Nsukka Today

The Oduma Community in Aninri local government area of Enugu State is set to dare the state government as it insists on conferring chieftaincy title on Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu and others.

The State government recently placed an embargo on the conferment of chieftaincy titles on individuals in the state.

The people of Oduma in Enugu West Senatorial District had planned to honour their representative in the Senate, Chief Ike Ekweremadu for facilitating the construction of the N12 billion Nenwe-Oduma-Uburu road before the order was announced.

The road project, which was flagged off in November 2013 has reached an advanced stage and the people of the area who had been experiencing nightmares passing through the road now heaving a sigh of relief.

The contract for the 26 kilometers road running from Nenwe through Oduma in Enugu State to Uburu in Ebonyi State was approved and awarded to SETRACO by the Federal Executive Council on November 14, 2012.

Impressed by the role played by the Deputy President of the Senate, Chief Ike Ekweremadu in making the long desired road project a reality, the community unanimously resolved to appreciate him with a chieftaincy title.

Also selected for conferment of chieftaincy titles at the reception slated for Saturday, April. 19, 2014 at Oduma are the Minister of Works, Arc. Mike Onolememen, Chairman, Senate Committee on Works, Senator Ayogu Eze and Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Works, Hon. Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi.

But while the community was making arrangement for the event, the state government through the Ministry of Chieftaincy Matters announced the suspension of conferment of chieftaincy titles by traditional rulers in the state with effect from April 7, 2014.

The letter dated April 7, 2014 with reference number MCM/CM/98/T/203 addressed to all recognized traditional rulers in the state and signed by Ibe Nnamani on behalf of the Commissioner, directed traditional rulers in the state not to confer chieftaincy title on any individual between April 7 and December 31, this year.

But a member of the organizing committee for the event, Chief Johnson Orji told reporters in Enugu yesterday that the community would go ahead with its plan to honour the selected personalities, who had since been notified and have mobilized their friends and well-wishers for the ceremony.

“The entire Oduma community made up of several villages has been planning this reception for Senator Ekweremadu since last year for making it possible in our lifetime what we never imagined could be possible.

Many administrations in the state from military to the present democratic regime had come with promises during campaign, but always reneged on the promises after election. This is due majorly to the very difficult topography of the Nenwe and Oduma once described by Governor Sullivan Chime as an impossible terrain, but this has been made possible by our son, Chief Ekweremadu,” Chief Orji said.

There are speculations that the event was earlier approved by the State Government when traditional rulers from Oduma sought government’s approval, but the government latter decided to suspend the conferment when the identity of the recipients were made public.

Sources said that the action of the government might not be unconnected with the current face-off between Governor Chime and members of the National Assembly from the state over their re-election bid in 2015.

Culled: The SUN

Rampaging Fulani herdsmen have continued to terrorise Enugu State with reports of robbery attacks which led to the death of a victim while another who  was attacked in the state capital escaped with machete wounds.

The police in Enugu confirmed the death of one Theophilus Eneje, a businessman who was allegedly attacked by the herdsmen along the lonely Ibeagwa/Ezimo Road in Udenu Local Government Area of the state.  Eneje, who was carrying empty bottles with which he intended to buy drinks at Obollo-Afor reportedly ran into ambush laid by the herdsmen.

He was allegedly dealt a machete cut on the head when he resisted attempt to rob him of the cash he was carrying. He was said to have been robbed and left to bleed to death.

Another victim of the herdsmen alleged invasion is a night-guard who works at Aninwede Street in Obiagu area of Ogui New-Layout.

The guard, whose identity could not be confirmed as at the time of this report was said to have closed from work at about 6am and was trekking home when he was accosted by the cattle rearers along the Ebeano tunnel.

The victim, according to our source, who also put up some resistance received deep machete cuts before escaping from his captors.

He has been receiving treatment at the Park Lame Hospital in Enugu.The Enugu state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), told our reporter that the command has commenced investigations into  the incidence of armed robbery attack  by men suspected to be Fulani herdsmen. He said that manhunt has been intensified to arrest the suspected Fulani robbers especially those that killed Mr. Eneje along Ibeagwa/Ezimo in Udenu Local Government Area of the state.

From PETRUS OBI, Enugu

Source: THE SUN

BY SUNDAY ANI

nichsunny@yahoo.com

On March 28, women under the aegis of Catholic Women Organisation (CWO), St. Anthony Parish, Nguru, in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, staged a protest against the sale and consumption of local gin, popularly known as Ogogoro or kaikai in their community. They alleged that the substance had rendered their men useless to the extent of abdicating their responsibility as breadwinners of their families.

The women complained that if the consumption of the substance was left unchecked, the biblical injunction: “Go and procreate and fill the earth,” would soon come under serious threat because the substance had rendered many of their men impotent. Those who had not completely become impotent, the women alleged, were knocking on the door of impotency, as many of them hardly meet up with  their conjugal duties.

According to the women, their husbands no longer warm their beds at night. “After drinking kaikai, they would come home and lie down like logs of wood. They would snore till the next day. They can no longer have sex with their wives because their organs are almost dead. How do we procreate under that situation? That is why we are crying out to the world,” the women said, through their spokesperson, as they carried fresh green leaves around the community.

The women, who were dressed in Catholic Christian Mothers’ uniform, moved from hamlet to hamlet, chanting a dirge for kaikai and its sellers. When they got to any shop suspected to be selling the substance, they would drop fresh green leaves and chant before proceeding to the next shop.

They sang such songs as, “kaikai has made men to build houses and sleep in the bush; kaikai has made men to marry and not bear children. Kaikai has made men to be lazy; kaikai has made men to see women and not have appetite for them.”

They carried flags bearing such inscriptions as: “Kaikai affects the reproductive system of a man”, “CWO says no to illicit gins – top squad, KP, kaikai etc.” “We don’t want illicit gin in Nguru community, It causes more harm than good”; “Top squad, kaikai has made our youth to be weak and sick”; “It leads to premature death”; “Kaikai has made our youth to be lazy” and “Kaikai kills, say no to it,” among others.”

Most shop owners, who sell the substance, closed their shops and disappeared for fear of what the women could do. When our correspondent approached the leader of the women group, Mrs. Theodora Eze, she captured their ordeal thus: “We are protesting because kaikai has finished us in this community. In Nguru community, kaikai has snatched our men and youths from us. Early in the morning every day, the young boys, instead of looking for what to do, will sit comfortably and drink themselves to stupor at kaikai joints, which are scattered everywhere in this community. After drinking, the person will become useless throughout the day. Those who are married among them cannot even feed themselves, not to talk of their wives and children. Our women have suddenly become the breadwinners simply because of kaikai. Our suffering is overweighing us; the burden of solely catering for our families’ needs is becoming too much on us. That is why we are crying to high heavens against this scourge.”

To show that they meant business, they have also promulgated a law, which took effect from April 1. According to the law, anybody found to be selling or drinking the substance within Nguru community would be liable to a fine of N20, 000. The women were said to enjoy the support of the Nsukka Police Area Commander, the Nsukka Divisional Police Officer (DPO), the Umuada organisation, the youth association, the entire women of the community as well as the Parish Priest of St Anthony Catholic Church, Nguru

“We have proclaimed a law that anybody found selling or consuming ogogoro from April 1, will have the women to contend with. The Nsukka Police Area Commander is aware of what we are doing. The DPO is aware, the Umuada in our community, who act as lawmakers, are aware; the titled men in the community also have our support, the Nguru Youth Association is in support, the Catholic Women Organisation of St. Thomas, Nguru, as well as the parish priest, are all in support of this protest. We are strongly crying against this evil,” Mrs. Eze said.

Tracing the genesis of kaikai consumption in Nguru, Eze said: “It is laziness and joblessness. There is no job created by the government and they don’t even want to help themselves. That is what we have found as responsible. Both the educated and uneducated are involved in this mess.”

Throwing more light on the negative effect of the illicit gin on their men and why they have decided to take up the gauntlet, she said: “The height of this madness is that our men can no longer impregnate their wives. Apart from not being able to satisfy their wives sexually, they have degenerated to a level where they cannot impregnate their wives again. It has rendered many of them impotent. It will lead to serious population decrease and possible extinction of the community if a serious measure, such as the one we are embarking on, is not taken against the scourge. This protest is against the sellers and buyers as well and the punishment for its breach is N20, 000, so we can use it to develop Nguru community.”

When the Parish Priest, Rev Fr Livinus Nnaji, was approached for his comment, he described what the women were doing as historic. He corroborated what the women said about the negative effects of ogogoro.

“I think the CWO, St. Anthony Parish, Nguru is making history today. I say so because that is the first time it is happening here in Nguru. Women generally, are the correctors of evil; they come in when things are going wrong. Kaikai is actually out to destroy the entire community. Both boys and girls, young and old are involved in this mess. The women, seen as the light of the nation have seen this evil and decided to take up arms against it, crying and asking the sellers and consumers to desist from the evil. They are calling on sellers particularly, because once they stop selling; people will stop consuming because you can only consume what is available. The women are doing a nice job,” he argued.

Speaking on the possibility of legislating against the substance beyond Nguru, Fr Nnaji said: “If our government can take interest in it, it can be stopped from the source. They can also ban people from selling it and that will automatically bring to an end the consumption of the substance.” O

On whether the Catholic Church would be interested in pursuing the legislation of such law, the cleric also said: “Yes, the church is already doing that and that is why the CWO of St. Anthony, Nguru is leading the demonstration against the scourge. And it has happened in so many places. The people of Ohum Orba, in Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State, did it two years ago and since then, order has returned to that community. The youth of that community are beginning to regain their senses and do something meaningful with their lives. Anybody taking kaikai is like somebody attempting to commit suicide.”

Ferdinand Ezema is believed to be a big supplier of the substance. When our correspondent approached him, he said: “Yes, I sell it because people demand for it. I sell other drinks, like beer but because kaikai is people’s demand, I sell it. Now that the women are protesting against its sale and consumption in this town, I will stop selling it. In fact, I have stopped it already. It is no longer in my stock.”

But, is it true that many men have become impotent and infertile because of kaikai?  He spoke for himself, claiming that his wife never complained. He said: “I wouldn’t know of those who cannot satisfy their wives sexually or impregnate them because I have not been contracted to do the job for them. But, I satisfy my own wife and also impregnate her whenever we want, even though I drink. I drink because there is no way I can be selling it without drinking it, but I do that in moderation. Maybe, because I don’t drink in excess, that’s why I cannot notice the women’s complaint. Everything we eat must be in moderation. Henceforth, I will stop selling and drinking because the community has decreed against it and I believe that the voice of many is the voice of God.”

Chief Boniface Aruma, alias Ozo Eze, is an Ogogoro drinker. He said he had been drinking it for over 50 years but still has his manhood intact and functional. He started drinking the substance as far back as 1957 to be precise, he stated. His wife, who was among the Catholic women, used to sell it until her organisation, (CWO) raised the alarm over its negative effects on their men.

According to him, “my wife used to sell it, but with this law, she has stopped. I drink it, but I am happy for what the women are doing. I only pity the poor ones who cannot afford to buy beer. It has no effect on me. I have 32 living children and I have been drinking kaikai since 1957. So, it has never prevented me from impregnating my wives or satisfying them sexually at any time. It doesn’t remove anything from me. But with this development, I have stopped it.”

On why the men start drinking early in the morning, the old man replied: “It is those who don’t do anything. For instance, I am an old man and I don’t do anything again. I only rely on my children to supply my needs. So, they send money to me and I buy whatever I need. I can afford to go there early in the morning because I don’t do anything again due to old age. I see it as food.”

He also identified poverty as one of the reasons why men resort to Kaikai. “It is poverty that forces people to consume the substance. For instance, when you buy a shot worth N30, it will be enough to make your day, but when you talk of beer, how many persons can afford N150 or more for just one bottle that won’t even get you anywhere? It won’t lay any foundation. You need to drink like four of five bottles before you are intoxicated, as much as somebody who takes a shot of kaikai, which is just N30. Four or five bottles of beer translate to N600 or N750; how many of them can afford it?” he asked.

Ukamaka Ezema is another seller, who  stopped the business long before the protest. According to her, her conscience was pricking her. She also said people’s pressure and demand forced her to sell it, but she had to stop it when her late husband became a heavy drinker.

She stopped selling it as a way of curtailing her husband who also formed the habit of taking the substance from her store whenever she was away from home.

She narrated her story: “I was not selling it initially, but people kept demanding and putting pressure on me to start selling it. That was when I started selling it. There is one man who had stopped the consumption of kaikai because I was always fighting him when he was drinking. He would come and demand it but I would only give him one shot and after that, I would turn down his demand for more. He even saw me as a wicked person then, but since he stopped it, he has not stopped thanking me for contributing to his redemption. He now regards me as a person who loves him and who wanted him to live. There is another auto-mechanic, who is already useless.

“So, when I saw these women protesting, I was just saying that maybe it will help the boy to come back to life because already he is a living dead. I will be very happy if it can be stopped completely. I stopped it because it was against my conscience. I have stopped it long before this protest.”

She revealed that stopping the sale of the substance did not affect her business in any way and advised those who feel it would affect them to consider its bad effect.

She said: “I know some people will regret the ban, but they should first consider its side-effects. It destroys people in many ways. Some people have been rendered infertile. Some can’t even produce children any longer. Some men beat their wives after taking it. When my husband was alive, we always fought over it. In fact, I stopped selling it when I discovered that whenever I was not around, he would drink it. So, I decided to stop it in order to prevent him from its consumption. It was also my thinking that even if he would consume it, let it not be from me; let him go elsewhere and drink it. That was how I stopped selling it.”

Udoka Onah does not drink Ogogoro but he is concerned about those who do because of what it has turned them to. He is worried because many of his relations are affected by the scourge. He is very happy with the Catholic women for attempting to liberate the community from the shackles of kaikai.

Hear him: “As a non-drinker, you know you will be healthy. Kaikai kills the heart; it is just hot like fire. If you light the concentrated one, which has not been adulterated, it will ignite. It also wastes money. There is no gain in it. All the people that consume it are useless. They don’t progress in whatever they do. I have not been happy with the development. I love what the women are doing today. If they had told us, the youth, we would have gladly joined them in the protest. Some of my brothers consume it; the consumers in this community are plenty.”

He also mentioned some of the known selling joints in the community to include, Ejuona Nguru, which could be regarded as the headquarters of kaikai in the town because there are clusters of shops selling it there. Other joints are Port Harcourt and Ukwu Okpeye, among other places.

He also thinks that its cheapness could possibly be responsible for its high consumption rate and patronage, but warned: “Actually, it is cheaper, but I know that cheap things don’t have any benefit.”

However, Onyekachukwu Ugwu, from Ukwu Okepeye Umuezedike, in Nguru, another seller, is not very happy with the women for daring to rise against the sale and consumption of ogogoro in the community. Although, he pretends to be happy with what the women are doing, his questions gave him away as somebody who is not at ease with the development.  For instance, he wants to know what the women are doing about water and electricity, which the community lacks. He is of the opinion that the women should agitate for the provision of electricity and water in the community instead of trying to deny people their means of livelihood.

“What the women are doing is good. I am not against them. It is not that kaikai is bad but the consumers don’t take it with moderation. They always drink it in excess. That’s why the women are protesting. In this community, some people no longer eat food because of it. I have stopped selling it because even before this protest, we have been hinted about the ban. So, I have already stopped selling it. But let me tell you that what the women are doing is not the right thing. There is no water and electricity in Nguru and they are not talking about that; instead, they are moving against people who are doing their business and making their daily living from the sale of kaikai.”

When reminded that the women’s grouse  against the substance is that men hav ceased  to be men, in terms of their sexual prowess, and that with the development, the community stands the risk of going into extinction, he got angry and accused many of the women of infidelity. He said: “How can the community go into extinction, when a good number of the women protesting out there sleep around with other men who are not their husbands? They could get pregnant by other able bodied men if their husbands are not capable because they are already into the practice; so it is not a new thing to them and it is also not a sin to them.”

But when told that it is not good for married women to sleep with other men and that was why they were demonstrating against the consumption of kaikai so that their husbands could do their jobs in order to prevent them from sleeping around, he fired again: “I don’t believe that it is kaikai that is responsible for their non-performance. If they can ban it, it is good, but it is only those who consume it in excess that are affected.”

Efforts to speak with the traditional ruler proved abortive, as he was said to be out of town. A police source, however, said that they were in support of the action of the women because the nuisance value of some of the men is usually high after soaking themselves in local gin.

Unknown to most people in religiously divided Nigeria, the best Islamic secondary school in the country is not located in the Muslim-dominated North but in the largely Christian South-East, specifically in Afikpo, Ebonyi State.

Now there are plans to turn the school, known as Islamic Centre, Afikpo, into an Islamic University. This was disclosed by Sheikh Daud Nwagui, the Headmaster of the primary section of the school, who told the Daily Trustnewspaper: “We hope to turn the school into a university, that is a university of Islamic studies. There is no school like this in the whole of the South-East.”

The hilly Afikpo town boasts the highest number of Igbo Muslims in the South-East, followed by the university town of Nsukka in neighbouring Enugu State. The Islamic Centre, Afikpo, was founded by Sheikh Ibrahim Okpani Nwagui, the father of the present headmaster, who brought Islam to Afikpo in 1958.

According to Sheikh Daud Nwagui, his late father embraced Islam in Senegal and promptly introduced the religion to his people when he returned to Nigeria in 1958.

“From that time a lot of people in the vicinity were turning to Islam. He was a very sincere person, and he was like this till his very last days. He was the founder of the Islamic Centre, Afikpo,” he said, adding: “This centre was set up in 1965 to propagate Islam generally. This is the best Islamic secondary school in the nation, and students come from all over the country, including Abuja.”

The Islamic Centre, Afikpo, has a primary and a secondary section. There are 450 pupils in the primary section, while the secondary section has some 500 pupils. Students write the NECO and SSCE examinations, just like other students in Nigerian secondary schools. The school has three boarding houses. A computer laboratory is under construction at the school.

Sheikh Daud Nwagui told Daily Trust that there is a special focus on Arabic as a language, on Islamic studies, physics, English Language, Biology, Chemistry, English Literature, Mathematics and Igbo. This, he explained, assists in producing a crop of rounded pupils.

The headmaster disclosed that graduates of the school have risen to prominent positions in the society. Many, he said, have done well in the areas of medicine, some are in the armed forces, also in engineering, and many have risen to become Chief Imams in many states of the federation.

Some graduates, Sheikh Daud Nwagui disclosed, are outside the country and doing very well in places such as Pakistan and India.

On challenges which the school has faced over the years, Sheikh Nwagui said that some form of challenge has come from those he described as ‘religious fanatics in the neighbourhood’ but quickly added: “But from the government of the state we are covered. The government gives us a lot of support.”

•Photo shows Sheikh Daud Nwagui, brainchild behind the proposed Islamic University to be sited in Afikpo, Ebonyi State.

Source News Express

When Saturday Vanguard visited the pool recently, it was found to be completely drained with trenches here and there dug by desperate visitors with a view to getting water from the soil for healing.

Saturday Vanguard had earlier visited the pool which many claimed had healing powers. Thousands of people from far and near visited the pool, dipped their bodies in the water, drank from the water, cut trees around the basin of the pool and took away sand within the precincts of the stream with the belief that it had supernatural healing powers.

Source: Vanguard

A child bride forced into marriage in Nigeria killed a groom and three of his friends with a poisoned meal, police said Thursday.

Fourteen-year-old Wasila Umaru was married last week to 35-year-old Umaru Sani, according to assistant superintendent Musa Magaji Majia.

Over the weekend, the groom invited a dozen friends to celebrate at his Ungwar Yansoro village, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the northern city of Kano.

The teenager told police she bought rat poison at a village market and used it to prepare a dish of rice.

"The suspect confessed to committing the crime and said she did it because she was forced to marry a man she did not love," Majia told The Associated Press.

The groom and a friend died the same day, and two other victims died later in the hospital.

Umaru is cooperating with police and likely will be charged with culpable homicide, according to Majia.

Child marriage is common in Nigeria and especially in the mainly Muslim and impoverished north, where the numbers increase in times of drought because a bride price is paid and it means one less mouth to feed. Fifty percent of Nigerian girls living in rural areas are married before they turn 18, according to the U.N. children's agency. That's a lot of child brides in a country of some 170 million people of whom half are under 18.

Child brides often suffer difficult pregnancies — the leading cause of death worldwide for girls aged 15 to 19 — and are much more likely to contract AIDS and be subjected to domestic violence, according to the International Center for Research on Women.

Early and forced marriage is classified as modern-day slavery by the U.N. labor organization, and Nigeria's Child Rights Act prohibits marriage before 18. But that federal law competes with Islamic Shariah law that holds in most northern states.

No one in Nigeria has been prosecuted for marrying a child, including Sen. Sani Ahmed Yerima, infamous for divorcing a 17-year-old that he married when she was 15 so he could marry a 14-year-old Egyptian girl in 2010, when he was 49. He had to divorce one of his child brides because Islamic law allows a maximum of four wives at a time.

Many child brides are divorced, for that reason and because of incontinence and other medical problems caused by difficult pregnancies, according to local child rights advocates who say such girls are put out on the street.

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Faul contributed to this story from Lagos, Nigeria.

Culled Abc News