* Anambra State Government through Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra, OCHA Brigade, has kicked off demolition of shanties; as it enforces strict regulations to maintain a clean, safe and healthy environment for all residents and visitors.
the Managing Director of OCHA Brigade, Comrade Celestine Anere, speaking shortly after the exercise, said the move is in compliance with the directive of the state government to ensure the removal and demolition of shanties constructed under high-tension lines, as well as illegal display of goods and other structures on roadside by traders.
The OCHA Brigade boss urged traders of all sorts to go into government-approved markets and wait for their customers instead of risking their lives on the roads and ruining the aesthetics of the state, noting that Governor Chukwuma Soludo administration is intentional about restoring and repositioning the state as a destination hub.
* Police Operatives attached to Anaku Divisional Headquarters, while on stop and search at Anaku/Omor Junction on Sunday, intercepted eight suspects riding on a motorcycle.
The suspects took to their heels in the process of searching by the operatives.
However, during a hot chase by the Police team, three of the suspects Okafor Chibike, Ekene Lucky Nwadigbu and Godwin Osaz all males and residents of Omor were arrested and arms concealed in a bag was confiscated.
The items recovered include: one locally made double barrel gun, one locally made revolver pistol, one dagger, three Android phones and four ATM cards. The Police team is currently combing the area for possible arrest of the other fleeing gang members.
Preliminary information, reveals that the suspects are members of the Aye Confraternity and were en route to their den for initiation. Also, one of their motorcycles was recovered and brought to the Police station.
* The Commissioner for Information, Dr. Law Mefor has urged Anambra State Association of Town Unions (ASATU) to support the new security initiative of the Soludo-led administration, Operation Udo Ga-Achị, to restore total security and rid the state of criminals.
Mefor while addressing the President-General’s during his courtesy visit at the ASATU Hall, Government House, Awka, assured that the state government is leaving no stone unturned to recover Ihiala and other parts of the state threatened by criminals.
The commissioner further explained that the law is not only tackling crime and criminality but is also addressing the enablers of crime, like self-acclaimed ndi dibia (fake native doctors), those into Oke-Ite i.e money rituals that are alien to Igbo culture.
* Police Operatives attached to the Ogidi Area Command acting on credible information on Saturday arrested Mr. Joshua Simeon, aged 32 years from Ohaozara in Ebonyi State at Nkpor Central Park, Idemili North Local Government Area.
The team also recovered a five-year old girl, Nkemdilim Jacob allegedly taken away by the suspect from her parents living in Umuota Village Obosi, idemili North Local Government Area.
According to SP Tochukwu Ikenga, Police Public Relations Officer, Anambra State Command, the suspect had already boarded a commercial vehicle and was en route to an unknown destination when he was arrested.
Meanwhile, the suspect is in custody and currently undergoing interrogation to ascertain his motives and determine whether this incident is part of a larger child trafficking network.
Efforts are also ongoing to reach out to the parents/relatives of the recovered child for possible reunion.
* Justice Development and Peace Caritas, (JDPC), Onitsha has procured and distributed farm input worth millions of naira to farmers in 12 out of the 16 communities of Ogbaru Local Government Area, to ameliorate the impact of perennial flood disasters on them.
The distribution, which was made under the Flood Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Project in Nigeria, implemented by JDPC and funded by Catholic Relief Services, saw 50 persons from each of the benefitting communities smiling home with cassava stems and yam tubers in readiness for planting season in the new year.
The benefitting communities are Odekpe, Ohita, Atani, Ogbakuba, Ochuche, Mkputu, Ogwuikpele, Umunankwo, Ossomala, Akiliogidi, Akiliozizor, and Obeagwe, all badly affected by previous episodes of flooding.
The Executive Director of JDPC Onitsha, Reverend Father Edwin Udoye, during the distribution of the items, explained that potato stems will also be procured for distribution at the onset of rainy season.
* Anambra Police Command has arrested six suspects from separate stop-and-search operations in the State.
One locally made double barrel gun, revolver pistol, one 7.62mm live ammunition, one metal axe, one Q-Link motorcycle with Reg No. JRV 760 QH, a gallon of substance suspected to be a hard drug, local pot, white and red cloth with NBM and Number 7 inscription on it
were recovered.
According to SP Tochukwu Ikenga, Police Public Relations Officer, Anambra State Command, other recovered items include some pieces of red and white clothes, candles, three Android phones and four ATM Cards.
* Popular Dibia prophet, Onye Eze Jesus, has spoken out about the recent arrests of his wife and her mother, claiming that it was not his decision to have them detained.
He stated that it was the Anambra State Government that took action, arresting them in connection with his kidnapping. He further added that it is now up to them to clear their names with the government.
Onye Eze Jesus, who made headlines following his kidnapping in October last year and the subsequent arrests of those involved, made it clear that he had no role in the detentions. While some of his captors have been arrested and the house where he was held demolished, he emphasized that he never called for specific arrests. He explained that all arrests made by the Anambra State Government were based on their security intelligence.
* Police operatives attached to the Awgbu Divisional headquarters who were on security screening operations, intercepted three suspects namely: Chidera Nwochia ‘M’ aged 20 years old from Amiri Orlu, Imo State, Chizurumu Elvis ‘M’ aged 23 years old from Mbano Imo State and Kosisochukwu Obiechina ‘M’ 21 years old from Agukwu Nri, Anambra State in a tricycle.
During the search one 7.62mm live ammunition, one black axe, a gallon of substance suspected to be a hard drug, a local pot, white and red cloth with NBM and number 7 inscription on it, some pieces of red and white clothes and candles.
The suspects confessed to being members of the Black Axe Confraternity and were en route to their initiation ground. The Police also recovered the tricycle which was conveying the suspects to the venue of their initiation.
All the suspects shall be charged to court on the conclusion of the investigations_
* The Speaker of Anambra State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Somtochukwu Udeze says his official duties as Speaker are too numerous that he has no time to impinge on the administration of Ogbaru Local Government Area.
In a press statement by the Speaker’s Special Assistant on New Media, Franklin Osuagwu, Rt. Hon. Udeze noted that he has achieved a lot for his Ogbaru people as a Legislator such as various empowerment schemes, employments, attraction of road projects especially the Atani-Ozubulu road as well as rehabilitation of failed portions of Atani road.
The Speaker also cited as one of his personally funded development projects in Ogbaru, the ongoing gigantic Agricultural Processing Plant in Atani, which he said, will serve the entire communities in Ogbaru Local Government Area when completed, in addition to his recent appeal to Governor Chukwuma Soludo to honour him in Ogbaru by being the first governor in Anambra State to construct the Atani-Osomalla-Ogwuikpele road, which the Governor gave the
assurance to do as some of his development efforts in the area.
* Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra, OCHA Brigade has arrested two suspected drug peddlers and illegal street traders during targeted operations across the state.
The suspects were arrested in Ogbunike, Oyi local government area during the demolition of shanties by the brigade.
Managing Director, Mr. Celestine Anere
while speaking, revealed that different illicit substances, such as Marijuana and other harmful narcotics, were recovered during the operations.
The suspects, twenty-eight-year-old Uchenna Benjamin from Imo state admitted he sold all kinds of hard drugs while twenty-one-year-old Clinton Asiegbu from Abia state said he left his job as a mechanic apprentice because he found peddling drugs more lucrative.
