posted
Very often in the passage of time, the memory of important events can become faded or altogether forgotten. As creatures of thought, it is incumbent upon us to refresh our memory, so that we may have a continuum of observations and understandings of past events, however short, with which we can more thoughtfully appraise the unfolding of our present time.
This thread is dedicated to giving us such a continuum, connecting events exactly one year apart.
Please, if your post contains a news story, as most probably it will, unless it is relatively short please give a small excerpt and then link the rest, if necessary.
This will help save space for our comments(if any) on the event(s) in question.
So if you have anything you think ought to be brought back to memory, post it here, and please preface every post with that day's date. Thanks
quote:Police reach dead end• Dikibo murder probe suffers setback
Dotun Oladipo and Gbade Ogunwale
The police appear to have reached a dead end in their search for the killers of the National Vice-Chairman (South-South) of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Aminasori Dokibo, as none of the 14 suspects arrested so far could be linked to the killing.
Sources told our correspondents on Tuesday that none of the suspects had confessed to the killing and that investigation had, so far, not linked any of them to the suspected political assassination.
Dikibo was killed on February 6 at Ishiagu near Ogwashi-Uku....
......One of the police sources said that the suspicion, as widely held by many, was that the killing was politically motivated.
Another source told our correspondents that Dikibo's killers appeared to have done a lot of ground work to cover their track.
It was learnt that the way Dokibo was shot could only have been done by a trained hand.
Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Chris Olakpe, was not available for comments when our correspondents called in his office for comments. Olakpe could also not be reached on his mobile line.
Dikibo's killing has extended the long list of unresolved suspected politically-motivated murders witnessed by the country since the return to democratic rule.
Among those who have been killed in recent times are the former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige; and a chieftain of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Chief Harry Marshal.
On February 10, President Olusegun Obasanjo approved the setting up of a six-member panel to probe the incident.
THE celebrated trial of detained Prince Kenneth Emeakayi and others in connection with the murder of Onitsha branch Chairman of Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Barnabas Igwe and his wife, Blessing, may be in abeyance.
As of yesterday, there were no indications that the case would soon be re-assigned several weeks after a third judge withdrew from hearing the matter.
The accused have since May 6, last year been detained at the Onitsha prison as their case had several times been dropped by Justice Umeadi Peter, who was earlier accused by the Onitsha NBA to have been bribed with N20 million, Justices Nnaemeka Anigbo and Nriezedi.
When Daily Champion yesterday visited the office of the Chief Judge (CJ) it was discovered that judiciary workers in the state had on Tuesday commenced strike, pressing for removal of the CJ, Justice C.N. Okoli, hence it could not be ascertained if there were moves to reassign the case to another judge.
Meanwhile, counsel to Prince Emeakayi who was a commissioner in the Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju administration in Anambra, Mr. Ikenna Obidiegwu alleged to Daily Champion that the Onitsha NBA was behind the continued delay in having his client’s case entertained by any judge.
Obidiegwu said the NBA accused Justice Umeadi of having been bribed to favour his client, Emeakayi, in the case, pointing out that it was due to the development that Umeadi resigned from entertaining the case.
"The Onitsha Bar had scuttled our client’s application for bail before Justice Peter Umeadi by frivolous application for adjournment and open intimidation of the trial judge, the climax of what was the allegation of bribery against the judge as a result of which the judge disqualified himself from the case thereby frustrating all efforts made by our client’s counsel to ensure his bail", he stated. The counsel added that it is terrible that the case is yet not before any court.
"His (Emeakayi’s) health is worsening as already noted by the prison authorities. We are only pleading that his case be heard. Let justice prevail. If he is proven guilty so be it. But justice is being delayed and that is too bad, and it is worse that Emeakayi is yet in detention even when an Abuja High Court had ordered that he be granted bail," he said.
Reacting to the foregoing, Mr. Chuka Obele Chuka, the Chairman, Onitsha NBA who replaced the late Igwe, told Daily Champion that the NBA is not against speedy trial of those accused in the murder, pointing out that "afterall, NBA members are defending the accused."
Chuka said NBA is diligently following the case and is interested in having expeditious trial of those accused to have been involved in the case.
He noted that the allegation that the NBA threatened judges who would handle the case was concocted but that the NBA said that any judge who compromises in the case will be exposed.
"We will expose any judge who collects money or favour to compromise the course of justice, we will follow him/her legally,", he warned.
Meanwhile, the state judicial workers strike followed their demonstration last week which disrupted the state’s legal year as they protested what they described as obnoxious regulations and activities of the Justice Okoli.
February 18, 2004
Yet another political murder remembered. This is Nigeria folks, where courts have no authority and judges can be bought, by far the world's most corrupt country. That is a fact.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday held a closed-door meeting with the two principal actors - Governor Chris Ngige and his enstranged political godfather, Chief Chris Uba.
The meeting, which lasted for more than two hours at the party headquarters, Abuja, was presided over by the National Chairman of PDP, Chief Audu Ogbeh, with other members of the National Working Committee (NWC) in attendance.
Addressing newsmen after the meeting, Ogbeh described the outcome as cordial and that the party was close to achieving truce in the seven month crisis. Ogbeh also described one of the principal characters in the crisis, Uba, as a friend of the party.
The following dialogue took place between Ogbeh and newsmen:
Newsmen: How was the meeting ?
Ogbeh: It was a good meeting.
How good was the meeting?
It was a good, good, very good meeting. We are nearer truce in the crisis.
How near?
As near as God will permit. I think we had a good meeting.
What was Uba an expelled member of the party doing at the meeting?
He is a good friend of the party. He contributed towards the development of the party.
But is he still a member?
That is being dealt with now. A situation developed and we are trying to sort it out. I think we are nearer peace. We are near there. As you can see the atmosphere was very cordial. Nigerians should be hopeful. The two of them have given commitment to peace.
Have the list of the candidates for the council election been harmonized?
We are also dealing with that.
Does this meeting invalidate the Wabara Peace Initiative?
Anything towards peace is acceptable.
The Anambra State Governor, Ngige also spoke with newsmen and it went thus:
Newsmen: How was the meeting?
Ngige: Fine, fine. It was a very good meeting. We need peace in Anambra state. For the party, the chairman has spoken.
Do you subscribe to what the chairman has said?
Every thing the National Chairman has said, I subscribe to it...
...The Anambra crisis blew open on July 10 last year when a detachment of policemen led by then Assistant Inspector General of Police , Raphael Ige, abducted Ngige and sent a letter of resignation purportedly written by him to the State House of Assembly. The policemen acted on behalf of Uba, who felt betrayed that after sponsoring the governor's election, he was not having his ways on the issue.
The Assembly then adopted the letter and called on the state chief judge to swear in then deputy governor, Dr. Okey Udeh as governor. Udeh did not also wait for the chief judge who had declined before he proclaimed himself governor.
After the governor denied ever resigning, the House of Assembly reversed itself. it later removed Mrs. Grace Azodo as Speaker and impeached the deputy governor, Udeh.
The crisis which went down for some time with several efforts made to reconcile Ngige and Uba however resurfaced on January 2 when an Enugu High Court ruling in a case filed by a state legislator, Nelson Achukwu, ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP), to remove Ngige from office.
On the strength of the ruling, the IGP withdrew Ngige's security aides and order from Awka High Court and the Court of Appeal, Enugu that the police should not obstruct the governor in the performance of his duties have failed to make the police restore the official security arrangement. Ngige is now guarded by members of the Bakassi movement...
Isn't democracy exciting!
___________________ The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves... Posts: 714 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
