Operation Replace Ekweremadu

The quest for the ‘Ndi Udi’ to be given a chance to produce a replacement for Chief Ike Ekweremadu, Senator representing Enugu West District, reaches a crescendo.

On Saturday August 14, a political pressure group, known as Udi Stakeholders, held a congress and warned the Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, against pursuing his third term agenda in Enugu West Senatorial District of Enugu state. The group, also, issued such a warning to the member representing Udi and Ezeagu in the Federal House of Representatives, Chief Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi. (Pic left is the outgoing Senator Ike Ekweremadu; Right is the Senator to be , OAU Onyema)

The Stakeholders summit comprises all political appointees, meaningful sons and daughters, political party executives and party financiers of Udi descent among others. Udi, home of Governor Sullivan Chime, is one of the five constituent local government areas that make up Enugu West Senatorial District. The four others are Senator Ekweremadu’s Aninri, Awgu, Ezeagu and Oji River.

In the stakeholders’ conclave, chaired by C.O.C Egumgbe, a lawyer and one-time commissioner in Enugu state, the Udis resolved against a ‘third term tenure for any elective position within Enugu West Senatorial District ranging from the senate, the House of Representatives to the state Assembly’. While Ekweremadu occupies the senate seat of the constituency, Chief Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi is the incumbent member of the Federal House of Representatives representing Udi and Ezeagu.

The stakeholders’ congress, further, resolved that on the basis of equity, fairness and natural justice, as well as the conventional rotation of offices within the senatorial district, both the senate and House of Representatives have rotated to Udi. Consequently, the summit, therefore, called on interested Udi sons and daughters to rise up to the challenge and run for these elective positions.
The foregoing positions of Udi stakeholders seem to be a reinforcement of earlier resolutions of both the Ezeagu and Udi General Assemblies. The two bodies have similarly continued to insist that there would never be a third term tenure for any of their current representatives.

In particular, the constituents of Udi are contending that they have been denied the senatorial slot for the past thirty (30) years. Part of their agitation is that their contemporary council areas have respectively produced a senator for the district at one point or another, yet none has come from Udi.

For instance, Chief Hyde Onuaguluchi had served as Senator representing the District from Oji River council while Ben Collins Ndu served from Ezeagu council. Then from Greater Awgu, specifically, Mpu community in Aninri council area hails Senator Ekweremadu. Ekweremadu (alias Ikeogu) has been in the Senate for two terms of eight years (2003 to 2011).

It is sequel to the foregoing that constituents of Udi council have vigorously contended that it is their turn to produce senator for the District.

Recently, Enugu West Elites, another pressure group, canvasses support for 'Ndi Udi' to be allowed the opportunity to produce senator for the District for the first time since 30 years. The group argues that Greater Awgu (comprising Awgu/Oji-River/Aninri LGA) has just held the senate for almost eight years.

The body states: 'Automatically, Senate will revert to Udi/Ezeagu block. Since Ezeagu LGA has produced Senator twice, it is most sensible without sentiment, for the sake of Justice, equity and fair-play for Ezeagu LGA to leave it for Udi LGA, which has never gone to the senate at all'.

The group contends that it would be unfair to oppose the constituents of Udi council area from ' enjoying their legitimate and inalienable right to the senate simply because the Governor hails from Udi'.

Citing instances, the group holds that the people of Kwara state did not disturb or victimize Governor Bukola Saraki's Local Government Area when senate rotated to Saraki's council area: 'Their constituents allowed his council to still produce a senator, and his sister was elected. In like manner, Obasanjo's council area never lost their chance to the senate when he was President. His constituents allowed his Local Government Area to still take their turn, and his daughter was elected'.

Pushing the arguments a little further, the group asserts that even in Enugu West Senatorial Zone, the serving Senator Ekweremadu got his younger brother, Bernard Ekweremadu, elected Aninri council chairman, and even got him re-elected for second term, and things were moving.

‘In Enugu East Senatorial Zone, between 2003 to 2007, a Senator, Ken Nnamani, a member of House of Representatives, Goddy Agbo, and a member of House of Representatives, Offor Chukwuegbo, all came from the same ward, not even Local Government Area. Yet things went well’, argues the body.

Enugu West Elites, also, mobilizes support for Governor Chime for second-term (2011-2015 ). Their support for Chime's second term derives from the various tangible achievements of his government.

To demonstrate their determination over the senate slot, the Udis and, indeed, other constituents of the senatorial district, have been projecting one of their sons, Ogochukwu Agapitus Umunnakwe (OAU) Onyema, for the post. And Onyema, a political strategist, is almost in his last phase of consultations, as prescribed by the PDP constitution, before finally throwing his hat into the ring to slug it out with Senator Ekweremadu.

Ekweremadu had recently challenged any person interested in the race to come out for the political fight of the century, OAU Onyema, massively supported by his kinsmen, seems to perfectly fit into the hole. Sources told Insider Weekly that by the time campaigns begin, Ekweremadu would have realized that the Udis are not just jokers, that they mean every bit of their pronouncements on the senate seat having rotated to them this time around.

It is unarguable that many constituents of the senatorial district feel that Ekweremadu, having served as Senator from the zone for two terms of eight years, ought to respect himself and step aside for a candidate from another council that hasn’t taken any shot to the plum position. The truth remains that although Ekweremadu has the constitutional right to run for the senate for as many terms as he likes contrary to the decision of the majority of his constituents, his chances of emergence, if he insists and runs, look very, very bleak and hopeless. Apart from his (Ekweremadu)’s belated gestures of generosity to a negligible percentage of his constituents, Ekweremadu’s perceived non-performance in Enugu West Senatorial District is glaring or, rather, legendary.

Beyond the initial persuasions on OAU Onyema (Akpaagu Ikenga), by a group which called itself, ‘Friends of Sir OAU Onyema’ to run for the senatorial job, the choice of his (Onyema)’s candidature has literarily caught fire across the five council areas of Enugu West Senatorial District. And for now, Onyema remains the only candidate that, when he is finally given the nod by the party high command in Enugu state, to give Ekweremadu a titanic political battle.

‘In fact, it is OAU Onyema who will retire Senator Ekweremadu politically, whether he (Ekweremadu) likes it or not’, asserts a constituent.

Ekweremadu is, of course, aware of the ‘big’ fight ahead. Recently, the Deputy Senate President, noted for his primitive accumulation of wealth across Enugu metropolis in recent times, distributed 406 Peugeot cars to his campaign coordinators and the PDP council chairmen across the seventeen council areas in the state. This is aside from his recent assemblage of a political war team, aimed at assisting him win the 2011 elections. Ekweremadu, it is learnt, hopes to deploy all the political arsenals in his amoury towards winning the election at the fullness of time.

Although a few supporters of Ekweremadu had argued that it would be incongruous for Udi Local Government Area to produce Senator for Enugu West District when the Governor (Chime) comes from the council. But this logic has since been dismissed by many who hold that it does not hold any water because the two positions have two different conditions for their attainment.

Chime, it is argued, emerged from a state-wide elective process, which made him governor of the whole Enugu State. In the case of a Senator, he (the Senator) emerges from the Senatorial zone, and each local government is expected to produce a senator over time to represent the District.

The Udi people, also, maintain that they are not only marginalized in the senate representation, but in the Udi/Ezeagu Federal House of Representatives.
All in all, the people of Udi are worried over their alleged marginalization in the politics of Enugu state. Udi, they argue, is the oldest Local Government Area among the four others that make up the senatorial district. Udi Division was so vast that all the local governments in the old East Central State used to be under Udi Division. Udi should, ideally, be the most civilized of all the councils east of the Niger, having produced eminent personalities in all spheres of life.

On their own part, the Ezeagus believe that they would share political positions amicably with their Udi brothers. This is why the Ezeagu General Assembly, in concert with a similar body from Udi, recently summoned their elected representatives for an interactive forum which Senator Ekweremadu shunned.

The purpose of the forum, according to Chief Richard Ozobu, President General, was to enable the Deputy Senate President and his co-elected representatives to render their individual accounts of stewardship to the people they are representing. But none of the elected representatives, led by Ekweremadu, honored the invitation. However, the Ezeagu General Assembly, according to Ozobu, has sent out the second invitation for the interactive forum with the officials.

Ekweremadu Snubs Constituents

The Deputy Senate president, as well as the Senator representing Enugu West Senatorial District, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, snubs an interactive session with his Ezeagu constituents, aimed at getting him and other elected representatives from the area to account for their stewardships in their respective elective offices.

The Ezeagu constituents in Enugu West Senatorial District of Enugu state, on August 7, in Enugu, waited endlessly, and with apprehension of a pregnant woman in a labor room, for their second-term serving senator, Chief Ike Ekweremadu.

The Assembly had, in a letter to that effect, dated July 7, 2010, offered Senator Ekweremadu the opportunity to address its membership on his activities at the nation's senate since 2003 he was elected into the senate. (Picture left shows Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu)

In particular, the constituents want the Deputy Senate President to meticulously brief them on how he has been spending their constituency allowances as well as the relevance of such constituency allowances to Ezeagu council area in particular since 2003 he went to the senate.

Ezeagu General Assembly, also, expected Senator Ekweremadu to, among other things, intimate its members on the constituency projects he had executed in the council, if any, as well as his political interest come 2011 and his expectations from the people of Ezeagu now and in future.

It is necessary to point out that the Ezeagu General Assembly is a non-partisan socio-economic cumulative cultural association of kit and kin from the Ezeagu Local Government Area, with the principal purpose of promoting good governance, engineering development and improving the lot of the people of the area.

In the letter to Senator Ekweremadu, signed by Prince Richard Ozobu, President-General, Ezeagu constituents said they would like to be acquainted with his achievements as one of their representatives in his current office as a senator representing their Enugu West Senatorial Zone, with also the most distinguished office of the Deputy Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Aside Ekweremadu, the constituents had, also, invited their other elected representatives, including Chief Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi, a second term serving member of the Federal House of Representatives representing Oji/Ezeagu Federal Constituency, as well as Hon. Paul Anikwe representing Ezeagu State Constituency in Enugu State House of Assembly. Anikwe has, also, been Chairman of the House on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.

Incidentally, as if in consultation with each other, none of the invitees, including Senator Ekweremadu himself, honored the invitations for the interactive session with their Ezeagu constituents.

Chief Oliver Ani, a political associate of Hon. Ozomgbachi, told the Assembly that he did not have the mandate to represent him (Ozomgbachi) in the meeting; nonetheless, Ani went on to enumerate what, he believed, were the achievements of Ozomgbachi in the Federal Constituency.

Reacting to the seemingly apparent boycott of their constituents' invitation to come forward and give them their accounts of stewardship, Prince Richard Ozobu, the President-General of the Assembly, said another invitation will be sent to the presumed honorable members as resolved by the Assembly.

Ozobu frowned at the attitude of the elected representatives, insisting that they all got the invitations, but decided to snub the constituents.

The President-General told Insider Weekly that this time around, rather than IFEX, the elected officials would be invited through the DHL Courier Services.
Ozobu, however, maintained that whether the elected representatives honor the second invitations or not, the Assembly would still legally go into enquiries concerning their activities since the mantle of leadership in the area fell on their robust and bulky shoulders. Fair-skinned trimmed Ozobu, specifically, described the attitude of the Deputy Senate President as ‘a snub’, contending that it is the constitutional right of the constituents to seek to know what their elected representatives are doing with their mandate.

‘The Deputy Senate President did not show up. The invitation was widely publicized, and he cannot pretend he did not know about it. I don’t think anybody can pretend he was not aware of our invitation to him. The General Assembly has directed me to give them reminders for our next meeting before we know the next thing to do. The treatment the Deputy Senate President (Ike Ekweremadu) gave to us is a snub. Let me send the second invitation first. Otherwise, we know our rights. If any of them fail to show up, we shall go in and get the information we require by any means legally possible’, Ozobu told Insider Weekly Magazine in an interview.

As it were, in his response, Senator Ekweremadu maintained that he was not duly invited before the Ezeagu General Assembly, let alone insinuating that he shunned the interactive session.

In a press release, dated August 9, 2010 , signed by Luke Mgbo, Special Assistant (Media and Communications) to the Deputy President of the Senate, Ekweremadu asserted that those peddling the story are being economical with the story, as no such invitation was received by his office, either in Abuja or Enugu Constituency Office.

In the logic of the DSP’s Special Assistant: 'There are official means of communicating with the Deputy Senate President when anybody or groups want to see him. Interestingly, the Deputy President of the Senate has assistants in his constituency offices and in all the Local Government Areas in his Senatorial District. For instance, his Special Adviser (Political), Hon. Emeka Ozoani, is from the area (Ezeagu) and a member of the Assembly but did not receive any invitation in that regards'.

Mgbo maintained that the Senate President, 'in his humane and characteristic manner, has an open door policy to all, both in his office, constituency offices and his private residence in Enugu, but considers the fact that the General Assembly chose the pages of newspapers and magazines to invite him as a cheap blackmail,..'
The release interestingly highlighted that the Deputy Senate President would, in no distant time, organize a Constituency Briefing where 'everybody will be invited, including our brothers and sisters in the Ezeagu General Assembly'.

On his part, Hon. Paul Anikwe, member representing Ezeagu State Constituency in Enugu State House of Assembly, willfully boycotted the interactive session.

‘We are in government. I cannot talk to you now. I will see you later', Anikwe quips in a telephone interview with Insider Weekly before he abruptly dropped the line.
It would be recalled that the Ezeagu General Assembly had, last month, July 7, 2010, invited its various elected representatives, including Senator Ekweremadu, Hon Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi and Paul Anikwe for an interaction session bothering on their accounts of stewardship so far in their respective offices of operation.

Another highlight of the foregoing is the issue of third term. A joint meeting of both the Ezeagu General Assembly and its neighboring and politically-coterminous Udi People's Assembly had, on the same day at Filbon Hotel, Enugu, ‘banned’ third term for any of their elected representatives. The argument is that although such a ban is unconstitutional, it can be conventional.

Like their Ezeagu General Assembly brethren, the Udi People's Assembly expressed its displeasure over the snub of the accountability invitations by their elected representatives.

For now, the constituents have fixed a new date for the stock-taking for Senator Ekweremadu and his co-elected servants of Enugu West Senatorial District.
Meanwhile, what is obvious is that the Deputy Senate President will never go down without a fight, especially, given the immense resources at his disposal. Presently, he is deploying all the arsenals in his political armory to return to the senate, the ‘ban’ by a joint session of Udi and Ezeagu notwithstanding.

Just recently, the Ikeoha assembled a political war team to go into the hinterlands of Enugu West Senatorial District, with a view to preparing the grounds for his third term emergence come 2011. Senator Ekweremadu thus appointed seven political war-horses, cutting across all the five local government areas of the senatorial district, including Aninri, Awgu, Oji River, Udi and Ezeagu. Among other things, he charged them to work hard to dismantle all the man-made obstacles that could stand on the way to his third term election into the senate.

Among the star studded political ‘war’ team, as learnt by Insider, are Emeka Ezenwugo (Udi); Augustine Chukwuobasi (Awgu); Mrs. Ada Ude, Special Assistant on Women Matters; Okey Ozoani (Ezeagu); Betty Onyefure (Oji River); Nick Ozonsi (Udi) among others. It was with this team, noted for their grassroots mastery and support that the Deputy Senate President, partly, intends to use to reinstall himself into the exalted office for the term, although he is yet to declare at any level of the party that he would running for senate again.

For now, the question remains: ‘Will Senator Ekweremadu and his fellow elected representatives turn up in the next postponed meeting of the Ezeagu General Assembly to interact with their constituents? Or will these 'Honorable Men' still treat their constituents with levity and disdain, and less reverently than cattle?

The answer to these posers is expected in the next general meeting of the Udis and the Ezeagus.


Culled from Insider Weekly Magazine

Enugu's House of Drugs & Controversies

The recent incrimination of six members of Enugu State House of Assembly over drug peddling generates unease in the state, although the House is never new to controversies.

The leadership of Enugu State House of Assembly, on July 30, battled feverishly to exonerate its members linked to importation of 450.4 kilos. The cocaine amounted to about N4billion! (Picture shows Barrister Eugene Odoh, Speaker of Enugu State House of Assembly Nigeria)

The Barrister Eugene Odoh-led House got enmeshed in the drug scandal when some of its members recently accompanied the state Governor, Barrister Sullivan Chime, to an overseas trip. The hard drug was reportedly confiscated at the Lagos Tin Can Island from a syndicate by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

Reports have it that it was, indeed, the Nigerian agent handling the clearing of the container in which the cocaine was discovered that blew the lid off the drug ring of Enugu state Honorable members. The clearing agent’s identity, ostensibly, remain undisclosed for now so as not to endanger investigations into the matter.

But further inquiries by Insider Weekly magazine into the messy development have thrown up the identities, albeit in descriptive terms, of the six ‘honorable’ drug pushers in the Assembly.

The six cocaine peddlers, from our investigations, include a two-term-serving female legislator (a widow) from Enugu West zone; one of the speakers emeritus of the House who is currently serving his third term, as well as a first term serving law maker, who was, at the inception of the House in this political dispensation, sacked as Deputy Speaker of the House under controversial circumstances.

The others include a legislator from Enugu East zone, famous for his electronic business; another female law maker (a Princess from Nsukka whose husband lives abroad) serving her second term in the house. The last but not the least of the incriminated legislators is a fat fair-skinned legislator, unarguably, the longest serving law maker in Enugu State House of Assembly. For those who know him, this particular legislator is noted for sleeping each time the house is on session.
Meanwhile, reactions have been trailing the ‘legislative’ drug burst.

To this effect, an on-line news website, www.Icheoku.com, demands ‘a full and complete investigation’ if the alleged involvement of the six Enugu law makers in drug-trafficking and importation of 450 kilos of cocaine into Nigeria is true.
Icheoku, similarly, demands ‘disclosure of the identities of the ‘dishonorable law makers, including their communities and political party affiliations’. The website wants that the full weight of the law to be brought upon the ‘drug baron legislators’.

‘It is regrettable the grave length some of these unscrupulous and supposed ‘honorable’ men and women will go just to remain in power. That these politicians need money to prosecute elections, does not grant them impunity to do just anything to get that money; and at all cost and any means whatsoever; including breaking the law on Nigeria's drug trafficking’, Icheoku laments, describing the action of the legislators as a bad example to generations yet unborn.

Stated Icheoku: ‘It is a shame! The EFCC and the Nigerian authorities must, therefore, make an example out of these six (dis)honorable individuals by punishing them sufficiently. Also their political party/ies should suspend and disqualify them from running for any future elective offices on their party platforms for showing a bad example of how not to be legislators. We note with regrets that this is the second time Enugu State lawmakers are making ignoble headlines and this particular illicit drug pushing by six of their lawmakers is not only criminal but unbecoming of any law makers anywhere, who by their present action, have now become law breakers instead’.

Some other commentators who spoke to the magazine have urged the NDLEA to quickly release the full identities of the 'six legislative drug traffickers' for suspension from the House immediately and subsequent prosecution for the heinous crime.
As it were, the only feeble reaction to be put up by Speaker Odoh whose House is, for the umpteenth time, attracting negative attention from the national and international communies over illegitimate activities, was to the effect that Enugu state’s NDLEA commandant, Reuben Apeh, had briefed the House, but was not forthcoming with the identities of the affected members of his House.

Odoh regretted that members of the House, since the publication, have been thrown into confusion, justifiably apprehensive that the development might lead to the house being perceived by Nigerians as harboring criminals in their midst.
Although efforts of Odoh’s leadership aimed at unmasking the legislator-turned drug barons yielded no result, he, nonetheless, quips: ‘We shall continue in our investigations and if at the end of it all it is found to be a hoax, we will take every step to get redress and if otherwise, the House will be the first to expose the culprits’.

On his own part, Hon. Marcel Njeze, Chairman of the House committee on communication said: ‘The image of the House is very important… We are as well not trying to protect any member that is involved in criminal acts. We will, however, go to the police to make available to us the names of those members alleged to be implicated’. Njeze dispelled the claim that three of the six said to be involved in the drug matter have been contacted and no arrest has far been made.

When contacted, Apeh, the NDLEA commandant in the state, explained that the House members merely invited him to furnish them with the details of the matter, but he told them that he was yet to get full briefing on the case from his Abuja headquartres. Apeh clarified that he was not aware of any clean bill of health given to the House on the matter, but assured that information would always be made public as soon as available.

As earlier stated, this is not the first time Enugu State House is slipping into controversies of this magnitude, in fact, to the utmost embarrassment of both the federal government and the government of Barrister Sullivan Chime.

The N200m London trip of controversy is still fresh in the minds of keen watchers of political events in Enugu state. The legislators traveled to London for a seminar on lawmaking, understandably, to sharpen their legislative abilities and, further, enhance their individual skills for the benefit of the state.

But the cost of the trip, put at about N200m, generated more controversies that it was meant to within and outside the state. Many, indeed, considered it a sheer waste of public fund!

For that two weeks in the London trip, there were said to be a 31-member delegation, including the 24 members of the assembly, the Clerk of the House, two assistants and other aides to the governor, who would have academic sessions with the British parliamentarians and experts on, in addition to a guided tour of the city.

The legislators, it was learnt, initially planned to visit the United States, but had to settle for the UK due to their inability to obtain visa to the US. But the sore and obfuscating point therein was that each member of the delegation reportedly got $5,200 (about N.7 million) as estacode at $400 daily for 13 days, besides air ticket, hotel accommodation and feeding allowances and transportation within London city. The charges of the resource persons and the consultants could not be ascertained, but it was expected to run into thousands of pounds.

In fact, Nigerian citizens of good conscience felt the money being so extra-expended could have been deployed for infrastructure development, condemned the trip and described it as sheer profligacy and argued that if such amount was spent on the provision of potable water, it would greatly ease the pains of residence who suffer to get the essential commodity.

Some Nigerians in the Diaspora took the issue seriously and made blistering comments against the lawmakers and the state government. They lampooned the government, alleging that the trip was a ploy by the state government to buy the loyalty of the legislators. Most Nigerians in the Diaspora described the trip as 'wasteful gallivanting'.

A news commentary Icheoku posted on its website on Saturday October 25, 2008, entitled: ‘Enugu State: This Is Crazy!’ said: "this aren’t right and smacks of a government which does not set its priorities right. What seminar is worth the peoples' N200m (about $1.2million dollars) in a state where the average Joe lives on less than $2 a day gross income?"

The commentary went further: "It is as pitiful as it is regrettable that all these charlatans in governments throughout Nigeria and now particularly in Enugu State are doing, is to exploit every opportunity to siphon the peoples' money and sometimes use it for frivolous ends. Irrespective of the subterfuge being given for this wasteful jamboree, Icheoku says it is uncalled for as it is an exercise in wasteful spending! And for a state like Enugu State where some people have no jobs, no drinking water, no electricity, no good roads, no medical care, no food and so on, it is atrocious to waste such enormous amount of resources for mere junketing. Admitted that N200m ordinarily may not sound too much for a state, but a more prudent government could have spent this money rather responsibly to create new jobs or fix one of the severally broken things within the infrastructure of the state".

The scathing criticism on the issue compelled the government to issue a statement denouncing the report as 'a smear campaign against the government.' In the statement, the government, through Professor Jude Akubuilo, Special Adviser on Special Projects and Diaspora Matters, denied that the lawmakers had applied for US visa, and insisted that they were not traveling to London, stressing that the government was transparent and open in its business and was more concerned with using its resources to develop the state.

Said Akubuilo: ‘As for the N200m being quoted by the media as the cost of the trip, the amount to be spent is not up to that. The figure is from the opposition who wants to embarrass the government’.

Many citizens of the state, nonetheless, queried the rationale behind the trip, wondering why the government which was laboring to be seen as an apostle of transparency and good governance would dole out a huge amount for what they called mere 'legislative sight-seeing'.
"I can't really see what Enugu lawmakers are going to London to learn; the excursion to London is just a waste of scarce resources’, an indigene, Chukwudi Johnson averred.
To Barrister Ray Nnaji then, the trip would deal a deadly blow on the economy of the state. Suspecting the motive behind the trip for the legislators at that point in time, Nnaji called for caution in the legislators’ trip.

For the 24 member Enugu State House of Assembly, controversy is their second names, and they crave for it with the eagerness of a newly married couple. To remove controversy from Enugu Assembly may amount to removing a shark from a sea. For the legislators, most of whom cannot, indeed, accurately define ‘legislation’, controversy walks on all fours, and they are happy for it.

For now, the whole world awaits the full identities of Enugu State House of Assembly ‘honorable’ drug barons, for there will be no hiding place for them. Or will there be any?

Culled from: Insider Weekly Magazine, No 31, August 16, 2010

Nigerian White Child: I Suspect Replacement (Chat)

Dr. Maxwell Udeh, retired Chief Medical Officer, Parklane Specialist Hospital, Enugu, as well as erstwhile Enugu state Police Doctor, reacted to the delivery of a white child by a complete black couple recently. He spoke to KlinReports.com. Photo left shows Dr. Maxwell Udeh)

There was this recent incident where a completely black couple was delivered of a white child. Could you react to it?

I read the story. The features of that child were pure white. Ok? You would think in terms of, maybe, the nurse changed the child after birth. Right? Because if it were to be a white man and a black lady, both the color of skin and the hair features would be quite different, would look like a mulatto. But the picture I saw showed exactly pure white baby. I am saying that from the picture I saw, what I saw, the photograph. And if it is all black, male and female, they should have been something fair, but not completely white. In fact, the child could be fair, but not completely white and even the hair features.

Some people suspect that the situation could have been brought about by adultery on the part of the lady. How do you look at this?

If it is adultery, it can only lead to the birth of a mulatto or mulatto like. But in this case, the child is completely white; it could not be the case of adultery.

But there are situations where completely black couples give birth to a complete white child?

In this case, you are talking about albinos. Delivery of albinos is common, and it could be due to chromosomal changes and all that.

Are you saying that it would have been that possible and easy to have replaced a supposedly black child with a white one just like that?

That is what I am suspecting. That seems to be what could happen, because it does not obtain in medicine that a complete black couple can have a pure white child.

The delivery of this white child by the black couple could still be miracle. Or don’t you believe in miracles?

Miracle? I don’t know. Well, I recognize that miracles can happen, but this particular situation, to me, is different.

To get to the root of this phenomenon, what do you suggest?

I shall suggest a DNA.

Will DNA resolve this?

Yes, DNA will resolve this, even the maternity and paternity of the child. DNA will surely resolve where the child comes from.

Soon, Nigeria will be 50 year old. What is your assessment of the country in the area of medical welfare?

We have dared better than before. You talk about the medical changes and the population. A lot of facilities are available, but I still wish the government to work harder in the provision of medical facilities so that we keep on improving. You know medicine is highly dynamic, it keeps on changing. We have a lot of medical personnel in this country, and some of them practice all over the world, including in Saudi Arabia. We should encourage our men to come over here and practice. Medicare here costly, but the government can bring it down for the well being of the people.

You retired from active service in March this year, what has it been like?

Yes, I have retired from public. In the service, there is a lot of stress. I wish government can, at least, encourage medical personnel in terms of their welfare and all that. Medical practice is like a humanitarian job. I want to advise my colleagues not to go entirely for money. It should not be money, money, money all the time. The saving of life should more important than money. But government should encourage medical practitioners, to ensure that their welfare is taken care of.
You were the police Doctor in Enugu state for a long time. What was the job like?
I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly. It was quite an experience, and sometimes, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed because I faced my job with all the commitment and sincerely it deserved.

What legacy do you think you left behind in the service?

Well, I think I left a legacy of goodwill behind. I made sure I had no quarrels with anybody. I made I carried my co-workers along. I would say, I never stepped on toes.

Any regrets?

My only regret is that I ought to have compiled a compendium before leaving service. Because my job was so stressful and time-consuming, I should have compiled a compendium which would have helped medical practice.

White Child from Black Couple, Not a Miracle (Chat)

Arch-Bishop Alexander Nwodika, the primate and Founder of the Throne of Grace, Enugu, recently spoke to KlinReports on the issue of completely black couple begetting a white child.

Recently, a completely black couple gave birth to a white child. Some people think this could be miracle. Do you think it was miracle?

We have experts. Let our medical experts find out what happened.

Could be a miracle?

If it is a miracle, we thank God. And if it is manipulation, we shout. For me, there is nothing like miracle in this case. You know, we talk too much in this nation.

Then could it be a mystery?

One thing we can’t understand is that the child is white, and when you have a baby like that, there must be a black tendency somewhere. But nothing like that, so something is happening. If it were a white man that impregnated the woman, there must be mixture of some sort. The child must be a mixed breed. It can’t happen. We have not seen pure white or pure black in this type of circumstance. It is only God or medical science that would prove it.

Nigeria celebrates 50 years anniversary soon. How do you react to this?

We salute God for the stability we have, not full stability anyway. We have had a bit of stability as a nation, and we give God glory for that.

The 50 years of Nigeria will come and gone, what advise do you have for Nigerians thereafter?

There is one thing about a nation. A nation is not an empty thing. A nation is like the people there. The Bible says, ‘When the righteous is on the throne the people rejoice’. But believing that God keeps on giving us righteous men in this country, things will get better. But if we continue to have government of the bad eggs, the country will continue to suffer. So our prayer is that we have righteous men and leaders. It does appear there are few righteous men and leaders in this country.

Then, how do increase the number of righteous men and leaders who preside over our affairs?

That is why we are preaching this gospel, because if you don’t repent you can’t be righteous. When you don’t repent you won’t be righteous. You need to repent and turn your life to Christ. And to us as Christians, if a righteous leader is in government, he will not embezzle God’s money. He will not embezzle money entrusted on his hands for the welfare of his the nation. So we are asking God to help us to vote in the right people that will govern us.

Some journalists were recently kidnapped by hoodlums. Does this still bother on righteousness?

Yes, it is still on righteousness. What you have to understand- we are living in this world; we have not seen this kind of thing. You know, they started with this pick-pocket thing; from there to high-way robbery, and from there to robbery, from there to pen robbery. Then we graduated to kidnapping. I think the worst than kidnapping will surely come if we don’t know repent. Because the Bible says: ‘Whatever will happen on this earth will cause heart-break for a lot of our people’. When people are frustrated they can start doing whatever they liked doing.

By implication what seems to be cause of all these problems?

There is a lot of frustration in this nation. That is why our boys are running away. Go to American Embassy. Think about what we spend, Nigerians spend money on daily basis at the Embassy. Think about N15, 000.00. Then if they are about 300 or 200 that go there for Visa, only ten or twenty succeed and then the remaining amount of money is not refunded to them. Look at frustration-how many of our young die to escape from this country while we have oil money in this nation.

Now that you talked about oil, having prospected oil for fifty years, where are we?

One thing that you might understand, oil will not dry up in Nigeria because there are a lot of places today we have oil untapped in this nation. For example, in Anambra state, there is oil; nobody is doing anything about it. There are other parts of this nation we have oil. Nobody is doing anything there. One reason may be political but this is unfortunate.

What other ills militate against this country?

There are other things we can do. Think about Agriculture. Think about mineral resources we have in this nation. We make a lot of noise. Look at Abakiliki, look at the mineral we have there. The same thing applies to some parts of northern Nigeria. The problem we have is who is going to sit down and solve these problems than living for people that will try to make money out of it and enrich themselves and, then, keep the country in perpetual penury.

Do we have enough religious leaders in Nigeria?

We have them in this country only that we are praying that God will raise more of us that keep on blowing this trumpet.

If we have enough religious leaders, knowing that the church is very important in nation building, how come crimes continue to increase?

The problem is that even in the church there is problem today. A very serious problem. There are people that are not after this gospel. They are interested in their bellies only. Some of these people are after their bellies, and they keep blessing all these thieves because they have brought money to the church. Sometimes, you got to ask your member where he gets all the money from. What are you doing with all this money? What are you doing? I do ask some of my members. And sometimes, some of them are afraid bringing to me such ill-gotten wealth for blessing. So it is good for preachers to start looking into all these things.

Could you cast a look into the future of Nigeria?

Well! I am not a seer. But one thing I know is that it is in two ways. If you have good leaders, Nigeria will be so good. If you have bad ones, that is destruction. At the same time, we should turn their lives to Christ and live for him. When you have good people in government you have future. It depends on the people. There are people that will come into government, they destroy this nation. When you read the bible, there are people that destroyed the world. But God said there are people that are destroying this world, and he is going to destroy them.

But many think that the church can actively take part in politics?

There are those who are called for that, not everyone. You don’t dabble into it, unto the Lord when he has not called you. There are many but only some are called. For example, if you get into South Africa, you will see Desmond Tutu. He is a religious man, he was called into that, not all the priest these days are doing what he was doing. If I am called as a politician, I will not go but there are people that God calls to do his work.

What have your experiences as a religious leader been like?

Well! I have been in the church leadership since after the Nigeria civil war. I have been a preacher for 40 years now. It was after the war that I got converted. I came out serving God. My call was to preach the gospel and lead people to Christ. That is what I am still doing.
Another set of elections will come in the next few months. What is your advice to Nigerians?
Every vote must count. We just pray that every vote will count. God will help us with this nation. At this time, you can’t rule out corruption in this nation; Iit is there but we only pray that God will give us righteous men to rule in Nigeria. That is our prayer.

Ekweremadu & Kidnapping in Southeast Nigeria?

Icheoku read with shock reports implicating and/or associating Nigeria's deputy senate president Ike Ekweremadu with kidnapping in Enugu State? Icheoku also read another report of a denial of the alleged by the deputy senate president through his spokesperson. Whether Ike Ekweremadu is an innocent victim in the kidnapping saga or a godfather/benefactor of those kidnappers, providing them with necessary cover from his Abuja high office as deputy senate president, no one really knows; but sure, smoke usually follows a fire! (Pic shows Ike Ekweremadu, Nigeria's Deputy Senate President)

Some Nigerian politicians are so brutally selfish and self-centered that they are capable of just anything and everything under the sun including as in this case, kidnapping? For them as long as there is some political gain to be made and provided there is no adversarial impact on them and their families, the harmattan wind wild fire might as well assume a blaze of Hades velocity for all they care.

In this case of alleged Ekweremadu's involvement with kidnappers, there are so many 'known unknowns' and many things we think we know which we don't know; but the only certainty that presently exist is that there was an allegation and then a subsequent denial. As always, between the allegation and the denial lies the shed of grey, which usually houses the nest of the real story or put in another way, where the whole truth and nothing but the truth lies. Icheoku will however not second-guess anything at this time nor without any convincing evidence, wantonly brand anyone a suspect. We would air on the side of side of reasonable doubt and hope there is no smoking gun anywhere and elsewhere. But the scourge of kidnapping in the South East has become a terminal cancer and everyone with any Igbo blood flowing in his/her veins should see it as not deserving any flicker of life whatsoever. It is about time something drastic is collectively done to put these kidnappers out of business and for good! Enough of these ongoing blackmails and wanton shedding of blood of innocents in the South East and turning Igboland into inhabitable desolate 'wasteland?'

Now the question remains, what is the South East doing to curb and peter out the banditry of kidnapping which is turning the once proud land of our fathers into the new 'old Lebanon' of Nigeria? Where are the Igbo supposed leaders at this hour of great need to call these maga-dogs to order and at worst order their eradication from the land through self-help vigilantism, if that is what it takes to wrest our communities back from these band of marauding thugs. Icheoku asks, what is Ikemba Nnewi Odumegwu Ojukwu's position on this and whether he has spoken out condemning this malaise and ordering these beasts to beat it from his South East? What has Alex Ekwueme done or said about this hooliganism and has he reminded these animals the quantum of damage they are doing to the Igbo nation?

Where is Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu on this or is he waiting for another pitiful Vincent Ogbulafor's corruption scandal to erupt eliciting his removal from office for him to start running around and pontificating about a non existent "Igbo-ness"? Is Ebitu Ukiwe, Uche Chukwumerije, Jim Nwobodo, Ndubuisi Kalu, Allison Madueke, Ike Nwachukwu etc keeping silence and waiting for who to bell the cat? Why are all these Emperors Nero of Igbo-land singing, playing the fiddle and making merry while Rome of Igboland burns in an inferno of unprecedented ferocity? A time for providing real leadership in and for Igboland never called until this moment, and any supposed Igbo leader who fails to answer the call of fatherland should forever hold his peace and never once again, so parade him/herself. How could mother-hen be watching while the hawks continue to make a mince meat of her chicks, with unabashed sky-bombardments?

Recently, Edo (Benin) Kingdom got tired of such too many incidents of armed robbery and kidnapping and took the matter into their hands to solve it. They invoked a traditional panacea over their land, putting a diabolical curse on anyone directly or indirectly connected with the social malady. Low and behold, Benin Kingdom have enjoyed relative peace ever since and it was at the instance of their King, Omo N'Oba Erediuwa 1 that the Chief Priest Nosakhare Isekhure administered the curse. This forces Icheoku to ask, are there still 'Kings and/or Chiefs' left in Igbo land and what are they doing to help their subjects who are under an enveloping siege by a band of kidnappers? If Icheoku remembers correctly, there is this one all-over-the-place supposed Igbo Royal Highness and chairman/leader of all Igbo traditional rulers, HRH Eze Cletus Ikechukwu Ilomuanya, who sometime ago was engaged in a visceral battle with all the "Ezes of Ndi Igbo" of this world? It was then his self-assumed battle to stop anyone anywhere from assuming the ceremonious title of "Eze Igbo" be it in the north, west, south and even in the Diaspora?

This particular ruler was travelling to every kingdom, emirate and chiefdoms in Nigeria from the Emir of Kano to the Sultan of Sokoto to the Oba of Lagos to the Oba of Benin, practically begging them not to recognize any 'Eze Igbo' in their domain and to withdraw any such existing recognition from any Igbo man residing therein. Icheoku wrote an oped then, denouncing his effort as a waste of time and an evidence of a man with so much selfish ego and a desire to be the one and only 'Eze Igbo' in Nigeria? It is also important to point out that it did not matter then to this chief that these other 'Eze Igbo' in foreign lands have no real nexus to the Igbo South East and are not in any competition with him and his ilks; or in any other way a threat to their respective stools and/or kingdoms. But now that a real task militating against 'Ndi Igbo' has arisen, needing a real Igbo ruler/chief to rise up and go to war as in good old days, no one has seen the brake-lights of this traditional ruler nor heard his comment. Icheoku asks Chief Ilomuanya where are you and what is going on in Igboland; or are you afraid of also being kidnapped?

What use are these Igbo rulers/leaders when their women and children are living in bondage of the fear of kidnappers in their homeland if they cannot provide necessary leadership needed to run these bastards out of town? Where are the Igbo governors of the five South East states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo or are they like Ike Ekweremadu, also sleeping with the enemy and sympathetic to their cause; in order to later use them to scare away any possible opposition come 2011? Icheoku is ashamed that these urchins have been allowed for too long to turn Igboland, the once proud home of such greats as Zik, KO Mbadiwe, Dee Sam Mbakwe, Pius Okigbo etc into a practically no go area or at best a 'visit at your own risk' enclave and with such a great trepidation. When will this fog of darkness ever lift from dear motherland.
It is about time this menace is put to an end and we hereby unequivocally condemn kidnappings in the South East as it is not only criminal but also giving all Igbo man and woman one heck of a bad name. These imbeciles who have turned Igbo nation into an unlivable hell-hole should really be ashamed of themselves for being the lilly-livered cowards they are, who are only strong at home. What happened to the standard test of bravado of the yore when real men go to foreign lands to plunder and bring home their loot? What happened to taking bravery abroad to go wrest back from the 'Whiteman' what they took from the continent centuries ago and are still taking? What happened to taking mercenary jobs in Afghanistan, Iraq and other such hot-spots of the world where brave men go to prove their mettle? Why become mere frustrated 'kitchen-brave' scumbags throwing their birds-muscles at motherland, robbing and kidnapping hapless Igbo men and women who still hold forte and call Igboland home; when many with means have simply deserted the region, fled to other regions for safety. But who are these faceless urchins that cannot be stopped or is there no willingness on the part of the Igbo people to have this come to an end?

Finally, talking directly to these bandits, Icheoku says please for God's sake call off this madness before you cost IGP Ogbonna Onovo, the first Igbo Inspector General of Police, his job. As you may be aware, Nigerians are becoming very restive and are questioning if IGP Onovo is up to the task of policing Nigeria since he cannot even police his own South East region by getting rid of these kidnappers. So South East kidnappers, if you have any common sense, you should help IGP Onovo to succeed in his job and enable him serve out his term before he is prematurely removed for perceived 'incompetence' in failing to reign in kidnapping, a problem wrought by you, his kinsmen and women. Icheoku is also calling on every Igbo man and woman to rise up against this army of invaders and fight them off the land and with their last blood if necessary.

This metastasised cancer of kidnapping in the South East demands that all Igbo hands be turned into surgical-hands, united to excise it; with the governors providing the leadership effort before marshal law is declared, replacing them with milads, who could then take these states back from those lowlife kidnappers. Worst case scenario, give the Bakassi boys back their machetes and cutlasses and let the real brave man be left standing. Also whatever is left of the fractured MASSOB should consider this kidnapping as an affront on their fledgling 'statehood' or how else can they assure Igbo people that they will be capable of providing good governance when they cannot rout out these shitless kidnappers from their territory? The governors of the South East are hereby warned and put on notice, either they urgently lead the effort at purging the South East of these kidnappers or President Jonathan should declare a state of emergency and let military administrators put a stop to this arrant nonsense and give the Igbo people back their homeland, freed of kidnappers!

Culled from: www.icheoku.com

Who Owns Baby Nimachi?

His name is Nimachi Ihegboro ( a typical name answered by the Igbo speaking people of Nigeria) This baby's parents (complete black couple) are seen posing with the entire family left. While Nimachi (right) has an Igbo name, everything about him is white, pure white!

Baby Nimachi has two other black siblings who, in no any way, bear resemblance with him.

So, who is the father of the baby? Almost all say Umegboro, who lives in London with his family, couldn't have (ever) been the father.

And our sister Icheoku is not buying the crap that this white kid is a biological child of two black Nigerian parents. Icheoku's contention is is that it is either the mother is not coming forth with the true identity of the baby daddy or there was a callous baby-swap or mix-up at the hospital. Look at her pale-skin, blue eyes and blonde hair and albinos do not possess of this whiteman's characteristics? Also any story of genetics mutation will not sell as buyers do not exist. For now, we wait for a DNA. It seems the only solution to this seeming mystery of our time.

Ekweremadu Under Probe

Apart from a third term ‘ban’, constituents of Enugu West Senatorial District demand an account of stewardship from the Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu.

Fresh trouble precariously hangs on the beefy neck of the Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, in his home state of Enugu like the sword of Damocles.

Apart from a resolution ‘banning’ second-term-serving Mpu-born Senator from further returning to the senate, a section of Ekweremadu’s constituents in Enugu West District have ‘summoned’ him to come forward to render his account of stewardship for his over six years of serving in the senate on their behalf. First elected senator representing Enugu West in 2003, Ekweremadu would be serving out his second-term by the 2011 general elections. (Picture up left is Senator Ekweremadu; immediate right is Sir OAU Onyema, possible replacement to Ekweremadu)

Evidently, the majority of Ekweremadu’s constituents (mainly from Ezeagu and Udi council areas of the state) have, of late, stoutly risen in opposition against his touted third-term ambition in the senate. Awgu, Oji River and Ekweremadu’s Aninri, also, make up the senatorial zone.

In a resolution, dated February 9, 2011, the Ezeagu General Assembly resolved against supporting Ekweremadu for a third term outing in the senate. The resolution, signed by Prince Richard Obiora Ozobu and Chief Charles Nwokike, President and Secretary respectively, among other things, affirms thus: ‘The current senatorial seat for Enugu West senatorial zone which shall fall vacant in 2011 is considered zoned to Ezeagu and Udi for representation in keeping with the known and age-long method of rotation of political offices for the area’.

Ezeagu General Assembly adds that endorsement for second term appointment or election for political office holders representing them should not be automatic, but ‘shall, hence-forth, be based on record of credible performance of the office holder during his first tenure’.

To underscore their seriousness, the Assembly, recently, in a letter signed by Prince Ozobu, dated July 7, 2010, invited Senator Ekweremadu to appear for an interactive session before her on August 7 in Enugu. The interactive session, according to the letter, is meant to offer the senator the opportunity to address his constituents on how he has managed their affairs at upper legislative chambers of this nation.

Specifically, Ekweremadu’s constituents want him to account for his management of all the constituency allowances to the constituents within his period in office. The embattled senator is, also, expected to address the constituents on constituency projects he executed in the council, as well as across the entire senatorial district.

It is worthy of mention, at this junction that this letter for scrutiny was, also, sent out to other elected politicians from the area, including Paul Anikwe, loquacious legislator representing Ezeagu constituency in the state Assembly and Chief Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi, representing Ezeagu/ Udi Federal Constituency.

Prince Ozobu laments the alleged insensitivity of some political office holders to the plights of their people, stressing that none of the national assembly members from Enugu West District has ever taken time out to render account of their services to their people over the years.

“We only hear of constituency allowances in the media. We do not feel the impact of these constituency allowances in the zone. We need to know what they (our representatives) are doing at Abuja. It is our constitutional rights to know what our representatives are doing for us”, Ozobu submits.

Ezeagu General Assembly is not alone in her equivocation that there is no third term tenure for any of its elected representatives, Senator Ekweremadu inclusive.
To this effect, the Assembly, in a joint resolution with Udi People’s Assembly, foreclosed any third term outing in the zone for any of their elective officials.

Of course, the position of the Udis is not, in the least, new, as they have been in the vanguard of the struggle for a more competent and humane candidate to take over from Ike Ekweremadu as soon as his second tenure expires 2011.

Apart from his alleged woeful failure in positively impacting on the lives of the constituents of Enugu West, irrespective of the huge constituency allowances at his disposal, Ekweremadu’s constituents continue to accuse him of crash insensitivity to their general wellbeing. It is part of the complaints of the constituents that, rather than deploy the constituency allowances in bettering the lot, he endlessly acquires property running into billions of naira to their detriment.

For instance, the senator stands accused of shunning the Udi Day Celebration which was held at the council’s headquarters on June 5 this year. During the event, all the traditional rulers in Udi land handed over an ‘ofor’ (traditional authority) to Governor Sullivan Chime for his excellent performances in office so far. The monarchs and, indeed, the Udis, similarly, used the opportunity to endorse Chime for a second term in office. But this occasion, as well attended as it was, was snubbed by the invited Senator Ike Ekweremadu.

But will Senator Ekweremadu honor this particular ‘all important’ invitation to appear before his constituents to tell them how he has managed their affairs at the national assembly in these past years?

Although nobody can lay claim to knowing the Mpu-born senator’s mind-set for now, his high-pitched utterances and defiant body language tend to suggest that he is likely to ignore the invitations extended to him from both the Ezeagu General Assembly and Udi People’s Assembly, an organization of his constituents.

This is more so as Ekweremadu, while speaking to journalists in his Enugu palatial home on Saturday July 18, literarily threw due process and courtesy over-board, and declared his intention to run for Enugu West senate slot for a third term. And while countering some of the earlier reports on him by Insider Weekly magazine, Ekweremadu, taking a voyage in self-conceit, dared anyone who thinks he can challenge him at the polls in 2011 to come forward for a political duel.

‘I will run for the senate for the third term in my zone in 2011. Anyone who thinks he can match up with me should pick form let us try’, the Ikeoha reportedly boasted.

As it were, many political analysts have continued to wonder why Ekweremadu, even if he would remain in the senate ‘for ever’, should not have the courtesy to consult with the Governor Chime who is the party’s leader in the state, as well as the entire party leadership before making his intentions known to members of the public.

‘Could this action of his be interpreted to mean that Senator Ekweremadu is bigger than Governor Sullivan Chime, and Enugu state chapter of the PDP as a whole?’ said an agitated constituent.

Yet another constituent opines: ‘The foregoing shows to what extent Senator Ekweremadu insults us as his constituents. Apart from not having any regard and respect for His Excellency, Governor Sullivan Chime, this Deputy Senate President thing has entered Ekweremadu’s head so much that he has no regard for us as a people. How does he think he can just secure another ticket without inputs from us, his constituents? Let’s watch and see!’

Ekweremadu’s constituents simply believe that he is not in the senate to better their lot. Outside the constituency allowances, Ekweremadu, on record, receives a total of N41.581 million (N41.6 million) as salary from the national assembly. His constituents affirm that the senator has never used his elevated position to, even, change the miserable lives of indigenes of his Mpu community, let alone impacting on the lives of constituents from the other parts of the senatorial district.

Little surprise, therefore, that the powerful committee of ‘Friends of Sir OAU Onyema’ have been ceaselessly campaigning for him to come up to challenge the now third-term-seeking Ekweremadu.

‘Friends of Sir OAU Onyema’ describes Ekweremadu as a man with an unquenchable thirst for political power which he ultimately converts to his personal benefits. The group has been campaigning for ‘Onyema for Senate’ since February this year, and has vowed to stop at nothing to get OAU Onyema, a Knight of St. John International (KSJ) installed senate in place of the lack-lustre Senator Ekweremadu.

But unlike Ekweremadu, Onyema, Co-ordinator of Industrial Parks Development in the office of the Governor, is a stickler to due process. Thus Sir Onyema maintains that he is waiting for the nod of his boss, Governor Chime, as well as the endorsement of the PDP leadership in Enugu state to go into the race for the titanic political battle with the largely ‘Abuja’ based Senator Ike Ekweremadu.

Findings show that Sir OAU has been subjected to incessant threatening messages since his political friends started mounting pressures for him to run for Enugu West senate seat. Perhaps, to justify the direction such threatening messages have been coming from, Ekweremadu, during his recent media chat, alluded to the fact that most of the campaigns of calumny and publications by Insider Weekly (which, of course, critical on his person) were sponsored by one of his neighbors. But Ekweremadu stopped short of mentioning the name of Sir OAU Onyema as his possible assailant.

On his own part, Onyema denies sponsoring any publication or campaigns of calumny against the Deputy Senate President, even when he (Onyema) advises him (Ekweremadu) to climb down from his Olympian Height and play the game of politics according to its rules, instead of groping in the dark, looking for escape goats.

However, Insider Weekly magazine authoritatively gathered that Ekweremadu’s boasts are traced to his suspected infiltration of Chime government. What this infiltration is aimed at achieving is that some commissioners and political appointees of the Governor were, hitherto, working in concert with him (Ekweremadu) to achieve his third term desire. The magazine learnt that Governor Chime had got a wind of this, and, as a result, carried out a minor cabinet shake-up which sidelined the suspected (bad legs) officials in the scheme of things in his government.

For now, Senator Ike Ekweremadu has a date with history and his constituents come August 7. Will he answer to their calls? Or will he call their bluff? Is it really difficult to render an account of steward for constituents who, actually, have the right to know? Will the Enugu West constituents fold their arms and allow Ekweremadu slight all of them, and eventually move to walk back to the senate unchallenged? Answers to these posers, certainly, lie in the womb of time!

Culled from: Insider Weekly Magazine, Nigeria

Enugu's Hotel of Death

Workers of Hotel Presidential, Enugu, owed several months of salaries and other entitlements, continue to die out of frustration, hunger and starvation.


‘There is no doubt that the Hotel Presidential, Enugu has run out of business and competition in the hospitality industry for a very long time’

The above is an outcry by the impoverished workforce of the hitherto thriving Hotel Presidential, Enugu to Governor Sullivan Iheanacho Chime. The workers, operating on the platform of ‘All Staff of Hotel Presidential, Enugu’, in a letter to the Governor, dated March 21, 2010, disclosed that they are, at the moment, owed over twelve months salary arrears by Godwin Nomeh management of the hotel. (Picture left shows a Hotel Presidential suite; Right is Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State)

Signatories to the workers’ petition entitled: ‘Save Our Souls’, include Enebechi Jonas, Augustine Obiekwe and Richard Eze. The trio, understandably, signed for and on behalf of other workers of the hotel outfit.

The petition which the suffering workers, equally, addressed to the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Barrister Eugene Odo and Chairman of the hotel’s Board of Directors, Sam Onyisi, complains that the management of the hotel has, in the past four years, refused to pay them promotions, leave allowances and service charge, as contained in the company’s conditions of service.

Worst of the situation, according to the working people, is that the hotel management has willfully refused to implement the new salary structure introduced by Chime’s government at his assumption of office way back in 2007. What this means is that while other civil and public servants in the state have been enjoying the minimum wage of N7,000.00 since the Chime era, their Hotel Presidential counterparts go home virtually empty-handed at the end of the month, a situation considered to be sub-human and anti-workers.

‘The core reason for writing this letter titled, ‘Save Our Souls’ is to implore you, Your Excellency, to use your good offices and pressurize the authorities concerned to release and ensure that our arrears of salaries are paid without further delay’, the hungry workers enjoined Governor Chime.

It seems that the greatest casualty being suffered by the workers include intimidation and harassment by the management. Most pathetic of all, many of them have been disengaged without the due process of law because such workers dared demand for their wages. The implication of the foregoing is that, as far as the Hotel’s Board of Directors, led by Sam Onyisi, and the management, headed by Nomeh, is concerned, the universally acclaimed dictum that laborers deserve their wages should go to ‘hell and burn to ashes’.

‘We seize this opportunity to inform you that majority of our staff in the hotel have been retired or forced out of office unjustly for daring to ask for our salaries and allowances. To this effect, so many workers have been forced out of the establishment unjustly without paying them their entitlements’, the aggrieved workers lamented in their petition.

But many indigenes and visitors to Enugu are not new to the pathetic story of Hotel Presidential, Enugu which was established by the Eastern Nigerian government of Dr. Michael Iheonukara Okpara in the 1960s alongside that of Port-Harcourt, Rivers state. But while the Presidential Hotel, Port-Harcourt makes ‘big’ business and thrives for the comfort of both the staff and people of the state, the proceeds from the-day-to-day running of Hotel Presidential, Enugu continue to swell the personal pockets of few of its management staff.

Part of the information at the disposal of the magazine is that the Hotel recently generated N3.5million from a function held in one of its halls, but this ‘clique’ of managers that runs the outfit sat down in a room and shared out the money to themselves.

And this was in spite of the fact that workers of Hotel have been owed twelve months salary allowances and other entitlements. Is it not intriguing that, despite the efforts of Chime government to pay up salaries of workers of Enugu state before the 25th of every month, workers of Hotel Presidential, Enugu languish in abject poverty and frustration? It is believed that some of the workers have, following the inhuman treatment and degradations, borne out sheer refusal of the hotel’s authorities to pay them their entitlements, died. And the number of these casualties continues to swell by the day.

The remaining workers of the hitherto burbling hotel outfit brimmed with hope when, sometime last year, Chime government appointed the Onyisi Board of Directors to look into its management, but it is yet to be seen what inputs the new management has made to revive the moribund edifice.

The level to which Hotel Presidential, Enugu had, over the years, degenerated is not only embarrassing but tear-evoking. The edifice which, also, used to be a major center of attraction east of the Niger and beyond, is now basically a home for rodents and reptiles, as well as a laughing stock.

Rather than making efforts to make the hotel more profit-oriented so as to pay the workers their entitlements, the management of the hotel appears to be in a fix on how best to run the edifice. While most rooms of the five storey hotel no longer have electricity, the few lighted rooms are, often times, given out to political appointees as guest rooms, a situation which was so common during the past administration in the state. And over the years, there have been serial looting of the hotel’s furniture and other important items under the very eyes of the hotel’s management.

Funny enough, the very few patrons who pay to use any of any of the halls or restaurants of the hotel are, in addition to such payments, always asked to pay for the gas or diesel being used in the hotel’s generating sets. Even at that, some of the functions get interrupted half-way following the dilapidated nature of the generating sets.

Information at the disposal of this magazine shows the disgusting use which the Hotel Presidential, Enugu has been turned into in the recent times. One of such uses is known as ‘short time’ business. This is said to involve some fraudulent staff of the hotel charging non-lodgers certain amounts of money for a short stay inside the hotel rooms with their sex mates. And this practice is said to have become more rampant than it was in the past.

As it were, the workforce of the Hotel seems hopeless over their pitiable situation. Even the appointment of Onyisi-led Board of Directors does not seem to hold any special promises for the staff, as there are no visible signs of things turning around for the better, at least, in few months ahead.

Another nagging problem still being suffered by the Hotel Presidential, Enugu is encroachment into its expansive premises. Over the years, some outfits listed as Niger Foundation Hospital, Rock Family Church and some car servicing and repair firms have dangerously encroached on the premises of the Hotel. Although the state government has made one or two attempts aimed at recovering the lost plots of land, not much seems to have been achieved in this direction.

However, efforts by Insider Weekly Magazine to get the Hotel management to react to the issues making the rounds concerning the Hotel were fruitless. A proposed interview with Godwin Nomeh, General Manager, did not, eventually, hold, as the GM was, on Friday July 9 while Insider Correspondent waited in his office reception, holed up in his office for a certain seeming endless meeting. The magazine remains in possession of more revelations concerning the can of worms in Hotel Presidential, Enugu, and this will be given future treatment.

Oh, can GOD (through Governor Chime) come down to Enugu State to touch the stony hearts of Hotel Presidential management to address the plights of the working people?