News
Group Petitions Gov, RVHA Over Egbeda Cult Crisis …Police Intensify Search For Cultists

Egbeda Ronflict Resolution and Project Committee has petitioned the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, the Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon. Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani and Emohua Local Government Chairman, Hon. Tom Aliezi over the wanton destruction of lives and property in the area.
The letter, dated August 30, 2018 and addressed to the above named political office holders, called for urgent attention to the simmering crisis in the community.
The letter also, among other things, demanded audience with the committee’s executive to find lasting solution to the cult supremacy battle in the community, which had claimed many lives in the area, and caused the destruction of properties worth millions of Naira.
The petition, which was signed by the Committees’ President, Comrade Chibuzor Ogbuji catalogued the plethora of woes which the community had suffered in recent times in the wake of renewed cult violence.
In a related development, thousands of Egbeda people have fled their homes following the upsurge of cult violence in the area.
A spokesman for the community and the Chairman of Egbeda Conflicts Resolution and Project Committee, Comrade Chibuzor Ogbuji criticized the Emohua Local Government Council for blatant complacency in the summering cult crisis in the community.
According to him, “When the chairman was contacted, he told the committee that he was not the chairman of Egbeda but Emohua Local Council”.
Ogbuji expressed regret that instead of Aliezi championing the restoration of peace in Egbeda, he elected to trade blames.
Responding to a question from The Tide, yesterday, the Emohua Local government Chairman, Hon. Tom Aliezi said the community was not ready for peace.
Aliezi noted that there was nothing the council could do in the circumstances.
The council chairman, who spoke in a phone chat, expressed hopelessness in the handling of the Egbeda crisis.
The group has not received any response yet from the authorities.
Meanwhile, the police in Rivers State say they have began a manhunt for suspected cultists who shot and killed leader of a rival group in Egbeda and Ubimini communities in Emuoha Local Government Area of the state.
Spokesman of the Rivers State Police Command, DSP Nnamdi Omoni disclosed this to The Tide in Port Harcourt, yesterday.
It would be recalled that the notorious cult leader identified as Mathias was killed, last weekend.
Omoni, while confirming the incident in a telephone interview, said investigations into the cause of the killing and those behind the incident have intensified.
“Yes, we (the police) are aware of the incident. Right now, we are still investigating the killing, and our men are combing the area; although no arrest has been made yet.
“We advise youths to steer clear of cultism and related vices capable of endangering their future,” the police image maker said.
Our reporter learnt that Mathias, believed to be the leader of Iceland cult group, was shot dead by a rival cult gang in the area in a battle of supremacy.
The slain dreaded cultist, who was an indigene of Ubimini, was killed when he went to assist his gang members in Egbeda to fight a rival cult group.
His death, according to a community source, has led many natives and non-indigenes to flee for fear of a reprisal attack.
The source, who gave his name as Nelson (surname withheld), said the community received news about the cult leader’s death with mixed feelings.
The Egbeda Community Development Committee Chairman, Ukwoha Omereji, corroborated the views of the police image maker that security personnel have been deployed to the community.
Omereji, therefore, called on residents of Egbeda community, who fled the area to return.
Chidi Enyie, John Bibor & Dennis Naku
News
I’m Committed To Community Dev – Ajinwo
News
RSG Tasks Rural Dwellers On RAAMP …As Sensitization Team Visits Akulga, Degema, Three Others

Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
News
Senate Replaces Natasha As Committee Chairman

The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.
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