Deadly masquerade attack, Nnamdi Kanu-SSS squabble, other top stories from South-east

Local government elections in Enugu, Imo and Anambra

Last Sunday, we kicked off the week with reports of the final results of local elections in Enugu, Imo and Anambra states.

The elections were held simultaneously on 21 September across the states.

In Enugu, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won all the chairmanship and councilorship positions in the 17 local government areas and 260 political wards in the state.

In Anambra, the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) won all the chairmanship and councillorship positions in the state’s 21 local government areas and 326 political wards.

Similarly, the ruling All Progressives Congress in Imo State won all the chairmanship and councilorship positions in the state’s 27 local government areas and 305 wards.

PDP national leadership’s alleged sabotage, and negligence of the party in Abia

Last Monday, we reported that a group within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State accused the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) of deliberately sabotaging and neglecting the party in the state.

The group, the Rebranded Abia PDP Forum, said the alleged sabotage and negligence was part of a grand plot with an unnamed opposition party in Abia and a member of the PDP’s Board of Trustees to destroy the PDP.

The group submitted a protest letter to Umaru Damagun, the Acting National Chairperson of the PDP, and other members of the NWC.

It gave an instance of the alleged negligence by saying that the PDP national leadership did not intervene during an over 10-month battle to get party member Aaron Uzodike inaugurated as a lawmaker in Abia State.

Soludo’s free education for senior secondary schools in Anambra

On Thursday, Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State announced free education for students of senior secondary in public schools in the state.

Mr Soludo had, in September 2023, announced free education in public schools in Anambra from nursery to junior secondary schools.

The governor, who said he decided to extend the free education programme to senior secondary schools, also announced that his administration would begin paying the N70,000 minimum wage in the state in October.

This is months after President Bola Tinubu signed the new minimum wage bill into law.

The new law came into existence after the Organised Labour demanded a raise in the country’s minimum wage of N30,000 because of the rising cost of living.

Another Nnamdi Kanu’s squabble with SSS

We reported on Friday that the legal team of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), accused the State Security Service (SSS) of blocking the team’s access to the IPOB leader.

Flanked by three other lawyers in a video clip uploaded on X handle on Friday, Aloy Ejimakor, special counsel to Mr Kanu, noted that the SSS’s alleged action violated court orders and the Nigerian Constitution.

Before the latest development, the SSS had allegedly prevented some lawyers from seeing the IPOB leader in 2021.

A similar incident reoccurred in 2022, about a year later.

Deadly masquerade attacks in Enugu

On Friday, we reported the death of two people from Oriokpa masqueraders’ attacks in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State.

The Enugu State Government summoned traditional rulers and the president-generals of the communities in the council area over the deadly attacks.

The government also ordered an investigation into the activities of the Oriokpa masquerade groups in the area and vowed to prosecute the perpetrators.

Before the latest incidents, the Oriokpa masquerades were allegedly involved in a widely condemned attack on a female nurse in April.

Ebonyi cholera death toll hits 15

The Ebonyi State Government, on Friday, announced that the death toll from the cholera outbreak in Ndibokote Village in Ezza-Inyimegu Community has hit 15.

The community is in Izzi Local Government Area of the state.

Steven Nwankpa, the chairperson of Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi, warned the people in the affected community to desist from open defecation practices and other unhealthy lifestyles.