Rivers
CSOs Demand Re-Arrest Of Child Trafficking Suspects
A non-governmental organisation, Centre for Justice, Empowerment and Development (C4J), Rivers State Response Team on Violence Against Women and Children, as well as other civil society organisations have demanded the immediate re-arrest of Chinyere Ohanyere, by the Imo State Police Command over the case of alleged child trafficking against her, and her suspected accomplice, Ngozi Egbuson Ebuzoaju.
The Tide reports that 55-year old Chinyere Ohanyere, popularly known as Madam Chichi, and Ngozi Egbuson Ebuzoaju, a nurse were arrested in October 2021 for alleged stealing and trafficking in two children suspected to have been stolen from a yet to be disclosed location in Rivers State, and are standing trial before an Owerri High Court in suit No. OW/54C/2021 between the Commissioner of Police Vs Ebuzoaju, and at Owerri Magistrate Court in suit no. OW/505C/2021 between Commissioner of Police Vs Chinyere and Anor.
The order was made in a statement signed and made available to The Tide by the Head, Communication/ Child Rights Officer (C4J), Maureen Udeagha last Tuesday.
The civil society groups also called on the Commissioner of Police, to ensure professionalism, due diligence and speedy investigation of the matter as returned to the state police command by the Office of the Imo State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice.
Coordinator of the Rivers State Response Team on Violence Against Women and Children, Tombari Dumka-Kote, made the position of the groups known, in reaction to the statement credited to the office of the Imo State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Cyprian Akaolisa and published in some national and online dailies, Tuesday.
Dumka-Kote, who spoke to newsmen on Wednesday, at the Justice Chukwudifu Oputa Court Complex, during the resumed hearing on the matter, quoted the Imo State Attorney-General as saying the return of the case files to the police was for a holistic investigation to be carried out.
The human rights activist however, said the failure of the police to produce the woman who allegedly sold the children to the nurse, Ngozi Ebuzoaju Egbuson, nor the mothers of the children, should not be used as an excuse why suspects that are found to have been involved in a heinous crime of human trafficking should not be prosecuted by the State.
He called on the Commissioner of Police, Imo State Command to resist being intimidated and blackmailed into covering up the findings of their investigation, and go ahead to make public and available to the courts, the original written and audio confessional statement of Ngozi Ebuzoaju Egbuson while in police custody.
‘This way, the State Police Command would free itself from the complicity and issue of poor investigation now beclouding the case in court”’ Dumka-Kote stated.
On her part, Maureen Udeagha, Head, Communication/Child Rights Officer at the Centre for Justice, Empowerment & Development (C4J) said the Imo state Attorney-General had always been quick in dishing out blames since his move to withdraw the case from court and stop the prosecution of suspects was rejected by civil society groups that raised the alarm.
Udeagha said in the phase of the recent development, the civil society community in the State were demanding the immediate re-arrest of Chinyere Ohanyere, who was arraigned separately on same matter, for child stealing and was granted bail, as well as one Chinelo, and others still at large.
She also insisted that the police investigation should be speedy and timely.
She agreed that a DNA test will resolve the puzzle about the claims of Chinyere Ohanyere that she conceived and gave birth to the children.
She said the civil rights community, Nigerians, as well as the international community are watching what the AG and the Imo State Government will make of the case.
Meanwhile, during resumed hearing of the case Wednesday, Hon. Justice I.M. Njaka adjourned ruling on the bail application brought before the court by Counsel to the accused, to the next adjourned date.
The court’s decision was based on the fact that both the State counsel, and lawyer representing the Imo state chapter of the African Women Lawyers Association both rejected the application by the defence counsel, informing the court that child trafficking was a very serious offence.
Although, the Attorney-General was not available to inform the court of the position of Imo State Government to return the case files to the police as expected both at the magistrate and High Courts of Justice.
By: Susan Serekara-Nwikhana
Rivers
Rivers High Court Judges Begins 2025 Vacation July 21

Judges of the High Court Port Harcourt Rivers state will on Monday July 21, 2025 commence this year’s annual vacation.
The State Chief Judge, Justice Simeon Chibuzor Amadi in a statement signed by the Chief Registrar High Court Port Harcourt, David Ihua_ Maduenyi (esq) made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt over the weekend, said that the 2025 annual vacation for judges of the State High Court will begin on Monday, July 21, 2025 and end on Wednesday ,September 17, 2025
The statement said the vacation is in pursuant to Order 49, Rule 4 (d) of High Court of Rivers State (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2023, as altered, adding that all the judicial divisions of the State High Court shall remain closed during the period of the vacation.
The statement further disclosed that normal court sessions will resume on Thursday 18, July 2025 across all the divisions.
The statement however, noted that during the period, a vacation judge shall be appointed by the chief judge to sit on urgent matters and applications and advice litigants and lawyers to take notice of the information.
Rivers
FIDA, PCRC Trains Police Officers On How To Handle Paralegal Cases In Rivers
The International Federation Of Women Lawyers,(FIDA )in collaboration with the Police Community Relations Committee,(PCRC ) have held a one day training on paralegal exposure aimed at equipping police officers across the Rivers state police command on ways of handling gender based violence cases in the state.
The one-day capacity training workshop organised by the two humanitarian organisations in the state, the FIDA and PCRC was designed to boost the knowledge and capacity of the police echelons in the state on how to deal with gender” based violence cases reported in there various Divisions and areas.
Speaking at the event held at the police officers mess in Port Harcourt, yesterday, the state Commissioner of Police ,CP Olugbenga Adepoju emphasized the importance of capacity building for Police Officers, stressing the need for continuous training and development for the officers to stay abreast of emerging trends and best practices in law enforcement.
Adepoju noted the police have being having lectures like this from time to time as directed by the Inspector General of Police and urge the police officers to turn out in their numbers to come and gain one thing or the other.
“There is nothing as good as building our capacity to ensure we deliver service to mankind and let Rivers be a different. to others.
“We have people who have the capacity that can deliver and they are here with us. And we will not hesitate to ensure we employ and use them. What ever we have learnt here, jot it down and ensure you use it judiciously”.
Also speaking, the Chairperson of FIDA Rivers, Life Jim George stressed that
the paralegal training offers the opportunity where retired Police officers, desk officers and different division in charge of gender based crime are assembled to educate them on how to handle with the gender violence and abused public ,how to deal with reporters of all kinds of Gender Based Violence.
“They need to be empathetic, they need not to judge them as they move into them. They need not to throw them away immediately or to make the atmosphere very toxic so that they will just go away and at the end of the day extort them and make known that Police is not your friend is only in the book””.
“We remind you all that you are not just a Police officer,there is a duty imposed on you to look at the laws. Not just to drive people away because We have reports where, once you approach a Police station and say my husband or wife beat me up,they drive you away, please madam this one is husband and wife matter, go and settle with your husband or wife. They began to judge you.”
“We are saying no,that is not what the law is.
Please show empathy, if you throw them away like that, most of them can take their life. Some go into third degree depression and is difficult to bring them out.They will now began to blame themselves for going to the Police station.
In his speech,the Chairman of PCRC in the state, Mr Voke Emore explained that One primary responsibilities of the PCRC is to bring the community closer to the Police, while FIDA as an international organization cares for the less privilege and handle cases involving women and children.
“The police only protect women and children in talking of gender abuse in the society rather taking the issue of gender violence as wholistic that includes men,women and children in every strata of the society.So that is the essence why the two humanitarian organisations ,FIDA and PCRC decided to partner to ensure that the things are done rightly in line with global practices.”
“And the only way to do that is to give training We always talk about training and re-training of Police officers.he stated.
The training focused on key areas such as
The Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) of Rivers State,
Dehumanizing and Harmful Traditional Practices Laws,
Prohibition of the Curtailment of Women’s Rights to Share in Family Property Law and
Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law amongst others.
Rivers
Rivers State University Introduces SponsorsLink To Address Communication Gap
The Rivers State University (RSU), Nkpolu-Oroworukwo, Port Harcourt, has unveiled a new feature – Student-Sponsor Account, called SponsorsLink as part of its ongoing re-engineering efforts. This innovation is to address the problems of students collecting funds but not paying fees, leaving school but still pretending to be in school and inability of parents, guardians and sponsors to ascertain progress and performance of their children, wards and beneficiaries.
The platform is also designed to strengthen transparency, accountability, and communication between students and their parents, guardians and sponsors.
SponsorsLink is available on the university’s portal (www.rsu.edu.ng) and offers a range of benefits. Sponsors can track academic performance, monitor outstanding fees, make payments, and access detailed student profiles from a single dashboard. This centralized system ensures that sponsors are no longer left in the dark regarding the academic and financial status of their wards.
To utilize SponsorsLink, sponsors need to create an account on the RSU eCampus platform. This involves selecting a sponsorship type, filling out a registration form, and verifying their email address using a confirmation code. Upon successful registration, sponsors pay a one-time onboarding fee based on the number of wards they intend to manage.
Once registered, sponsors can add a ward by searching with the student’s registration number, matriculation number, or full name. After the student approves the request, the sponsor gains access to various features. These include checking results, which requires a result-checking fee, viewing student profiles, and making tuition or related payments directly through the platform.
The introduction of SponsorsLink demonstrates RSU’s commitment to enhance the educational experience of students. This initiative is expected to foster better communication between students, sponsors, and the university, ultimately contributing to the success of RSU students.
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