Rivers
Igbu Akoh Monarch Condemns Killing Of DPO …Wants Perpetrators To Face The Law
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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.
Niger Delta
Tai Agric Sector Gets Emergency Attention …As Chairman Distributes Farm Inputs, Inaugurates Technical Team
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The Chairman of Tai Local Government Council of Rivers State, Hon. Matthew Nenu Bari Dike has declared a state of emergency in the agriculture sector of Tai local government.
Speaking while distributing farm implements and other agricultural support packages to the farmers at the council’s headquarters in Saakpenwa, yesterday, Dike challenged farmers to show their farms before requesting for financial assistance.
The council boss stated that as a government, they were committed to putting smiles on the faces of the people and assured that his administration would ensure that every person in the local government is happy.
“As a government we want to assure you that, we will stop at nothing to ensure you all are empowered and living happily”.
According to him, “the gesture is aimed at enhancing food production and security through agriculture, and enjoined all lovers of agriculture in the local government area to identify with the quest to redefine development through agriculture in the local government.
He encouraged everyone to cultivate the passion and return to agriculture, to guarantee self-reliance, maximum food production and security in the area.
His administration, he said, would purchase more yam seedlings in order to get greater production to encourage exportation beyond the shores of Nigeria.
“A boost in yam production will also empower farmers in the Local Government Area”, the elated chairman said.
In a related development, the Chairman has inaugurated a five, member Agricultural Technical Committee for the Local Government Area.
The committee is made up of Pst. Anderson Wariboko, Barr. Paul Newman,, Smith Nyor-Ue, Gladys Jumbo and Dr Keke Rammyson
Also speaking, the Director of Agriculture, Tai Local Government Area, Mr Anderson Wariboko revealed that the event was part of activities to mark the chairman’s 100 days in office.
Wariboko who led the chairman, and other leaders of the council on the distribution of the farm inputs to the farmers, was full of praises for the chairman, Hon. Dike whom he said has the interest of the people at heart.
Kiadum Edookor
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