Politics
How I lost my way in Enugu – Sen. Utazi

By Our Reporter
A ranking Senator in the 9th Senate and an indigene of Enugu state, representing Enugu North Senatorial District,
Senator Chukwuka Utazi, has narrated how he recently lost his way inside Enugu metropolis, attributing it to the unprecedented level of development in the state within a short period of Governor Peter Mbah administration in infrastructure and other sectors.
Utazi, who said this during a media parley with Government House Enugu correspondents shortly after a private visit to Governor Peter Mbah in his office on Tuesday, also added that he was more than satisfied with the significant transformation taking place in the state under Mbah’s leadership.
According to him, on arrival at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, he was driven into the city through the tunnel at the New Haven junction, but could no longer recognise the city due to the level of infrastructural transformations while he was away.
“This is one year and seven months and someone has posted so many projects for everyone to see, transforming Enugu to a state of our dreams. When all these things were done, I was out of Enugu for almost two months. So, when I came back in October, I lost my way. My brother who was taking me home took me under the tunnel from the airport. Turning all way from Otigba Roundabout, I saw so many things that were done within such short time,” he said.
He further expressed surprise at the rate in which works were going on across the state, particularly pointing at the vigour contractors were putting on the Ugwogo-Nike-Opi-Nsukka road dualization project.
“I am from Nsukka. When I was returning, instead of the zigzag way we usually follow, I saw people clearing and I asked what they were doing and I was told the governor wants the road straight because many people have lost their lives using the road in such a manner.
“As a senator I know the efforts I made to ensure the dualization of that road. I didn’t hear any discussion about the contract and I said it’s a gimmick but I called the contractor, COMAG Construction, who happens to be our in-law but he laughed and said the job was going to be done,” the senator added.
While lamenting how past leadership failures contributed to the abandonment of projects in the state, Utazi said Mbah had shown that leadership was intentional and not a rocket science that defers solution.
“To some people, two years is not enough to start but within one year and seven months, we have seen a lot of jobs done. Take a look at the face-lift behind Okpara Square and see how he has completed all the abandoned projects there. This is because he believes in continuity. Some said they can’t finish the projects of the past governors but in the process, the projects that our people would have benefited from became wasted and lost. Today, Mbah has completed them and I am proud of him.
“I am very happy and pleased that Governor Peter Mbah is working for our people. As a Christian who understands the injunction of God in the book of Romans that we should pray for our leaders because every leader is from God, we have been praying for Governor Peter Mbah so that he will do the job without getting distracted. This leadership of his is from God and we shall continue to pray to him,” he noted.
The elated senator boasted that Enugu State under the leadership of Peter Mbah can now boldly beat its chest of having the state-of-the-art facilities big enough to host the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Conference and other international conferences.
Politics
2027: Tinubu ‘ll face stiff opposition from SE, SS, others -Ex-IPAC chief

By Abdul-Ganiyy Akanbi, Abuja
Former National Legal Adviser of the Inter Party Advisory Council of Nigeria, (IPAC), Chief Barrister Chukwudi Ezeobika, has said that the people of the South East and South South together with other regions would not support President Bola Tinubu and his party, the All Progressives Congress, (APC ) during the 2027 general elections due to what he described as political intolerance, bigotry and parochialism of the present administration.

Barr.Chukwudi Ezeobika
Ezeobika said Tinubu, having emerged as the president “amidst doubts and unresolved moral questions as to the credibility of a partisan electoral process” by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC under Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, “has once again failed to jettison the unpatriotic, perfidious and deeply prejudiced behaviour of his predecessor in office in the way and manner he runs his government.”
He also added in a statement issued on Sunday that the President “has once again demonstrated that political Intolerance, bigotry and parochialism have become deeply rooted and fully entrenched as a well established ideology and inherent policy of the APC.
“The marginalisation and or exclusion of many ethnic nationalities who form an integral part of the Nigeria nation in various federal appointments shows, to some extent, the impunity and disdain with which President Bola Tinubu builds tensions across the nation and creates disaffection and hatred amongst Nigerians,” he stated.
Ezeobika, who was a former candidate for Anambra South Senatorial District in 2018, further noted that the failure of the Tinubu-led APC government to heed the calls of eminent jurists and major stakeholders from the South East to put an end to the protracted unrests in the region, by releasing the detained leader of the indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally, goes to show that the political will to restore lasting peace within the region, is not a viable consideration or priority for his government.
He said: “The President has, however, failed to understand that such costly inaction forecloses his chances of ever getting the needed political support within the region, in his current bid to have himself re-elected.
“This singular inaction remains the main and only reason why his defeat in the whole of the South East and South South will be absolute, unalloyed and damning as the people from these regions will use every means necessary to defend their votes.
“Having nursed and superintendent over a political party that has brought untold hardships, avoidable deaths and economic strangulation to a nation once projected as the best economy in Africa, the damaging effects of the ineptitude of the current administration on the lives of Nigerian citizens remain the main reason why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is deemed unelectable in the forthcoming general elections.”
Ezeobika also alleged that the present administration has unwittingly failed to address persistent extra judicial killings across the country and numerous arrests, illegal detentions of many youths by security agencies most especially by the Department of State Services, DSS without trial.
“It is indeed deeply troubling that many of these youths are languishing in detention facilities across the Federation even without any formal trials. This is, however, in clear violation of their fundamental rights as enshrined in Sections 34, 35, 36 and 41 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), most especially Section 36 (5) which provides that ‘Every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proved guilty,” he stated.
Politics
IPU cannot consider Natasha’s petition – Jimoh Ibrahim

Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, Chairman of the Senate Inter-parliamentary Committee, remarked that the purported petition from the suspended Senator Natasha is “dead on arrival.”
He emphasised that Nigeria, rather than Senator Natasha, is the member of the IPU.
A petition can only be lodged against another member state by a member state.
This implies that the IPU cannot consider petitions from individuals who are not members.
The suspended Senator Natasha is not a member of the IPU, but Nigeria is!
Additionally, the suspended Senator cannot represent the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“I served as the interim president of the IPU in Geneva in 2023, and I am familiar with how the IPU operates after presiding over its proceedings.
Furthermore, as Chairman of the Inter- parliamentary Committee in the Nigerian Senate, I did not approve or authorise the suspended Senator Natasha to attend the IPU on behalf of Nigeria to the Senate President.”
Politics
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