News
Cultism: Monarch’s Detention Brews Tension
There is tension in Okposi community in Egbema Kingdom, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, following the arrest and detention of the paramount ruler, Ochioha Okposi, HRH Gideon Nwokocha and five of his chiefs by the police over purported involvement in cult activities.
Former Commissioner of Police, Rivers State Police Command, Chris Ezike, seized the monarch and his chiefs, more than a month ago, for supposedly aiding and abetting cultists.
Uneasy calm pervaded the community when our correspondent visited Okposi, on Saturday, as the villagers were not happy with the treatment meted out to their monarch by the police. They have, however, been released on bail.
Most shops in the town remained shut and residents, who fled the town in the wake of the offensive by cultists, have not returned. However, a source said normalcy was gradually returning.
A villager, who simply identified himself as Chika, that a cult group suspected to be Icelanders, indeed, invaded the community.
His words, “the cult boys took over the community and started functioning as community leaders when the chiefs were arrested. And the chiefs the police took away are those protecting and defending the people.”
Chika, nevertheless, hinted: “the community is peeved that our paramount ruler was arrested and detained for five weeks without any just said policemen invade our community at random and arrest people.”
Workers of multinational oil companies and other people also relocated from the community to other parts of the state for fear of kidnappers when the situation degenerated.
When contacted, the paramount ruler of the community, Eze Gideon Nwokocha, who confirmed his release from detention, said on phone that he was not disposed to talk to the press on any issue now because the matter is subjudice.
The Ochioha Okposi, a senior lecturer at the Ignatius Ajuru University, said he would speak only after the court has delivered its ruling on the case.
He admitted that his arrest affected the community heavily, saying, “the whole thing has affected the community seriously because where there is no peace, there is no development.”
“I do not want to talk about the issue because it is already in court. However, truly speaking, I was arrested and paraded without any cause, I did not do anything,” he said. In the meantime, Dr. Nwokocha has resumed his lecturing job at the institution.
A community leader, Chief Oye, whom was on his way to the farm, said there was relative peace in the community currently.
He, however, said the cult boys that were terrorizing the community were still hanging around, but that they have stopped their random shootings.
Oye said many people, including community leaders, bolted away from the community because of the gunfire.
The chief insisted that Ochioha had never been a cultist and even the traditional stool, which he occupies, abhors such misconduct.
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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