Rivers
Igbu Akoh Monarch Condemns Killing Of DPO …Wants Perpetrators To Face The Law
The Paramount Ruler/ Eze Igbu Akoh ll of Igbu Akoh Kingdom in Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State, HRM Eze Godspower Okorobia Okpagi, has condemned in strong terms the gruesome murder of the Divisional Police Officer ( DPO) of Ahoada Police Division, SP Bako Angbashim in Odiemudie Community in the local government.
SP Angbashim was last Friday murdered in cold blood in a gruesome and babaric manner by certain criminal elements, who are still at large, with the Governor of the State, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, placing a N100million bounty on the head of the prime suspect and his criminal gang.
Reacting to the development, Eze Okpagi said in an interview that he was highly pained by the sad incident, as the slain DPO was deployed to Ekpeye land by the police hierarchy and the government to actually fight for the freedom of the people and liberate them from the vestiges of criminality and other social vices, which had ravaged the area since 2015.
He noted that the hoodlums, who hacked down the DPO had been having a field day in the area since 2015, under the care of the suspended Hon Cassidy Ikegbidi, who arrogated to himself the Eze Igbu Akoh ll paramountcy, contrary to the customs and traditions of the Ekpeye people.
The monarch affirmed that the deplorable security situation in Akoh Clan was so bad that cult boys had a free rein, as they presided over and decided family cases, misunderstandings between husbands and wives and land matters while the so-called Paramount Ruler of the Kingdom helplessly watched them.
“It is unfortunate for them to kill an innocent man, who had come to fight for our freedom. And because his actions were detrimental to their operations, they conspired and killed him. It is unacceptable. They butchered him like an animal. No reasonable and responsible government would tolerate that. Bako was sent to us by the government and he was doing a nice job, and cleansing the area before he met his untimely death. His murder is very very unfortunate”, he said.
Eze Okpagi thanked Governor Fubara for his prompt intervention, saying, all those involved in the dastardly act must be made to face the law.
“It should not end there. There should be no politics in this. This is because we are all human beings. Those responsible must face the law,” he said, conceding that the Odiemudie Community, where the DPO was killed is in one of the sub-clans in Igbu Akoh Kingdom.
“We live in the communities. We interact. We know what has been going on there. We had written series of petitions to the government. I personally wrote the Governor over the security threat to my life. And the death of SP Bako has affirmed all our fears,”he said.
It would be recalled that in the wake of the murder of the DPO, the Rivers State Government wielded the big stick, and promptly suspended indefinitely Hon Cassidy Ikegbidi, who before this time, had been entangled in series of litigations, challenging his claim to the Igbu Akoh chieftaincy stool.
Most recently, specifically, on June 5, 2023, the Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt, dismissed for lack of merit, an appeal he filed challenging an earlier judgment of March 14, 2018, given by the High Court in Ahoada, voiding his ascension to the throne of the Eze Igbu Akoh ll. The court ordered all the parties to submit themselves for an election as contained in the Ekpeye Bye-Law of 2010 on the Qualification and Procedure for the Election of an Eze Igbu in Ekpeye land.
Available records show that Hon Ikegbidi did not submit himself for an election as directed by the court and never participated in the election conducted by a duly constituted Electoral Commission, the basis for which the Court of Appeal dismissed his suit.
In spite of defying the High Court order of March14, 2018, even without any proof and evidence that Hon Ikegbidi has secured a stay of execution of the Appeal Court judgment of June 5, 2023, he has continued to parade himself as the Eze Igbu Akoh ll, contrary to the customs and traditions of the Ekpeye people.
Conversely, Eze Okpagi, who submitted himself for an election and won, as required by the Ekpeye Bye-Law and the Constitution of Akoh Communities was coronated on June 30, 2018, amid pomp and pageantry as the authentic Eze Igbu Akoh ll by the Igbu Akoh Owhor Holders and Akoh Council of Chiefs, under the auspices of His Imperial Majesty Eze Robinson O. Robinson of blessed memory.
It is also on record that the Ekpeye Council of Traditional Rulers and Chiefs had on May 1, 2018 withdrew chieftaincy titles conferred on Hon Ikegbidi for not following due process in ascension to the stool of Eze Igbu Akoh and for illegally coronating himself as Eze Igbu Akoh ll in the night, when Akoh people were yet to elect their Eze, among other offences and misconduct.
Again, Eze Okpagi, on June 21, 2018, had duly endorsed and signed, as the authentic Eze Igbu Akoh ll, a letter of appreciation by the people of Akoh under the auspices of Igbu Akoh Council of Traditional Rulers and Chiefs, thanking former Governor Nyesom Wike for upgrading the Eze Igbu Akoh stool to First Class chieftaincy status.
It is interesting to note that on August 1, 2023, the lawyers to Eze Okpagi petitioned the Rivers State Commissioner of Police and the Chairman of Ahoada East Local Government Council against the suspended Hon Cassidy Ikegbidi over acts of criminal intimidation and conducts capable of causing inter-communal war and breakdown of law and order in Igbu Akoh Kingdom.
The lawyers had also on August 18, 2023, written the Rivers State Government through the state Commissioner for Chieftaincy Affairs and Community Development, on the wrongful recognition of Hon Cassidy Ikegbidi as Eze Igbu Akoh Kingdom, and urged it to “suspend the certificate of recognition granted him by the state government as Eze Igbu Akoh as well as all the benefits he now receives from the state government by virtue of his mischievous misrepresentation of facts before the last administration”.
“Conversely, we appeal to you based on the foregoing to use your good offices to recommend to the Rivers State Government to grant recognition to our client as the authentic Eze Igbu Akoh by virtue of the judgment of the Court of Appeal”, the lawyers pleaded.
The Rivers State Chief Judge, Justice Simeon Chibuzor Amadi, says the state judiciary has a total of 23,870 cases pending in various courts in the State.
This figure includes all cases pending in Magistrate, High, and Customary Courts, as well as Customary Court of Appeal in the State.
Justice Amadi stated this while presiding over a special court session held to mark the comencement of the 2024/2025 new legal year held at the auditorium of the High Court in Port Harcourt, Thursday.
The State Chief Judge, while giving the breakdown of performances by the Judiciary in the last year ended, revealed that the stastics of the cases brought before the courts from October 30, 2023 to 30th September 2024 is 31,886, while cases filed stood at 14,791 and cases disposed in the period under review is 22,725.
He further disclosed that the State Judiciary and the customary courts generated a total of #525,322,478,83 as revenue in the last judiciary year under review.
He described the special court session as an annual ritual of the judiciary marked to herald the beginning of a new legal year, stressing that it affords the judiciary and all stakeholders the needed opportunity to take stock of the activities of the judiciary in the past one year in order to improve, with a view to strengthening the justice administration.
The number one state judiciary officer stated that the judiciary had undertaken a lot of capital infrastructure in the year ended to ensure the comfortablility of the workers and judicial officers, and announced that additional high courts would be constructed at Okehi and Degema to ease the challenges of numerous cases coming from such jurisdictions.
Justice Amadi further disclosed that the state judiciary has a total of 51 judges, 57 magistrates, 30 Chairmen of customary courts, and 60 presiding members, adding that the state judiciary has 12 judicial Divisions, 37 magisterial Districts, and 30 customary courts.
“We lost seven judiciary staff, Port Harcourt NBA lost 16, Okehi branch 1, Bori branch 2, and Ahoada branch 2 . Creation of a judicial Division is based on cases filed from such area and we recommend for approval of such and not for politically based”, he stated.
The State Chief Judge used the opportunity to thank the State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, for the support given to the judiciary in the state, noting that the success recorded by the judiciary in the state was attributed to the huge support from the State Governor.
He also appreciated the efforts of the security agencies and the media for their various cooperation and support and urged them to sustain such in this legal year .
In their various speeches at the event, the State Attorney General and Commissoner of Justice, Dagogo Isreal-Ibroma, SAN; the Leader of the body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Rivers State, OCJ Okocha, SAN; and the Chairman of NBA, Port Harcourt Branch, Mrs. Eke Cordelia, commended the achievements recorded by the state judiciary and urged that more measures be put in place to enhance speedy dispensation of justice.
The special court session was preceded by a church service.
By: Akujobi Amadi
A religious body in Rivers State, the House of Jesus Christ Ministries, has appealed to the warring politicians in the State to stop the orgy of violence over leadership supremacy and embrace genuine dialogue.
This is contained in a recent statement by the Parish Church Council (PCC) meeting of the church.
The statement, which was signed by the General Overseer, Apostle Joseph Emmanuel; Secretary, Evangelist ThankGod Akpanowoh; Parish Women Leader, Mrs. Promise Aniebet William; and Parish Evangelist, Elder Aniefiok Benneth, noted that the spate of violence witnessed across the state has taken unimaginable dimensions with the recent killings, wanton destruction of properties, and the burning down of Council Secretariats.
It said if care is not taken, the crisis could extend to homes, and therefore called on the warring parties to stop and gove room for a lasting solution.
Blaming the Federal Government under the watch of President Bola Tinubu, who it said had been seemingly passive in handling the political difference between the former Governor of the State and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike and his successor, Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
“The kind of crisis we are seeing cannot be rationalised. Whether in Rivers or Lagos, whether we are talking of state violence of political upheavals rocking the state, we plead as a church with the contending politicians to pull back their hatchets of indifference for the sake of peace, unity, stability and progress, and allow the possibility of genuine dialogue to begin, and lasting peace restored”, the church said.
Noting that the xurrent wind of democracy blowing in the state is one of the legacies of Governor Siminalayi Fubara and others who preach peace, love and development in the state, the Church cautioned against further crises “in the once peaceful state for posterity”.
It urged the current politicians in the country to emulate the peaceful disposition and virtues of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, which is instrumental to the prevailing peace in the state, in the face of continued provocations.
By: Bethel Toby
Rivers State has topped the performance chart in the implementation of the Nigerian Community Action Resilience And Economic stimulus (NG -CARES) programme in the South-South and Nigeria.
This was contained in a report released at the just-concluded two-day peer learning and experience sharing event in Port Harcourt.
According to the report, Rivers State performed excellently in all aspects of the programme implementation.
The state was followed by Delta State, which emerged second both in the South-South and the country at large.
Meanwhile, the World Bank has approved an additional $500million for the extension of the programme for the next three years.
World Bank Task Team leader, Dr.Lire Ersado, said at the event that the programme has lived up to expectations as it has gone along way to alleviate the sufferings of millions of poor and vulnerable Nigerians.
Ersado, who was represented by Professor Folorusho Okumadewa, said NG CARES has gotten the right strategies and approach in making sure that poor and vulnerable Nigerians can smile.
He said the programme, which was initially setup to address suffering caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, is even more relevant today with a view to addressing the plights of Nigerians affected by flood and other natural disasters.
Ersado said the Port Harcourt meeting, which is the sixth in the series of meetings held across the country, will provide opportunity for all states in the country to cross check their performances with each, as well as learn from the successes and failures of each other.
Also speaking, Rivers State Commissioner for Commerce And Industry, Barrister John Otamiri, said the programme was in line with the State Government programme of alleviating the sufferings of the people.
He also said the government is ready to partner with NG CARES to alleviate the sufferings of the poor and vulnerable in the society.
Otamiri said also assures that Rivers State is safe for investment.
While reeling out its performances, National Coordinator, NG CARES, Dr. Abdulkarim Obaje, said the world Bank is passionate about the programme , adding that the bank has graciously extended the programme for another three years with an additional $500 million.
He said within the last three years $750 million was disbursed to the 36 states and FCT in 160 delivery platforms.
Obaje added that 9.2 million poor and vulnerable Nigerians also benefited from the programme across the country in the last three years.
Earlier, Rivers State Coordinator, RiV CARES, Mrs. Ephraim George Imaonyani, commended the delegates for choosing Rivers State for the South-South meeting.
By; John Bibor
