Between Ibe Kachikwu and Rotimi Amaechi

By Abraham Ogbodo  

On the whole, nothing had significantly changed about Rotimi Amaechi. He was still himself; unable to contract his expansive ego onto a back seat and listen to others speak sensibly in Uyo last week. He used the occasion of the Town Hall Meeting in Uyo to discuss the perennial issues in Niger Delta to open his dry advocacy on the Maritime University in Okerenkoko, Delta State, and state, with all the emphasis he could bring to bear, why the university must remain scrapped.

*Rotimi Amaechi

Not one to retrace his step no matter the inappropriateness of his locus, Amaechi explained that the development of the institution is overpriced and that the cost of acquiring land alone for the university, which he puts at N13 billion could buy half of the city of Lagos. The accompanying sarcasm only helped to underscore his contempt for a facility, which he termed wasteful and does not in any way add to the resolution of the larger issues in the Niger Delta. He was characteristically sanctimonious, finding the point about budget and prudence stronger than the overall purpose of a university.

“I am not against the Maritime University, Okerenkoko. My argument about Okerenkoko is that the land alone is N13 billion. If you give me N13 billion, I will buy half of Lagos. That N13 billion has built the university already. What to do: let the EFCC retrieve the money and release the money (to us). If they bring the N13 billion, I will build the university for them,” Amaechi said with a magisterial finality.

Like a jester in a typical Shakespearean setting, I am sure, Amaechi only meant to amuse the Uyo audience and nothing more. But things just got terribly out of hand because he refused to act as a true jester who usually knows when to perform and when to hold back.

Altogether, I do not think that the Uyo town hall was a comic interlude in the fast-pacing Niger Delta drama for some jester to perform. I mean, here was a platform to discuss the very serious issues of the day, including the serial bombing of oil infrastructure by a new militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), that has caused crude oil production to plummet from 2.4 to 1.2 million barrels per day. And here also was an Amaechi, a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and former governor of the oil rich State of Rivers proclaiming a financial wizardry that could make him buy half of Lagos (not Lagos Street in Port Harcourt) with N13 billion or establish a functional maritime university in the swamp of the Niger Delta with all the attendant ecological challenges.

Amaechi was joking, no doubt, but he chose the wrong time to joke. People don’t crack jokes when serious business is still going on. The Uyo town hall was not a relaxation joint for jokes. And this was underscored when Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Dr. Ibe Kachikwu took the stage. He created a tonal and content variation that unmasked Amaechi as a flat character, suited only for flat roles. Kachikwu returned the discussions to serious mode.

Unholy Siege In Rivers State

By Dickson Okonta  

The story of the March 19 re-run elections in Rivers State is that of perilous siege. It is the story of a state being held hostage by forces of darkness whose main intent is to unleash a reign of terror on the environment. A major accomplice in this unholy siege is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Under the headship of Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, it has become an object of unedifying banters; hardly living up to its billing. It has never conducted any election that can, strictly, speaking, pass the test of substantial compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.

President Buhari and Rotimi Amaechi 

In Kogi and Bayelsa states, for instance, the commission gave us a travesty of an election. Both could not be concluded in one ballot. They were, as has become customary, declared inconclusive. The Kogi scenario will, for a long time to come, pass for one of the sore points of our national struggle to join the league of democratic nations. In Bayelsa State, the elections were almost marred by violent conducts. INEC displayed lack of capacity. But the Kogi and Bayelsa scenarios pale into insignificance when the case of Rivers state is introduced into the mix. In Rivers, the commission presented the image of a lame duck. It just could not handle the re-run elections satisfactorily. Even when the commission declared to the world that it was ready for the exercise, everything ended up shoddily.

The commission allowed security agents whose role was the protection of life and property to intrude into and hijack the electoral process. The security agents abandoned the job they were sent to do and, instead, made themselves a part of INEC’s complements of staff. In the face of this dereliction on the part of INEC and the security personnel, the exercise ended in a fiasco in a number of places. That was why INEC cancelled the exercise in about 10 constituencies. The commission was responding to its own mess. But weeks after the conduct of the elections, the commission is still holding on to the results of some of the constituencies. It has been releasing the results piecemeal, thus creating the impression that election is a mystical exercise. You have to employ the expertise of diviners to decode the meaning of what you are into.

In the case of Rivers State, the commission has given an impression that it is taking instructions from a vested interest. Otherwise, why is INEC so incapacitated in its own election? The delay in releasing results is causing anxiety and heightening tension in the state. People now believe that the results of the elections are being manipulated to serve the interest of INEC’s masters.

Kachikwu As Scapegoat Of Tinubu's Frustration

By Uche Ezechukwu

The mantra of ‘change’, mouthed by the All Progressive Congress (APC) during the electoral campaigns was so appealing at the time to Nigerians, such that when they ushered Muhammadu Buhari into office by voting out Goodluck Jonathan, hope became the most abundant commodity in Nigeria. When APC promised that they were going to recreate for Nigerians a heaven on earth, they were believed and trusted, especially as that ‘change promise’ was being steered by a man that was reputed to be a man of truth. 

*Bola Tinubu and President Buhari 

For a country that places little premium on competence and proven track record, not much thought was extended on Buhari’s ability to understand, not to talk of being able to confront the complex demands of modern-day issues. Even those who had queried his intellectual capacity to face up to those modern-day challenges were shouted down. Nigerians wanted their man; they got him. Ten months into President Muhammadu Buhari’s APC administration, it has become obvious, even to the APC bosses themselves, that talk is cheap, and that as the saying goes here in Nigeria, ‘khaki no be leather’. 

One does not have to be ‘a wailer’ to see and accept that nothing is working in today’s Nigeria or that the government is at sea over where next to turn. In the beginning, every bend on the road was blamed on the outgone administration of President Jonathan as well as on the 16-year reign of the PDP, which in any case, was made up of most of today’s top-hats in the APC. The over-lapping messages of the campaign period had continued to work for the APC during the early months of the administration, but it could definitely not last forever. Propaganda, though effective on the short run, has a very quick expiry date. The APC’s campaign excuses and the blaming game days have also elapsed…perhaps permanently.

For instance, there was no way the Buhari administration could continue to blame Goodluck Jonathan for the president’s inability to pick ministers for six whole months; nor could the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) be blamed for having anything to do with the fact that when PMB eventually did pick his ministers, they were mostly lack-lustre and lacking in pedigree, accounting for the fact that the cabinet does not have one single person whose voice commands authority in the field of economic management. Many have wondered if the problem with the embarrassingly low quality of Buhari’s team is the lack of the ability, ab initio, of the president to distinguish copper from gold.

Yet, there are many other informed observers who believe, like an article of faith, that the problem with the inertia of the current cabinet members who have definitely not performed, might not be in their personal lack of capacity, but rather, in the absence of a definite roadmap, as it is widely alleged that no minister can as much as sharpen a pencil without the president’s say-so. Which should not be a surprise, as, after all, over 90 per cent of them were picked not on their individual merit as proven performers, but rather because they were cronies of either Buhari or Ahmed Tinubu, the ‘owner’ of the other half of the party that brought the votes and the cash.

Lessons From The Rivers State Rerun Election

By Moses E. Ochonu

INEC has declared the recent Rivers State rerun election inconclusive. How many inconclusive elections have we had under the new INEC chairman? How about all of them? I am not sure you can do your job so shoddily as many times as this rookie has and still get to keep said job, but he is new so I guess he deserves to make his mistakes and learn from them.

*President Buhari and Rotimi Amaechi

The conduct of the election aside, how did we get to a point where elections become wars of egos?

By the way, why did Rotimi Amaechi, a federal minister who was not running in the Rivers re-run election, relocate the perks, might, and intimidating aura of his office to his home state for an entire week for the election? Why the inflammatory, reckless statements designed to provoke, undermine, and challenge the authority of his successor? 

Why the personal abuse of Wike (“Wike can’t speak English”)? Why the thuggish behavior on the part of a federal minister (“I will flood Port Harcourt with soldiers”)? And why the bizarre boast about controlling the army, a boast so embarrassing the army had to issue a statement to refute it? What about the puerile demand for Wike’s resignation, among other comments unbecoming of a minister of the federal republic?

Quite frankly, Amaechi reflects terribly on President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB).

As for Nyesome Wike, well, Wike is Wike, a street politician given to gutter-sniping and uncouth outbursts. But he is governor and Amaechi should respect and accept that. Amaechi is already well compensated for helping to finance Buhari's campaign. Two of his political children have been appointed MDs of NIMASA and NDDC respectively, in addition to his own appointment as minister of transportation. In politics as in life, you cannot have it all.

It is political greed to insist on upending Wike by installing your stooges in the state assembly and as Rivers State's legislative contingent in the national assembly. It's a petty, narcissistic pursuit that is about personal ego and nothing more.

No wonder, even his former chief of staff, Tony Okocha, an APC candidate who lost to his PDP opponent, has railed against Amaechi's negative, counterproductive role in the election. He is right.

All politics is local, and if voters feel that someone is leveraging the power derived from an external source to force a particular political outcome locally, they often resist by voting in the other direction. 

Nigeria: Rivers Of Blood

By Chuks Iloegbunam

“When you use soldiers to kill, just to win a rerun election, just know that you will need the same soldiers to protect you while in of­fice. Or else, INEC will conduct a bye-election to fill your seat.” Sena­tor Shehu Sani.

*Gov Wike Nyesomof Rivers State

Looking at the weekend’s charade generally referred to as rerun elections in Riv­ers State, the profundity of Senator Sani’s statement strikes with the force of brutal truism. How come that a broad segment of Nige­rian politicians carry on with the mentality of creatures who possibly feed through their anal cavities? The imagistic representation out of Rivers State is a vast canvass of mindless violence by the two domi­nant political parties in contention. What was the objective of all the wantonness – a State Assembly to make laws for the living, or a fune­real conclave for cemeteries?

The following front-page story in the Sunday Sun of March 20, 2016, is entitled Rivers of Blood: Election Rerun Turns Deadly: “NO fewer than 10 persons, including one Immigration officer, were killed in yesterday’s Rivers State. Also, two National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members working as ad ­hoc staff were abducted at Abual Odua. But they were later rescued at 5 pm, by a team of mobile police­men.

“Meanwhile, heavy shooting marred voting in Abalama Town, in Asari-Toru Local Area. It was during the sporadic shootings that a bullet hit the Immigration officer.

“Sunday Sun gathered that some thugs had stormed the RAC centre and shot sporadically, after a disa­greement between supporters of two major political parties.

“Also, four persons were feared dead in Ogoni, in Rivers South-East, following late arrival of voting materials, which created tension in the senatorial district.

“Also, a soldier allegedly killed a young man who came out to cast his vote at Rumuokwuta area of Port Harcourt. In Nonwa, Tai Lo­cal Government Area, a voter, simply identified as Tombari, was shot dead by some hoodlums who stormed the area. The victim was said to be on queue, waiting to cast his vote before he was shot dead. Another person was also feared killed in Eleme, while two persons were reportedly killed in Abual/Odua and Ahoada West Local Gov­ernment Areas, respectively.

“Meanwhile, security men ar­rested over 32 persons for various offences. Of the number, 18 were arrested for being in possession of military uniforms and electoral ma­terials.”

How APC Destroyed Nigeria For 16 Years

By Oraye St. Franklyn
I'm usually taken aback whenever officers of the present All Progressives Congress (APC) administration release statements and interviews to sermonise Nigerians on how Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration had destroyed Nigeria for 16 years and how they are working on fixing the mess created by PDP.

*Saraki

It is non-contestable that between May 29, 1999 and May 29, 2015, “PDP" (in quote) occupied the seat of power in Abuja and controlled  majority states of the federation. However, we have to get our fact right with respect to who actually destroyed Nigeria between 1999 and 2015. I believe we should do a holistic analysis on this subject.

President And Vice President: 1999-2015

Nigeria had three presidents between May 29, 1999 and May 29, 2015, namely, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Late Malam Umaru Yar'adua and Dr Goodluck Jonathan. Of the three, Obasanjo spent eight years in office (1999-2007), Yar'adua three years (May 2007-May 2010) and Dr Jonathan five years (May 2010-May 2015). Obasanjo who spent the longest period as president (Eight years) has since denounced the PDP to become the APC and Buhari's “navigator” to office. Similarly, of the three vice presidents during the period under review, Atiku Abubakar spent the most number of years in office (Eight, 1999-2007). But he not only moved to AC/APC while in office in 2006, he also aspired to rule Nigeria on the APC platform in 2014 and is today a member of APC's Board of Trustees.

*El-Rufai and Amaechi

As Nigerians Mourn, Buhari Celebrates...

President Buhari must have his party despite the excruciating hardship in the land 

*Joined by family and associates, including Gov 

Rochas Okorocha and Rotimi Amaechi, Buhari 

savours his 73rd Birthday Party 

President Muhammadu Buhari’s wife, Aisha, hosted an impressive dinner party at the State House yesterday, December 17, 2015, to mark her husband’s 73rd Birthday. Observers are wondering how a president under whom Nigerians are experiencing one of the worst economic conditions in the country’s history can muster the presence of mind to have such a party and even plaster the social media with pictures from it – where they are celebrating and laughing as if they have no care in the world.

One Party State Loading In Nigeria: The APC Game Plan

By Olanrewaju Aderemi Obafemi

A few days after the 1999 Presidential Election, then Comrade Adams Oshiomhole led a delegation of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to Ota, Ogun State to congratulate the winner of that election. While hosting the NLC team then President-Elect, General Olusegun Obasanjo, still smarting from his wholesale rejection in the South West, swore to destroy the Alliance for Democracy (AD) “in the national interest”. 

*Buhari and Obasanjo

He argued that with the kind of hold that the AD had on the South West it could only remain a regional party and that as long as the South West remained loyal to it the Yoruba would not be able to play at the national stage. Then National Secretary General of AD was procured by Obasanjo to foment a crisis, which he executed, but unfortunately he trusted Obasanjo to reward him handsomely and neglected to negotiate properly. What he got was a directorship in an obscure federal agency.

Shortly after Obasanjo leaked his infamous December 2013 letter to President Goodluck Jonathan to the press the leadership of the then newly registered All Progressive Congress went to Abeokuta to pay homage to the ex-president and invited him to help guide their new party to success. Obviously basking in the recognition that had been accorded him Obasanjo promised to help. He subsequently kept haranguing President Jonathan until the immediate past president was defeated at the polls.

2015 General Elections

Apart from President Jonathan’s principal shortcoming, which was neglecting the communities that supported him to victory in 2011 and instead heavily patronizing the ones that did not support him in the hope that he could turn them, the 2015 Presidential Election was won by rumours. What? While preparing to make a bid for the presidency a record fourth time General Muhammadu Buhari tasked an associate of his, Prof. Femi Olufunmilade, Head of Department of International Relations and Strategic Studies and Sub Dean of the School of Post Graduate Studies and Research at the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, to avail him of a strategy with which to defeat the incumbent president. Olufunmilade accomplished the task and submitted a report which indicated that the only way incumbents have been unseated in Africa was through widespread disaffection with the government of the day.

Pursue Justice, Not Retribution – American Lawyer Tells Buhari In An Open Letter

President Muhammadu Buhari

Aso Rock, Abuja Nigeria

Dear President Buhari:

When you visited the United States Institute of Peace last July, you pledged that you would be "fair, just and scrupulously follow due process and the rule of law, as enshrined in [the Nigerian] constitution" in prosecuting corruption.

Such loftiness is laudable. As the Bible instructs in Amos 5:24: "[L]et justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." 

But to be just, the law must be evenhanded. It cannot, in the manner of Russian President Vladimir Putin, be something that is given to punish your enemies and withheld to favor your friends. If so, the law becomes an instrument of injustice bearing earmarks of the wicked rather than the good.

In the United States, you declared a policy of "zero tolerance" against corruption. You solicited weapons and other assistance from the United States government based on that avowal. But were you sincere?

During your election campaign, you promised widespread amnesty, not zero tolerance. You elaborated: "Whoever that is indicted of corruption between 1999 to the time of swearing-in would be pardoned. I am going to draw a line, anybody who involved himself in corruption after I assume office, will face the music."

After you were inaugurated, however, you disowned your statement and declared you would prosecute past ministers or other officials for corruption or fraud. And then again you immediately hedged. You were reminded of your dubious past by former Major General and President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, who succeeded your military dictatorship. He released this statement:

Fighting Corruption With Double-Standards And Human Rights Abuses

By Femi Aribisala
In just six months, the government’s anti-corruption policy has gone off the rail.  During the election, candidate Buhari made this pledge: “Whoever that is indicted of corruption between 1999 to the time of swearing-in, would be pardoned. I am going to draw a line, anybody who involved himself in corruption after I assume office, will face the music.”

At the time, cynical observers insisted this was designed to reassure corrupt members of his APC party who were campaigning for him that he would not come after them after the election but would let sleeping dogs lie.

But once in office, the president dropped this pledge the same way he and his party have conveniently jettisoned a number of their campaign promises.  Speaking on his official trip to the United States, the president declared he would arrest and prosecute past ministers and other officials who stole Nigeria’s oil and diverted government money into personal accounts.

CNN iReport maintains Buhari’s new position to probe and prosecute his predecessors prompted tete-a-tete among former military rulers.   The outcome of this was the warning that it would not be in the president’s interest to pursue that line of action.  Prince Kassim Afegbua, Babangida’s media adviser, released a statement on behalf of his boss that reads:

“On General Buhari, it is not in IBB’s tradition to take up issues with his colleague former President. But for the purpose of record, we are conversant with General Buhari’s so-called holier-than-thou attitude. He is a one-time Minister of Petroleum and we have good records of his tenure as minister. Secondly, he also presided over the Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF, which records we also have.

“We challenge him to come out with clean hands in those two portfolios he headed. Or, we will help him to expose his records of performance during those periods. Those who live in glass houses do not throw stones. General Buhari should be properly guided.”

Immediately thereafter Femi Adesina, President Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, hastened to declare that the government’s probes would be limited to the Jonathan administration.  He claimed it would be “a waste of time” to go beyond that.

This was the first curious exclusion in the government’s anti-corruption policy: former generals who became heads of state are untouchables.  As a result, the CNN maintained the American government concluded the Nigerian government is not serious about anti-corruption.  American businessmen who bribed Nigerian officials in the Halliburton scandal have been sent to jail in the United States.  However, the more culpable Nigerian politicians who demanded and received the bribes are allowed to go scot-free in Nigeria.

Buhari Govt Dramatizing Routine Procedures And Processes – PDP

Press Statement

...The campaigns are over. Nigerians therefore will no longer condone propaganda, lies and deceit but expect a responsible dissemination based on truth, honesty and openness”

*President Buhari and two of his ministers sworn in today 

The Peoples Democratic Party has charged the in-coming cabinet of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government to quickly settle down, move fast and focus on the economy.

The party said that the present administration has so far played heavily on dramatizing routine procedures and processes, which was even glaring in the prolonged swearing-in ceremony of the ministers.

National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh said in statement on Wednesday that the much-expected assignment of portfolios to the ministers did not inspire confidence that there is indeed any change being introduced in the system.

The party said with the inauguration, the APC administration should fully resolve the issues on the actual position of the nation’s economy and the direction therein

“Whereas President Muhammadu Buhari had announced that the nation is bankrupt to the extent he cannot pay his ministers, his new Minister of Information had contradicted him directly by stating how the government is buoyant and ready to deploy $2.5 billion infrastructure fund, saved N1.4 trillion with another N2.5 trillion ready as special intervention fund, which goes to say that the country is not actually broke.

“These new ministers should note the challenge before them regarding the image of the country which the APC government has changed from being the ‘Heart of Africa’ and a country of ‘Good people, Great nation’ to that of ‘Corrupt people, Broke nation’.

“Furthermore, we counsel the ministers, especially those who will be the face of the government, to note that the campaigns are over. Nigerians therefore will no longer condone propaganda, lies and deceit but expect a responsible dissemination based on truth, honesty and openness”.

Signed:

Chief Olisa Metuh 

National Publicity Secretary

November 11, 2015

Buhari Rewarding APC Ex-Governors With Appointments, Hounding Their PDP Colleagues

...President's Corruption War Selective 
Communiqué Issued At The End Of PDP National Caucus Meeting Today, Thursday, October 29, 2015

*President Buhari with former Gov Amaechi

The National Caucus carefully reviewed the political developments in the nation's polity and resolved as follows.

1. That there is serious cause for concern in the nation's political environment, especially as it concerns the survival of the nation's democracy.

2. That the gains recorded in the 16 years of nurturing of democracy in the country by the PDP is rapidly being eroded with non-functioning of basic tenets of democracy and perpetuation of actions tilting towards dictatorship.

3. That the insensitivity of the ruling government to very critical issues being raised by the opposition is a huge threat to viable democracy and dangerous to the peace, unity and progress of the country.

4. That the undue interferences by the executive arm of government on the activities of the judiciary, legislature and INEC using the Directorate of States Services (DSS) is clearly unacceptable to the PDP as well as the Nigerian people and the party resolved to vigorously resist such.

How Will History Treat Governor Rotimi Amaechi?

By Nnaemeka Oruh 

In a statement sent out after President Jonathan conceded defeat to General Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria's former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, made an assertion which will continue to reverberate through history.He said of Jonathan: "History will be kind to you". It was a ringing endorsement of the selflessness of the outgoing president.

*Gov Amaechi

Passing a judgement on Govenor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi on the other hand presents a conundrum. Lauded in some parts of Nigeria (especially outside Rivers State) as democracy's stand up guy owing to his battles against President Jonathan, and his monumental support of the incoming 'saintly' president, Amaechi comes across as the proverbial father who does more for outsiders than his own family members.

Jonathan Welcomes W.H.O. Declaration Of Nigeria As Ebola-Free

Press Release 

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan welcomes today’s declaration by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that Nigeria is now officially Ebola-free after 42 days without any incidence of the Ebola Virus Disease. 

*Jonathan

President Jonathan dedicates the certification to the many patriotic health workers, volunteers and ordinary Nigerians who worked tirelessly, some of them paying the ultimate price, to stop the deadly virus in its track after it entered the country in July this year.

An Encounter With Port Harcourt's Gridlock

  
By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

Since graduating from the University of Port Harcourt many years ago, I always look forward to any opportunity to reconnect with Port Harcourt, although it is always difficult to say what exactly fires the attachment. Maybe, the inexplicable  joyful feeling that often wells up in one at the thought of visiting again a place one had spent some very useful years of one’s life. Whatever it is, that feeling betrayed itself again when I had a reason to visit Port Harcourt two weeks ago, specifically, Saturday and Sunday, October 5&6, 2013. Although an important assignment had taken me to a sub-urban community in Rivers State a couple of months ago, the last time I was in the Garden City was in 2009 to attend a literary conference we had put together to mark the 70th birthday of my former Creative Writing teacher, INC Aniebo, who was formally retiring from the University of Port Harcourt.

  

 This time, I came in by road from Owerri, and I had nothing but anger for the Federal Government which owns that road. From the point a green signpost welcomes you to Rivers State (with this rather rude advice: “Do No Not Litter”), the wide, dualised road is so smooth that most drivers are virtually flying, which, ironically,  sometimes makes one wonder if it was not even safer to leave Nigerian roads in very bad shape, if only to slow down some demon-pursued drivers. But there is a state agency called the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), whose job it is to control over-speeding on our highways; they need to wake up to do their job and save the many precious lives being wantonly wasted daily in this country. 

The part of the highway that falls into Imo State can only be best described as the road to hell. So, what is the meaning of that? That part of the road wears an angry look always and viciously attacks cars in such a way as to suggest it is punishing them for mustering the effrontery to ply on it. Now, was the contract for the entire road awarded to the same contractor? Why is one part made so good and welcoming and the other left to remain so dangerously bad? President Goodluck Jonathan should order the immediate completion of work on the Imo State section of that road or he would be sending a very ugly signal whose interpretation would be very hurtful to his image.  That he does not need to pass through that part of the road on his way from Port Harcourt Airport to Otuoke does not mean it should be left in such a horrible state. Other human beings with red blood equally running in their veins also use that road. Well, enough said on this for now. 

Port Harcourt town, in my opinion, now effectively starts from Rumuokoro, although one could notice its very rapid encroachment into hitherto rural communities like Igwurita, or even as far as Omagwa where the airport sits – that is, if for you, township means the disappearance of long stretch of bushes on both sides of the highway and proliferation of shops in small buildings on the hitherto quiet, uninhabited lands where those bushes once stood guard. Rumuokoro itself used to be a near-lonely bus-stop where we disembarked in those days as students to find buses or taxis to UNIPORT, further down the East-West Road. It is now a hub of human and vehicular activity, and equally, the starting point of Port Harcourt’s greatest and most enduring challenge, namely, terrible traffic congestion.

Enugu Governor Chime Returns After 140 Days

 

 Sullivan Chime 

At last, the Governor of Enugu State, Mr. Sullivan Chime, is back in the country after being away for 140 days reportedly treating an undisclosed ailment. Mr. Chime arrived the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, this morning aboard a British Airways flight.  Some reports say he is still in Abuja at the Enugu State Government Lodge and is expected to come into Enugu on Friday where his protracted absence has caused considerable disquiet.

Chime had left the country in September to spend what the Enugu State Government said was his accumulated leave.  Initial reports said he was in India and critically ill. It was even remoured that he had passed away, a report that was strongly refuted by the Enugu State Government.  Later, reports confirmed he was in a London hospital.