
deliberately harboring criminals in their fold for the purpose of
destabilizing the society’

Yet, another petition from the Chambers of Chris Eze Omukwu & Co to
the Ebonyi State Director of SSS fingered Hon. Odefa and his gang in
the gruesome murder of one Nwaji Egbe of Amaokpara-Oshiri in Onicha
Local Government Area of the state. Nwaji Egbe was, sometime, found
dead at a place called ‘Ogudu Ikele’ in Umungballa village in Oshiri.
However, Hon. Odefa, in a telephone interview with Insider Weekly,
denied the gun-running charges, retorting that all the allegations are
masterminded by his political enemies.

Further efforts by the magazine to get the legislator to, in a one on
one interview, respond to all the other accusations against him proved
fruitless, as he did not react to a text message sent to him to that
effect.

For now, peace or crisis in Ebonyi will depend on how effectively both
Elechi government and the law enforcement agencies handle the Oshiri
mayhem.

Culled from: Insider Weekly Magazine, Nigeria

A Chief Judge & His Scandals

Despite his stratagem of setting up journalists to kill a story, Enugu State Chief Judge, Innocent Umezulike, remains notorious for his ‘randy’ life-styles and other scandals.
History was made in Enugu on May 18 when a presiding
Magistrate, Dennis Ekoh, ordered journalists who came to cover court
proceedings involving two of their colleagues, Michael Ubani of
Insider Weekly and David Desbods of High Society magazines out of his
court. Magistrate Ekoh, who seemed to be in a lone constitution review
voyage, averred that the journalists ought to have been certified for
the coverage by the court’s registrar. Ekoh, subsequently, in a rather
uncouth manner, shooed (away) the press men from his court.

It would be recalled that the two journalists, Mike Ubani and David
Desbods, have been standing trial for, among other things, alleged
conspiracy/extortion of the sum of N300, 000.00 from the state Chief
Judge, Innocent Umezulike. The charge claimed that the duo committed
the offence under Section 494 of the Criminal Laws of Enugu state
2004. The duo were first arraigned on April 17, and remanded in prison
custody after pleading not guilty to the allegations.

On the return date of May 18, Ekoh court gave the two pressmen
nigh-impossible bail conditions. The magistrate ruled that each of the
duo should produce a surety who must be a civil servant of means of
not less than Grade Level 15. Each of the sureties must, also, have a
registered title deed (landed property) within Enugu North Judicial
District, in addition to paying N5 million each.

But many see Ekoh’s ruling on the bail application as a rehearsal of
what his (Ekoh)’s ‘ultimate boss’ and the journalists’ primary
accuser, CJ Umezulike, had earlier instructed him to do on the case.
Some others, indeed, see the ruling as a subtle strategy of denying
the hapless media men bail over the case for, according to Nigerian
constitution and arguments of legal luminaries, the offence they
allegedly committed is a bailable one. ‘So, why make their bail
difficult in the first place’, queried an angry lawyer.

The rationale behind Ekoh’s dishing out the almost impossible bail
conditions to the accused journalists, in the opinion of not a few,
was meant to keep them in prison for as long as possible, so as to,
within the time range, intimidate and frighten them out of the subject
matter of the case which is, of course, the alleged ‘loose
life-styles’ of our Lord, the Chief Judge, Justice Innocent Umezulike.
The magazine, also, gathered that the journalists were motivated into
working on the Chief Judge’s alleged ‘randy life-styles’ because of
rumors making the rounds in Enugu and environs to the effect that he
keeps a chain of ‘girl friends’, both in the open and in secret. CJ
Umezulike is in his late 50s.

Many have viewed this life-style of Umezulike as a situation which,
ostensibly, falls below the standard expected of him as the Chief Law
Officer of Enugu state. And provided with an opportunity to state his
own side of the story, the Chief Judge, curiously, resorted to arm
twisting, invoking the full weight of the law (which he is the chief
custodian) against the investigating pen men, using a trio of his two
‘lawyer loyalists’, Chuma Oguejiofor and Tagbo Ike, as well as the
pliant Magistrate Dennis Ekoh.

Perhaps, a more nauseating aspect of the rumor on Justice Umezulike’s
licentious living is that he, equally, ‘sleeps’ around with under aged
girls, an offence which even the law he superintends frowns at
seriously.

Findings by this magazine indicated that the Chief Judge did, in fact,
stage-manage the arrest, remand and on-going prosecution of the two
journalists with the collaboration of the trio of Tagbo Ike, Chuma
Oguejiofor and Magistrate Dennis Ekoh.

According to an Enugu based lawyer who, understandably, would not want
his name in print: ‘A clear conscience fears no accusation. If Our
Lord, the Chief Judge knew that he is not sleeping about town with
bouts of girl friends as being rumored, why did he, under any guise,
offer to give the journalists ‘bribe’ to kill the story? Definitely,
the CJ has something to hide in all this which is yet to fully come to
public knowledge’.

But philandering is not all there is to the scandals dogging the path
of Umezulike as the Chief Judge of Enugu state. Umezulike, as reported
by THEWEEK Magazine, issue of June 1, 2009, nearly lost his plum job
following allegations of corruption, misconducts and high-handedness.

According to the magazine, the Chief Judge had, in an
extra-ordinary meeting of high court judges convened by Governor
Sullivan Chime last year, May 7, came under a deluge of these
allegations in his running of the state judiciary.

Also in attendance at this extra-ordinary meeting were selected
prominent citizens of the state, including eminent retired judges like
Nnaemeka Agu, Anthony Aniagolu, Eze Ozobu and Eugene Odo, speaker of
the state House of Assembly among others.

Although Justice Umezulike had safely navigated through the
allegations which had, interestingly, emanated from his fellow judges,
his troubles may not yet be over. Umezulike, as it were, debunked the
allegations, saying they were generalized and lacked details. But even
in the absence of his traducers substantiating their claims, Justice
Eze Ozobu, one time Chief Judge of the state, did not fail to
reportedly remark that ‘what is currently happening in the state
judiciary was not how it used to be during his own time as CJ’.
Insider Weekly learned that a caucus of powerful judges in the state
had hatched (and is still hatching) the plan to remove Umezulike from
office as Chief Judge. This is why some political analysts claim that
his disposition towards the journalists who came to inquire into his
life style as a public officer could not only have been borne out of
his genuine quest to dispense justice as it should be, but out of
jitter.

‘Our Lord, the Chief Judge could have, as well, been suffering from
persecution complex’, stated a source in the state judiciary.

It is generally believed that the Chief Judge lacks the confidence of
Chime’s government because of his perceived political leaning in the
state. Even when public servants are constitutionally debarred from
partisan politics, Umezulike, having be installed Chief Judge by the
former government of Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani far and above his superior,
Justice Agbo, enjoys a more pleasant relationship with Nnamani (now
senator) than incumbent Governor Chime. There is even the belief that
the Chief Judge remains one of the present pillars of Nnamani’s almost
moribund Ebeano Political Family, a splinter group from the state
Chapter of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which has, now,
fused into the Progressives People’s Alliance.

Not to be left unmentioned in this report was an unsavory situation
observed last week by the magazine in the premises of the state
magistrate court. Not only that the court, under the Chief Judge’s
supervision, has been overgrown with weeds, the court premises seemed
to have become a dumping ground for rickety and disused vehicles of
all sorts.

Insider Weekly was told that the court staff have, in the discharge of
their official duties, often, run the risk of attacks by reptiles and
other dangerous animals who have found a safe haven underneath the
bushy premises of the state magistrate court where Magistrate Dennis
Ekoh, also, presides. The bushy nature of the court is despite the
state government’s huge budgetary allocations to the court which CJ
Umezulike superintends over.

However, efforts by Insider Weekly to get both the Chief Judge and the
court Registrar to react to all the issues in contention proved
fruitless.

For now, Nigerians are keenly watching the weird happenings in Enugu
state judiciary, and how the seeming shrewd set-up of the two
Journalists, Ubani and Desbods, would, eventually, be resolved.

To Olisa Agbakoba, With Tears!

So many things that have happened in the past few months have made me shed endless tears over the fate of the once foremost human rights organization, Civil Liberties Organization (CLO). (Photo shows Olisa Agbakoba (ESQ)

My lamentations are not necessarily over the intra-leadership crisis in the body. I continue to weep for CLO because of the attitude of the human persons who have helped drive the death nail in her head.

Such human persons, by clear design, resolved, and are about to actualize their resolution, by plunging CLO into such an internal crisis which, if time is not, will be the nun dimities of the orgnanization.

Now that the CLO vandals have done their worst (in the name of leadership scuffle), attempting to destroy an organization which they were not where it was founded in the first instance, what have been their gains? If these destroyers of CLO who are currently looking elsewhere to extend their destructive tendencies do not answer this question, shame unto them!

Yet, another reason I shed tears for CLO is whenever I remember that it (CLO) is now an orphan even when it actually has a healthy living father in the person Olisa Agbakoba. In the 80s and 90s when he (Olisa) was toiling day and night, trying to midwife and sustain CLO, one took him for an extremely serious minded person.

But the contrary, at least, as far as current rotten head of CLO is concerned, is the case. Or, is it not?

Why must Olisa Agbakoba allow his brain child, the CLO, to be so submerged in the murky waters of human rights politics? If not that I’m scared of the legal implications of saying ‘Shame onto Olisa Agbakoba (SAN)’, I would have boldly told him that without giving any hoot, and still go ahead to call him other unprinted names that roll to my mind.

Should I say that Olisa Agbakoba has lost his head for abandoning CLO the way he has. And for me, his reason/s for leaving CLO in the scorching sun should go to hell and burn to ashes. Suffice it to say that Agbakoba’s attitude has classified him as a poor finisher.

Yes! Who on earth would have been the founder of such an organization as CLO and allow it to die and rotten? Tell me. CLO, apart from losing its Lagos headquarters, has presently lost most of its six zonal offices due largely to internal crises that have eaten deep into its fabric. (Picture right shows Comrade Uba Aham, member of the Board of Governors)

My gnawing problem with Olisa Agbakoba is that he has, even on invitation, refused to intervene in the CLO crisis. Agbakoba has rather chosen not to touch the crisis in the CLO with a very long stick. This certainly shows that something is wrong with Olisa Agbakoba. It is either that Agbakoba has gone jinxed, or that he, unknowingly, slipped into irreversible class suicide. The implication of the later is that he used CLO to climb to the top and, then, heartlessly dumped it to crash to pieces. Or how else can one explain this lackluster attitude of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN)?

Let me, once-more, recall that the immediate cause of the current crisis began with the purported unconstitutional suspension of the President, Titus Mann, by some members of the Board. Titus Mann was neither given fair hearing to react to the seeming trumped-up charges against him, nor was he present at the meeting during the purported suspension.
More heart-rending was the fact that President Mann had informed the board that he was seriously sick, and could not attend the meeting, yet those who were more interested in hijacking leadership in CLO rather than fighting the cause of the oppressed insisted on sending him to the hangman irrespective of protests from the other members of the Board present.

To demonstrate their knack for lawlessness, this group, having tried in vain in coax Uche Wisdom Durueke, Vice President, to preside over the sanctions on the T. Mann, forced him to step aside for them to take their long sought for pound of flesh on the President.


With Durueke out of the way, Igho Ighariwe got prodded to unconstitutionally assume the position of Acting President of CLO, and, in fact, presided over the meeting in the course of which they, of course, achieved their set objects.

This group did not stop at this. They went ahead to forcefully take over the CLO secretariat in Lagos, unleashing the Nigeria police on both Ibuchukwu Ezike, the organization’s Executive Director and some other staff.
As I write this piece, there is still a police occupation of the Lagos headquarters of CLO. What a shame! The rest is now history.

But wait a moment. If Agbakoba dumps CLO, what of past leaders of the organization like Ayo Obe, Uche Onyegucha, Peter Eze (Esq), Emma Ezeazu, Innocent Chukwuma and a host of others? What have they done to stop CLO from imminent death?

There seem to be too many questions begging for answers from for those who stand on the sideline, watching this one time ‘Hope for the Hopeless’ body to die.

By: Uba Aham
(Chairman, Southeast Zone & Member, CLO Board of Governors)

University of Corruption

Apart form his on-going trial for corruption by anti-corruption bodies while in office as Vice Chancellor of Anambra State University, Uli, Professor Ifeanacho Paul Orajaka is on the dot for sponsoring labor crises and nigh-anarchy that is presently threatening the continued existence of the Citadel-of-Learning. (Picture shows Prof. Orajaka, outgone VC)

Although Professor Ifeanacho Paul Orajaka has, after all, been removed as Vice Chancellor of Anambra State University, Uli, he is yet to enjoy respite of any sort.

Despite the fact that Orajaka, a Professor of Geology, has served out his stormy tenure, the duo of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices (and Other Related Offences) Commission (ICPC) have continued to probe him (Orajaka) for alleged corruption and academic fraud. Apart from mismanagement of the university’s funds, the former Vice Chancellor was accused of admission and certificate racketeering.

Incidentally, Orajaka’s probe by anti-corruption agencies is not restricted to his tenure at ASNU alone, as ICPC is, at the moment, investigating his tenure as Dean, School of Postgraduate studies, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka several years ago.

In a letter entitled: ‘Investigation Activities’ and referenced, ICPC/CH/SIT/ADT/06, addressed to the Vice Chancellor, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, ICPC requested for all records of student payment for forms in the School of Postgraduate Studies (2000 to May 2004). The anti-graft body, equally, demanded receipts, registers, internal audit report of the university of June 10, 2004, addressed to the Vice Chancellor and referenced NAU/JA/26 from the Head of Internal Audit, as well as response to the Audit Report from Professor Boniface Egboka, the then Vice Chancellor, UNIZIK, dated 5th July, 2004.

Egboka who took over from Orajaka as Dean of PG School, had in response to the internal Auditor’s report disagreed with Orajaka’s accounting system in the PG School, including the disappearance of over N4 million realized from sale of postgraduate forms.

The embattled VC whose five year term expired on March 31 this year craved for an extension to no avail, as a result of which he commenced a legal fight with Anambra state government and the university’s Governing Council. Thus on March 21, Orajaka, among other reliefs, sought the order of an Ihialla High Court to restrain the state Governor, Peter Obi and the university’s Governing Council from removing him as Vice Chancellor at the end of his five year tenure.

Convinced that the suit lacked merit, Obi’s government, on April 1, went ahead and appointed Chukwunenye Anene, a Professor of Biology, acting Vice Chancellor. Anene is to run the university pending the appointment of a substantive VC soon. Curiously, Orajaka (the outgone VC), on April 5, filed a motion of discontinuance of all his suits on the matter.

It is worthy of note that part of the spirited fights put up by the former Vice Chancellor to remain in office was an attempt to install a pliant ASUU Executive Committee in the institution to replace the existing leadership of Chike Osegbue, even against the provisions of ASUU constitution. He, therefore, shortly before the expiration of his tenure, sponsored the setting up of an electoral committee to that effect. And the electoral process ran counter to the provisions of ASUU constitution.

Therefore, Osegbue, incumbent Chairman, on April 15, took the matter before the National Industrial Court, Enugu, praying the court to interpret Rule 9 {V11} of the Constitution and Code of Practice of ASUU. Consequently, Osegbue secured the order of the court restraining the Electoral Committee, chaired by ‘Dr’ OSA Obikezie, from conducting the ASUU election which it had earlier slated for April 21 pending the determination of the motion on notice. But Electoral Committee, chaired by ‘Dr.’ OSA Obikeze, ironically, a member of the outgoing Branch Executive, snubbed the court order, and moved ahead with the election.

The magazine was told that Orajaka’s struggle to hijack the union dates back to the ASUU national strike of 2007 when he sponsored a group of lecturers, including the secretary and the immediate Past Chairman of the university’s branch of ASUU, Dr. M.N Chendo and Obikeze to secure an injunction from the Ihiala High Court, stopping Osegbue from parading himself as ASUU Chairman. And both characters are evidently deeply involved in the present crisis.

In this very circumstance, the university’s ASUU Secretary, Chendo, was said to have unilaterally convened a meeting of the branch congress on March 26, 2010, contrary to provisions of ASUU constitution. This alleged faulty congress led to the setting up of Obikeze’s Electoral Committee to conduct the poll on April 21. The contention here is that any decision taken at the so-called congress was null and void, and of no effect, as the procedure adopted in convening it was, in the first instance, a violation of the constitution and Code of Conduct of ASUU.

Insider Weekly gathered that ASUU National President, because of his alleged closeness to Orajaka, looked the other way while provisions of the union’s constitution were being violated. And it was this situation that culminated in the suit pending before the National Industrial Court. It is believed that the ASUU’s National Executive Council slated for May this year at Benue State University, Markudi as well as the reactions of the trial court vis-à-vis the snub of its order may dictate the direction of events in the crisis-infested institution.

There are instances that the university, under Orajaka’s management, was notorious for snubbing orders of court. Dr. Emma Owuamalam of the Department of Mass Communication had gone to an Ihialla High Court to challenge his suspension by Orajaka management. In its ruling, the court averred that the Vice Chancellor, according to the relevant university law, has no powers to suspend an academic staff, and ordered that the Plaintiff (Owuamalam) be reinstated. But Orajaka ignored this order till he vacated office.
In his recent handover speech, aired on the Anambra State Television, Orajaka claimed that his achievements as the university’s Vice Chancellor would never be rivaled in the next ten years, especially, in the areas of staff discipline, employment and exam malpractices.

But his critics insist that his tenure, rather, enthroned a culture of mediocrity and devaluation of teaching and learning. For instance, Orajaka was accused of, without recourse to the Governing Council, employing staff with questionable credentials.

Two of such cases existed in the institution’s Department of Political Science.
In 2006, VC Orajaka employed one ‘Associate Professor’, Nderibe A. Nderibe who ‘taught’ students of the institution’s Department of Political Science for two semesters. But reactions from the students and lecturers of the department on the quality of what Nderibe was teaching them led to investigation, which eventually revealed that Nderibe’s area of specialization (bias) was in Engineering, and not Political Science. Yet, he got employed into the Political Science Department by Orajaka without bothering to look at his credentials. Incidentally, the Governing Council threw Professor Nderibe out of the university in 2007.

There is, also, this celebrated case of ‘Dr.’ OBC Nwankwo, immediate Past Head of the Political Science Department, who got employed by Orajaka’s predecessor. Nwankwo had, in 2005, claimed that he got his M.Phil and PH.D Degrees from Karlrushe and Heidelberg-both in Germany. But investigations carried out later showed that ‘Nwankwo does not posses the degrees he claimed’.

Orajaka, it was learnt, resolved to sack Nwankwo when the burble burst, but later changed his mind on the realization that he (Nwankwo) could be a veritable tool in checkmating the university’s union officials, especially, ASUU executives, Osegbue and Obiekwe Nwanolue, Chairman and Investment Secretary respectively, who seemed like a thorn on his flesh then. Nwankwo was, actually, said to have been widely used as a tool to frame up the duo of Osegbue and Nwanolue and, indeed, other lecturers in the Political Science Department, as a result of which Orajaka chose to shield his alleged academic deficiencies till the end. But Insider Weekly learnt that Nwankwo has, curiously, changed the universities he claimed to have obtained his M.Phil/Ph.D from Karlrushe/Heidelberg to FUK/RKU. These abbreviations still remain Greek to many, as only Nwankwo knows what the letters stand for.

Orajaka’s critics maintain that his tenure as Vice Chancellor encouraged very unethical practices by his refusal to discipline academic staff implicated in selling examination marks. A case in point was that of G.C Ojimba of the Department of Computer Science. The university’s Senate had, at its 37th meeting of August 15, 2007, found him (Ojimba) guilty of charges of selling marks and altering approved examination results, leaking examination questions and graduating unqualified students among others. Strangely, rather than accordingly disciplining him, Ojimba was merely issued a warning letter, and, subsequently, appointed Director of the university’s ICT Centre.

In fact, Orajaka, often, got involved in academic impropriety as evident in the case of his niece, Sandra Orajaka, a second year Law student of the university in 2005. Sandra was found guilty of ‘being in possession of an answer script with fully answered examination questions which questions were the questions for the particular examination in progress’ by the faculty of law examination Misconduct Committee for the first semester 2005/2006 examination.

Consequently, the committee recommended immediate expulsion of Sandra Orajaka. The report was presented to the University Senate at its 31st meeting of Monday 27th November, 2007. The report was stepped down by Orajaka.

But a curious twist was to creep into the saga when, in the next Senate meeting, the recommendation of the committee was altered by Senate guided allegedly through Professor Edwin Nwogugu, the then Dean, faculty of Law.

In the altered recommendation, Sandra (Orajaka) was found guilty as charged, but was asked to repeat the course, Law 221, Nigerian Legal System. It took the protest of other expelled students in the faculty to get Sandra Orajaka out of the Faculty. Eventually, Orajaka graduated Sandra from the institution’s Marketing Department.

The outgone Vice Chancellor allegedly protected the students whom he had used to frame up former ASUU Chairman, Osegbue. It would be recalled that Orajaka’s management had a running battle with the institution’s branch executive of ASUU, a situation which led to suspension of the principal leaders.

It is alleged that a lecturer in Political Science Department, Agary Nwokoye, used Miss Adaobi Iheme and Miss Frances Olisa (whom he wrote examination for) to set up Osegbue for suspension. The students were recommended for one year rustication, but, ironically, having used them to achieve the purpose, their punishment was waived by the management.

It was gathered that Orajaka’s ‘unacademic’ tenure was such that it took some core academics in Council like Professors Azubike Uzoka, Israel Okoye, Elochukwu Amucheazi, Mercy Anagbogu and Onyechi Ikpeazu [SAN] to compel him (Orajaka) to terminate the appointment of one Reverend Father Pantaleon Umechukwu of Mass Communication Department who was said to have been indicted for plagiarism while in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Rev. Fr. Umechukwu was, subsequently, sacked by the UNN, but Orajaka found him worthy to be given employment in Anambra State University, Uli.
As th
e public anxiously awaits the report of the Anti-graft agencies on Orajaka, it is expected that the Visitor to the University (Governor Peter Obi) will, immediately, set up a Visitation Panel to review the activities of the university in the past five years of Orajaka’s management as required by the Anambra State University Law 2000.

It is, also, expected that the Governing Council of the University will fast-track the process of selecting a substantive Vice Chancellor who will have the onerous task of cleaning the rot of the Orajaka years.

‘It will take a real academic with guts to clean the mess which the University has become. This is the legacy the present crop of core and disciplined external Council members can bequeath to the University’, a political analyst told Insider Weekly.

Ebonyi Gun-Running Legislator in Trouble

Eminent personalities from Oshiri in Ohaoazara council area of Ebonyi State are currently making frantic efforts to ensure that their kinsman and member of the state House of Assembly, Odefa Obasi Odefa, representing Onicha East Constituency in the state House of Assembly does not face the wrath of the law for being found in possession of two AK47 rifles. (Picture shows Chief Maartin Elechi, Ebonyi State Governor)

Odefa, who is Chairman, House committee on Works and Transport, was reportedly apprehended by operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) while practicing with the gun beside his car following a tip-off.

The Legislator who is also very close to the State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Engineer Dave Umahi, was upon discreet investigations by the SSS alleged to have procured a number of AK47 rifles preparatory to the council polls fixed for July 10, 2010 in the state.

A reliable source in the SSS said that almost all the big names in Oshiri have been bringing a lot of pressure to bear on the agency in a collective effort to ensure that their son was not made to “go under the weight of the law “for the grievous crime.

“What we intend to do is to hand him alongside the exhibits and photographic evidence to the police; we do not have power to prosecute but I think what the big men want is to see to the destruction of those incriminating evidence to save the neck of their son,” the SSS source declared.

Pressed for further clarifications, the source disclosed that though SSS has incontrovertible evidence that the legislator had more than 9 AK 47 rifles in his possession, he had been able to surrender just two rifles to the security agents, adding that Odefa was being trailed after information reached the agency that he was behind the stockpiling of dangerous weapons in readiness for council and other successive polls in the state.

However, PDP chairman in the state, Umahi, has been quoted lately as saying that only God can stop the re-election of the state Governor, Martin Elechi, for a second term in office. The 24-member State Assembly is made up of members of the PDP.
When contacted on phone, Hon. Odefa denied the allegations of gun running, saying his traducers had no proof of his investigation, either by the police or the SSS. The embattled law member said the whole saga was politically motivated.

CHIME: Yaradua was a Selfless Leader

Enugu State Governor Mr. Sullivan Iheanacho Chime has described President Umaru Yar’Adua as a selfless leader who cherished peace and observed the rule of law.

In a statement by his Special Adviser Media, VinMartin Obiora Ilo, Chime said the late President during his Presidency gave impetus to the office of Governor and so many other offices relevant to the development of the country.

Governor Chime who stated that the former President will be remembered for encouraging good governance said the nation will miss him dearly.

VinMartin Obiora Ilo (Special Adviser Media)



Turai Took Advantage of Yar'Adua's Death

May the good Lord grant the soul of Yar’Adua and the souls of other departed Nigerians external rest. Death is a necessary end for all mortals. But the only painful thing about his death was that his own wife (Turai Yar’Adua) headed a cabal that took undue advantage of his illness.

Turai Yar’Adua and the cabal she headed alienated Nigerians from their leader when he (Ex-President Yar’Adua) needed Nigerians most. Nigerians will continue to wonder why they (Turai and the cabal) kept the nation in the dark about his ill health. The entire episode deserves proper investigation with a view to avoiding a re-occurrence in the future. Once more, may his soul rest in peace and may God bless Nigeria .

By: Chinedu Vincent Akuta An activist and leader of “Support Option A4 Group” Leicester-UK akutachinedu@yahoo.com http://briefsfromakuta.blogspot.com/