Category: Press Release

PRESS RELEASE: Suspension Of Collation In The Adamawa Governorship Election

The attention of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been drawn to the purported declaration of winner in the Adamawa State Governorship election by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Hudu Yunusa-Ari.

The action of the REC is a usurpation of the power of the Returning Officer and therefore null, void and of no effect. Consequently, the collation of the result of the supplementary election held yesterday 15th April 2023 is suspended forthwith.

The REC for Adamawa State and all other officials involved in the process are hereby directed to report immediately to INEC headquarters in Abuja.

Meanwhile, the Commission is deeply disturbed by the harassment of our two National Commissioners deployed to the State to ensure a peaceful and credible supplementary election. We urge the security agencies to provide them with necessary security and ensure that nothing untoward befalls them. The two National Commissioners, the Returning Officer and other staff of the Commission must be allowed to perform their duties without let or hinderance.

The Commission will not condone any act of lawlessness or brigandage targetted at our officials or the process.

Barr. Fesus Okoye

National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee Sunday 16th April 2023

Press Release: Issuance Of Certificates Of Return For State Elections

The Commission met today, Saturday 25th March 2023 and deliberated on a wide range of issues including the issuance of Certificates of Return to those elected during the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections conducted by the Commission on 18th March 2023.

By the provisions of Section 72(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, the Commission is mandated to issue a certificate of return within 14 days to every candidate who has been returned elected under the law.

Pursuant to the above provision, the Commission has fixed Wednesday 29th Thursday 30th and Friday 31st March 2023 for the issuance of certificates of return to Governors and Deputy Governors-elect as well as State Assembly members- elect. The presentation will take place in INEC offices in each State of the Federation

Specific dates for the issuance of the certificates shall be communicated to those elected by the Resident Electoral Commissioners and Administrative Secretaries of the various States.

Festus Okoye Esq.

National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee Saturday 25th March 2023

…vows to run an all inclusive government

…to dualize Abakpa, Ugwuogo Nike-Nsukka road

…to build a monorail from Enugu to Nsukka, Udi, Awgu

…to construct ring road to connect all 17 LGAs

Ndi Enugu,

This is your Peter Ndubuisi Mbah. As you all know, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced my election as your governor-elect

I accept this announcement with a glad, solemn and grateful heart and with only one obligation: to devote every tissue of my flesh, the totality of my mind and spirit to the task of the greatness of Enugu State.

This victory could not have been won except for God, with the active support of you, the people of Enugu State. While extending my gratitude to you, permit me to appreciate the current governor of our state and members of his cabinet; statesmen; our party leaders; security operatives; religious leaders; civil society groups, the media, and everyone who made this a reality.

Like every electoral process, the journey of the last few months was intense. The one of the last three days was even fiercer. Enugu was literally at a standstill, waiting, with baited breath, for justice to take its course. There was restiveness in our youths and apprehension in the minds of the entire NdiEnugu. The fear was that there could be miscarriage of justice. On the streets of Enugu, you could feel the palpable air of an overheated polity brought by the prolonged, tortuous road to justice of the last 72 hours.

Let me salute the dogged resolve of the people of Enugu State. I must particularly single out the patriotic men and women who, inside rain and skin-pelting sunshine, chose to occupy the INEC office in the last 72 hours. Their resolute resolve pointed at one single cause: That they are in a hurry for Enugu to connect with all the lofty goals that our administration is bringing to bear in our dear state.

Let me restate that ours will not be a government of any section of Enugu State. It is your government, Ndi Enugu. Under our administration, there can never be division between Nsukka and Nkanu or any other section of the state. We are all brothers and sisters. Those who attempted to create a wedge between us failed woefully. We were massively voted by every section of the state. Those who wanted to smack our heads together had an ulterior motive and it was to create perpetual fussing and fighting between us. We resisted their machination and today, we are coming together stronger. Our resolve thereafter is to pursue the spirit of divisiveness from our state.

Since the electioneering process began, though the road was rough, it was obvious that we were not alone on the rough road. At every intersection of the rough road, Ndi Enugu were with us. Collectively, we trudged along with bravery and strength of character. Your presence shielded us from rough tackles that were aimed at our spine.

It is why you, Ndi Enugu, are the hero of this victory. You sowed your sweats and prolonged discomfort that earned us this victory. In the hot and torrid sun, you were with us; when the rain – literally and metaphorically – drenched us, you stood by us, offering your clothes to damp our wet apparels. And when it was time to stand and be counted with your votes, Ndi Enugu, you did not let us down.

The choice you made is clear. You did not go through all those grueling moments for the sake of the fleeting berries of today. You made a huge investment for your tomorrow, for the tomorrow of your children and children’s children. You chose to deprive yourselves of the perishable and glittering rewards of now so that a greater tomorrow can come.

In choosing us, you did not allow mundane reasons to stop you. You abandoned political party divides, religious denomination cleavages, clan and tribe. All you demanded was the candidate who would guarantee a tomorrow for you and generations of Enugu to come.

Now, Ndi Enugu, that tomorrow is here. Let me pledge to you, once again, that I will serve you and dedicate every of the 1,460 days that make up this initial tenure of office to serving you. I will remember the coarse road you travailed to get us here. In reply, we will speak resoundingly with policies of government that will give you comfort and rest of mind.

As I told you during the campaign, the administration we will run will bring joy to your hearts. We will make you remember March 18, 2023 with a toothy smile. In infrastructure, health, tourism, education and development of our state in general, we will run a government that you can be proud of. We are in a hurry to dualize the Abakpa, Ugwuogo Nike-Nsukka road, build a monorail from Enugu to Nsukka, Udi, Awgu and construct a ring road to connect all the 17 local government areas of Enugu State.

We are in a hurry to build a world class Theme Park in Enugu. We are in a hurry to establish Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in all the local government areas, as well as Agro-Allied Processing Zones and Industrial Parks in all our senatorial zones.

We are in a hurry to unleash the tech talents in our young people, and grow and nurture their interest in business and vocations skills. We shall build a School of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), an Innovation Incubation Centre, as well as a Skill Enhancement Centre in each of the three senatorial zones.

Ours shall not be an administration by a section of the state. We shall run an all-inclusive government designed to provide an inclusive economic development for our dear state.

As we bring water to all homes in Enugu metropolis in 180 days of our being sworn in, we shall bring water, in the shortest possible time, to Nsukka, Oji River, Udi, Awgu and others too. We shall frontally confront the infrastructural deficits in all parts of the state and no one will be left behind.

Let me, at this juncture, call on everyone to join me in this task of chiseling a great tomorrow from the rock of a despondent today. In the elections that we ran, we are all winners. No one is a victor, nor is anyone vanquished. The task at hand transcends emotions, politics and other mundane divides.

It is why I extend my hands of fellowship to all my colleagues with whom I ran the gubernatorial election. Our dear Enugu State is greater than all of us. Let us come together and give our people a tomorrow that befits their hard-work, industry and ancestry of greatness.

Once again, Ndi Enugu, I thank you for reposing your trust in us. Together, our tomorrow is here.

While we wait for the results of the just concluded sham of an election in Enugu State, I would like to say a few words to my young friends and supporters who joined me on this journey to retrace the steps of our dear state.

As much as we tried to foresee and prepare for the eventual acts of violence, manipulation, coercion, vote buying and general malfeasance of the 2023 election, we were grossly disappointed by the institutions of state that we hoped would do better.

Our people were used, exploited, threatened and manipulated; effectively regarded as political collateral damage.

Yet, I urge you to drop every cloak of despair and discouragement. Instead, I want you to sit back and reflect on what we did achieve through this process. Those will be our springboard.

Firstly, for me, the awakening that many of you experienced remains an inspiration. You stood up for what you believed against pecuniary, partisan, or immediate interests.

You boldly asked me the tough questions and quizzed some of my answers in a bid to arrive at solutions that were robust and most inclusive.

You ran with the solutions I proposed and spoke boldly to show the world why we needed a new paradigm in Enugu State.

You used your personal resources, sacrificed your time, deployed your talents and became the voices of reason in a complex political clime.

Some of you walked with me as we spoke with our senior citizens suffering lifestyle illnesses that could have been avoided with proper healthcare facilities and due payments of pensions and gratuities.

You were with me when we met the trader who sat under the sun with her two weeks old baby. You braved the scare of Ugwu Peak and went with me to see your compatriots who have succumbed to drug abuse and violence.

You criss-crossed the windy turns of Bunker, New Jerusalem, Iva Valley and many more. slums in Enugu that serve as home to two-thirds of our population in the capital city.

You travelled with me to Ette, at the outskirts of the state, learned with me in the halls of higher institutions, stood on the football field with promising athletes in our Schools, and spent hours with me on the digital space.

You became fellow researchers as we analysed the grand theft in the Enugu State budgets and reviewed the responsibilities of local government authorities to our rural communities.

You saw the vision I shared for a cultural and entertainment renaissance in Enugu State, and you reflected that desire in every piece of essay, story, song, poetry, and design that went out to promote our campaign.

You sang with me, in the markets, on the radio, in the villages and in the city, as we charged ndi Enugu to #Kunie! Ka anyi dozie Enugu!

This charge did not end on Saturday, March 18, 2023, when myopic politicians sought to destroy the citizens they claim that they want to serve. For them, it is about the politics of winning at all cost, grabbing power for the sake of perpetuating oppression, serving the desires of godfathers, and the desperation to commit atrocities under the cloak of immunity.

But for you and I, it was about repairing broken breaches and restoring hope in the hearts of our people. It was beyond retiring the old order. We already had a blueprint for the new.

This has not changed. The journey is not over. I have no intention of foregoing the gains we have made to awaken our citizenry to their responsibilities and their rights in our political and governance process.

It is my plan that we will keep building this movement, regardless of the outcome of the next few weeks.

It was never going to be a sprint. We will await the announcement of the decision from INEC and share our next steps afterwards.

For now, protect the hope that has been awakened in your heart. It will grow greater than you can imagine.

God bless you.

For the future of Enugu State,

Frank Nweke Jr.

The Commission met today, Monday 20th March 2023 and reviewed the conduct of the Governorship and State Assembly elections held nationwide on Saturday 18th March 2023. Arising from the meeting, the Commission took the decision to suspend forthwith further collation of the Governorship election results in some parts of Abia and Enugu States.

It will be recalled that our office in Obingwa Local Government Area was invaded by thugs yesterday Sunday 19th March 2023 and our officials held hostage in relation to the collation of results from the Local Government Area. Similarly, reports from Enugu State call for a review of the results for the Governorship election from the two outstanding Local Government Areas of Nsukka and Nkanu East.

Consequently, the Commission hereby suspends the collation of results in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State and the two outstanding Local Government Areas of Enugu State which are yet to be collated. A review will be undertaken immediately before the process is concluded.

We appeal for the understanding and patience of voters, parties and candidates in the affected States.

Barr. Festus Okoye

National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee Monday 20th March 2023

Ndi Enugu,

On Saturday, March 18, 2023, we will make a decision that will determine the trajectory of our State for the next four years and more.

It is not a decision to make lightly based on ethnic, partisan and religious sentiment. It is not a decision to make based on assumptions or emotions.

Enugu State has stagnated in the past 8 years under the PDP-led administration and we must not squander this opportunity that democracy has given us.

This is your opportunity to place the power back in the hands of the people by choosing a candidate who is competent with the capacity, compassion, character and track record that shows resolute leadership to work for the good of our State.

This is why I am running.

In 2004, I ensured that local governments were represented in the FAAC committee and received allocations directly to curb corruption. As governor, I will ensure that their funds are no longer tampered with, that they work with autonomy and accountability.

The same commitment I brought to bear to bring a definite solution to a 50 years long flooding problem in Ogunpa is the same way I will leave no stone unturned to solve the water crisis in Enugu State.

The same vision I shared with my people in Ozalla and initiated the Closed-Circuit Television and solar power to help with security is the same I will deploy to ensure Enugu State is protected.

The same perseverance that made me attract $35.8 billion to Enugu State for the water reform in 2007 is the same I will deploy to ensure Enugu State gets all that is due to us from the Federal Government and other multilateral agencies.

The same discipline that has ensured my career of integrity and excellent service is the same that will guide my leadership and governance of Enugu State.

Ndi Enugu, I am not in this election just to have a title behind my name or to serve myself or potential cronies with the public funds.

I am here to serve.

I am here to show ndi Enugu what good governance should be.

So, go out en masse, encourage others to come out and vote for APGA! Ebe esere okuko Igbo. Most importantly, defend your vote!

My Name is Frank Nweke Jnr. Gubernatorial candidate of party ndi Igbo called APGA.

Nkea Bu Nke Anyi.

Onye Aghana Nwanne Ya

Happy International Women’s Day to every woman in Enugu State.

On this special occasion, I want to honour and appreciate the gifts that you are to our society and the world at large.

The theme for this year is apt and captures my thoughts on how to approach issues of women empowerment in Enugu State. We must meet everyone at their level and provide the specific opportunities and requirements they need for success.

Hence, our administration’s commitment to affirmative actions that improve the participation of women in government and civil service, as well as provide the necessary training and support to improve entrepreneurial ventures and businesses.

We have already begun this by the choice of Dr. Mrs Edith Ugwuanyi as my Deputy Governorship Candidate. More than an act of representation, her education, tremendous exposure, her work and record of service reflects brilliance, professionalism, and a deep interest in grassroot and people development.

She is a health practitioner, a successful entrepreneur and public servant.

With our combined experience and efforts, we are determined to deploy policies that serve the interest of our women across family life, educational aspirations, technology literacy, business, politics and generally, as agents of societal change.

In my tours across the state, I have found the women to be the most vulnerable to the dangers of poverty and economic regression.

Young girls and women are exposed to abuse and vices beyond their control, and our mothers work under the most unfavourable conditions in the corporate world, in the markets and farms.

We will work with all key stakeholders to ensure that our women are protected in every respect.

I am particularly interested in the welfare, well-being, and empowerment of mothers in Enugu. I believe that they hold the key to the renewal of society, to a moral and ethical renaissance, and to improved economic growth and sustainability in our country.

I recently recalled the story of a mother I met on a market tour who had her two-week old baby with her. The only reason she could have made that decision was because, without her small business, there would be no way to feed. I have also met several mothers nursing sick children while exposed to the hot sun, the rains and dust.

My administration is therefore committed to immediately improving the lives of our mothers, first by addressing basic infrastructure needs at the local level. Water, healthcare services, schools and sanitation will receive critical attention.

We will also channel resources for extension services to the farmers, provide succour through a family support program and our Strategic Food Reserve initiative.

Hence, my commitment to ensuring the autonomy and accountability of Local Governments remain sacrosanct as they will be the direct agents of implementing these services.

Mothers are the custodians of our future as they mostly determine how the lives of children will go. They are the primary determinants of their state of health, education, values, and beliefs. They, therefore, require the right training, education and empowerment to effectively shape society and the future in very profound and fundamental ways.

While I was the Minister for Information and National Orientation, I initiated a project called Mothers United and Mobilised where we addressed issues of values, ethical and moral reorientation.

My administration will reintroduce this initiative as a channel for education, empowerment and equipping our mothers for action. This will form a critical aspect of our human development plans for education, healthcare, and overall social equity.

I want to assure our women that Enugu will be referenced for the protection of women’s rights, empowerment for economic advancement and political participation. The number of women who will become Local Government chairpersons and commissioners, will be unprecedented because we will intentionally create policies that make this possible.

We need every hand on deck in our quest to reignite the coal city and restore Enugu as the capital of the Eastern Region. Our women will be active participants.

Thank you

Good morning, gentlemen and ladies of the press.

I thank you for honouring my invitation to this emergency session. The enormity of the concerns I want to address requires immediate attention as it affects the safety and future of ndi Enugu.

Addressing False Reportage

I will begin with addressing the upsurge of fake news, misinformation and the misrepresentation of my character in the media.

As I shared in my statement yesterday, I believe that calumny, fake news and character assassinations are disrespectful to our people who face real and dire challenges in their everyday lives. Those who spread such falsehood have no interest in service but desire to keep Enugu in a web of lies and ineptitude. Therefore, I will address these issues summarily.

Yesterday, an attention seeking propaganda mill reported that I stepped down for the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Peter Mbah.

Please, tell everyone you know, that Frank Nweke Jr is in this governorship race to win it for the good of Enugu.

I have never considered stepping down and I will never consider it. Ignore every information that reports or insinuates this.

On the purported endorsement and congratulatory message to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I can confirm that it is absolutely false and concocted from the imagination of a mischievous individual. I have never hidden the fact that I support Peter Obi and as I have often said, I am Frankly Obidient. My position on who I believe is most competent to lead our nation has not changed.

On the assertion that I would approve ranching for herdsmen when elected as the Governor, please note that this headline is a sensational misrepresentation of these actual words from a town hall session I attended in October, 2022.

“The best case scenario is for there to be peaceful coexistence (that is, between farmers and herdsmen). But under my watch as governor and under my administration, I will not condone any act by herders or farmers that would undermine the other party. As your animal is important to you, so are the crops to farmers.

“Long term, we are going to encourage the establishment of ranches within the State but I will do everything within my powers to protect our people, to make sure that their sources of livelihood are not destroyed by anybody by whatever they are called”

The reporter, for whatever consideration, played on the sensitivity of the ongoing crisis in several parts of Enugu by creating a click-bait headline to rile emotions, and now, political opposition are taking advantage of the same by promoting false information. It is absolutely wrong, and while it may be hailed as political sagacity, it is a clear picture of the type of administration to expect from whoever the perpetrators are.

Addressing Okey Ezea’s comments.

Next, I would like to address the trending video that shows the recently elected Senator Okey Ezea inciting the people of Enugu North against their brothers and sisters from Nkanu. While there are several issues that could be considered from his submissions, the most important thing for me is that I do not support or encourage anyone sowing seeds of discord and disunity within our State and I wish he didn’t make such statements.

As opinion leaders, political leaders or statesmen, we must be mindful of the opinions we hold and the words we speak.

Regardless of where the governor emerges from at any time, we must remember that the entire State is his or her constituency. Such statements only serve to create feelings of marginalisation and discontent, neither of which serves our progress in any form.

The PDP’s plan to disrupt the State’s General Election of March 11, 2023 elections.

Finally, and the most important reason for this gathering, I want to address:

THE PLANS BY THE PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC PARTY TO COMPROMISE INEC OFFICIALS, BY-PASS BVAS AND DISRUPT ELECTIONS ON MARCH 11, 2023 THROUGH VIOLENCE.

1. I am compelled to bring to the attention of the public the grand and devious plans of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State to compromise INEC officials and adhoc staff to bypass the use of BVAS and generally disrupt the governorship and house of assembly elections in the state through the use of thugs to cause mayhem, with a view to dispersing voters at polling units in order to have opportunity to rig the elections, subvert the will of the people to achieve victory at all costs.

2. Since suffering massive losses across the state on February 25, 2023, the PDP have held series of meetings at various locations to perfect their nefarious plans to ensure that they disrupt the electoral process, compromise INEC staff and deploy maximum violence. A source that attended the meetings reported that they lamented that they were falsely led into believing that BVAS was impregnable by INEC and that manual voting was impossible.

3. According to them events in Port Harcourt and some parts of the country had demonstrated otherwise; and that they must now take advantage of it by deploying sums of money to compromise INEC staff, buy votes and cause maximum violence to scare voters who do not vote for them and intimidate others into voting for them against their will.

4. They have therefore resolved to ‘buy’ INEC staff to sabotage the elections as described above, and also to specifically ensure that the original result sheets are neither brought to the polling units nor the ward and local government collation centres. Since the iREV malfunctioned last Saturday, they reasoned that they would calmly write new results when the representatives of other political parties disperse at various collation centres in the belief that results had been announced.

5. The compromised INEC team is led by a staff of INEC called ‘Ifenna Onoh’ who for several years has been the liaison between the State government and in particular, the Chief of Staff, Enugu Government House and INEC officials. It would appear that the relationship has been groomed for years in preparation for this election.

6. It was reported that Mrs Ifenna Onoh has been a beneficiary of land allocations, and pilgrimage allocations and in exchange, has succeeded in recruiting staff for the benefit of the governor of Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, particularly into the ICT department.

7. We have also been informed that sums running into hundreds of millions have been exchanged over the years and through third-party agents to conceal the money trail. Mrs Onoh is therefore under obligation to do everything in her power to ensure the declaration of Peter Mbah as the next Governor of Enugu State.

8. Currently, INEC maintains a secret office at Fontana Hotels located at Independence Layout for this purpose.

9. They have also reportedly recruited the security agencies into their plot. The role of the security services is purportedly for them not to show up when they start causing mayhem at polling units and collation centres until they have accomplished their wicked plans.

10. Furthermore, they have secured substantial numbers of ‘election duty’ stickers and plan to use that to evade security by moving around in vehicles on which these stickers are pasted.

11. They have also produced Security Systems Uniforms for thugs to disguise as escorts to INEC personnel from the point of dispatch to a pre-arranged location where rigging will be carried out using the non-collected PVCs of voters across the 17 Local Government Areas.

The above information has been shared with the National Headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission, the State Security Service, the Inspector General of Police, the Chief of Defence staff and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The purpose of this revelation is to let ndi Enugu know that the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, in Enugu will do all that is possible to guarantee the safety of our people, ensure that you exercise your right to vote on March 11 and see that your vote is protected.

We will not take lightly any plans to subvert or abuse the democratic process.

The Campaign Council of the Enugu State chapter of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) has dismissed allegations of planned rigging of the March 11 governorship and State House of Assembly elections in the state leveled against it by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Mr. Frank Nweke Jr., as a disingenuous effort at preemptive excuses for his expected abysmal outing in the election.

The party said Nweke’s impact on the March 11 polls ends with making preposterous conjectures, nothing that the race is clearly above his ken as he has all the while been boxing above his weight.

The party said Nweke had only succeeded in making the ballot papers longer than necessary.

The Campaign Council stated this in a press release issued by its Director of Communications/Spokesperson, Nana Ogbodo, on Friday.

The statement read in part: “We would ordinarily not dignify Nweke with a response because his impact on the forthcoming general elections begins and ends with congesting and making the ballot papers longer than necessary.

“He is therefore only laying the formwork of excuses for his expected abysmal outing in the governorship poll.

“Nweke went into APGA ostensibly on the wrong permutation that PDP’s governorship ticket would go outside Nkanu land so he could harvest from the expected anger of the people. Unfortunately for him, events mocked at his foresight as that was not to be.

“We therefore advise Nweke to climb down from this high horse and first present himself for a popularity test in his hometown, Ozalla, before pursuing an illusionary governorship ambition”.

The Campaign Council also expressed shock that the former Minister was not yet in tune with the changes in the electoral laws that had strengthened the electoral system.

“Perhaps, as a former Minister of Information, who defended perceived electoral deficits in the 2007 election and engaged in hot exchanges with the then Senate President, Ken Nnamani and the international communities on the conduct of the election in Enugu or as former Chief of Staff, who may have meddled with the electoral processes as he alluded in his press release, Nweke is still unaware that the Electoral Act 2022 has effectively put a stop to whatever ignoble roles he might have been playing in the past.

“We also reckon that Nweke, who has been a senior stakeholder and a major beneficiary of successive PDP governments until March 2022 when he embarked on his delusional governorship voyage on the platform of APGA will ultimately return to the umbrella after his crushing defeat on March 11”, the statement added.

“It is with sadness, that I received the news of the brutal assassination of Barr. Oyibo Chukwu, the Enugu East, Labour Party Senatorial Candidate.

“Without doubt, this is too painful to bear.

“I express my deepest sympathy and condolences to the immediate Family of Barr. Oyibo Chukwu, the good people of Enugu East senatorial zone for whom he staked his life seeking to serve, the Enugu state Labour Party family who have just lost a great asset, and the entire Enugu people who are traumatized by this mindless murder of one of their very best.

“It is my conviction, that relevant security agencies would work relentlessly, to earnestly expose the masterminds of this heartless killing and bring them to justice.

“While I urge the blood sanguinary beings of our trying time in Nigeria to stop the killings and seek God’s face, I would also wish to encourage the security agencies, to do more, to rise above the challenges of these extraordinary times, to dispatch more proactive intelligence in order to nip such dastardly blood letting in the bud.

“I urge the masses of our people, not to be discouraged or demoralized by this ugly incident, but to maintain their abiding faith in God, remain even more determined in their resolve to vote out leadership misfits and vote in responsible and responsive Leadership in the upcoming elections.

“May the gentle soul of Barr. Oyibo Chukwu and the souls of all the innocent lives wasted alongside, through the mercy of Christ Rest In Peace.”

Capt. Evarest Nnaji
(Odengene)