From the growing deadly attacks in the region to the fatal stampede in Anambra and the arrest and imprisonment of Simon Ekpa, 2024 was an action-packed year in Nigeria’s South-east.
The continued detention of Mr Ekpa’s fellow Biafra agitator, Nnamdi Kanu, also added to the list of defining events in the region within the year.
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PREMIUM TIMES highlights some of the region’s defining events in 2024.
Deadly attacks
Like in the previous years, 2024 will be remembered for the deadly attacks in the South-east.
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Gunmen said to be part of the Biafra agitation in the region abducted, killed and beheaded several people, mainly government officials and security operatives in the region, during their numerous attacks in the year.
Unfortunately, there are no indications that the attacks will end soon.
Security facilities in the five South-east states – Enugu, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo and Abia –suffered recurring attacks by gunmen in 2024.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has been linked to some of the attacks in the region and some parts of the South-south of Nigeria.
IPOB has, however, repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks.
The separatist group is leading the agitation for an independent state of Biafra, which it wants carved out from the two regions.
Some of the prominent incidents include the killing of five soldiers by gunmen in Abia State on 30 May and the massacre of eight community leaders on 3 August in Imo State.
Kidnap attacks also intensified in 2024 in the South-east, with several people abducted and others killed by the abductors across the region.
The hoodlums have kidnapped Catholic priests, politicians, university lecturers, and even students suspected pro-Biafra gunmen and armed herders killed and abducted several people across the South-east in 2024.
In April, for instance, at least four people were killed by suspected herders who invaded Nimbo, a community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State.
Failed efforts to secure the release of Nnamdi Kanu
In January 2024, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, raised the hopes of many Igbo-speaking people of the South-east when he announced that Nnamdi Kanu would soon be released from detention.
The moves to secure the release of the IPOB leader intensified on 2 July with the resolution by South-east governors to meet President Bola Tinubu over the issue.
Apart from the governors’ resolution, 15 senators from the South-east region met with the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister for Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, in Abuja the following day.
Led by Enyinnaya Abaribe, who represents Abia South District, the senators sought the release of the IPOB leader based on a “political solution”.
Like the senators, the South-east caucus in the House of Representatives, on 4 July, also sought the IPOB leader’s release.
Earlier on 6 June, Mr Kanu’s legal team delivered a copy of an appeal letter to the AGF, Mr Fagbemi, seeking the IPOB leader’s freedom.
By 19 June, about 50 members of the House of Representatives wrote to Mr Tinubu seeking Mr Kanu’s release. The letter, however, became public knowledge in late July.
Despite all the efforts, Mr Kanu was yet to be released.
The IPOB leader has now spent his fourth Christmas in detention since his repatriation to Nigeria from Kenya in June 2021 under controversial circumstances.
He is being detained at the State Security Service (SSS) facility.
Meanwhile, Mr Kanu, in 2024, had repeated squabbles with the SSS over the refusal by the secret police to allow lawyers access to the IPOB leader.
The disagreement was later resolved through a “political compromise” after the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, and a member of the House from Abia State, Obi Aguocha, visited Mr Kanu at the SSS facility over the issue.
Lecturer’s marriage proposal to student in classroom
There was a drama on 14 February when a university lecturer proposed to his fiancée in her Abia State University Uturu classroom.
In photographs circulating on Facebook, the lecturer, Wisdom Anucha, is seen kneeling with a ring in his hand while proposing to his heartthrob.
Some students watched in apparent excitement while others were busy recording as the lecturer proposed to the lady, who is said to be a student of Optometry in the institution.
Mr Anucha, this newspaper learnt lectures in the department of sociology at the institution.
The incident elicited several reactions, with many Nigerians criticising the lecturer for proposing to the student in the classroom.
The lecturer later married the student on 6 April.
Launching of Geometric Power
It was a remarkable moment in the South-east on 26 February when Nigeria’s Vice-President Kashim Shettima commissioned the 188-megawatt Geometric Power Plant in Aba, Abia State.
Because of its significance, the commissioning of the power project was among the top stories that trended in the South-east and across Nigeria for weeks. Many applauded the initiative as a great step to ending Nigeria’s power supply woes.
Built by Nigeria’s former Minister of Power, Barth Nnaji, the power plant was expected to accelerate power supply to industrial clusters in the South-east, beginning with Aba.
The commissioning happened after over 20 years following intense legal battles between the power plant owner, Mr Nnaji and others, including management of the Enugu State Electricity Distribution Company.
The project is said to be worth over $800 million.
Death of Junior Pope
It was a tragic day on 10 April when popular Nollywood actor John Paul Odonwodo, popularly known as Junior Pope and four other actors drowned after their boat capsized in Anam River in Anambra State while returning from a movie shoot.
Of a total of 12 individuals who boarded the ill-fated boat, only seven were rescued alive, while five died, including Mr Odonwodo.
His death was felt across Nigeria, especially in the South-east, where he hailed from.
The Nollywood actor was buried on Friday, 17 May, at his country home after a burial mass at Saint Peter’s Catholic Church, Ukehe.
Labour Party’s crisis, Otti’s romance with ZLP
There was a mild drama in October when Governor Alex Otti of Abia State allied with an opposition party, the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), ahead of the conduct of local government elections in the state, which were held on 2 November.
The ZLP later won chairmanship seats in 15 of the 17 local government areas of Abia State despite the state being governed by Mr Otti, a member of the Labour Party (LP) under which he was elected governor.
The LP won none of the chairmanship seats, and the Young Progressives Party won the remaining two.
Instructively, ZLP enjoyed the support of Mr Otti. The governor asked his aides and allies to contest the election under the ZLP platform, not the LP.
An intense leadership crisis has torn apart the LP.
Mr Otti and the LP presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi, belong to the same faction of the LP.
In September, the faction appointed Nenadi Usman, a former Nigerian Minister, to manage the party’s affairs by heading its caretaker committee.
But, about a month after Mrs Usman’s appointment, a federal court recognised Julius Abure as the authentic national chairperson of the LP.
Mr Abure dismissed the convention that produced Mrs Usman and threatened to suspend Mr Otti and others from the party.
Observers say the leadership crisis and the romance between Mr Otti and the ZLP would be a major setback in the LP’s move to consolidate its grip in the South-east region ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Innoson’s first electric vehicle
September was historic in Nigeria as an indigenous firm, Innoson Manufacturing Company Limited, unveiled its first locally produced electric vehicle.
Innoson is a vehicle manufacturing company based in Nnewi in Anambra State.
The unveiling of the electric vehicle suggested that the plan to reduce carbon emissions from vehicles using petrol for road transport in Nigeria is nearly a reality.
Killing of truck driver in Abia
For the family of Chinedu Ukwu, 14 August will remain an unforgettable day because of the painful memories it brings.
On the fateful day, a stray bullet hit Mr Ukwu during a reported shootout between two police teams in the Alaoji Area of Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State.
The shootout occurred between police patrol teams from the Police Area Command in Aba and another police team from Umuahia.
Residents claimed the operatives appeared to have mistaken themselves for members of the separatist group IPOB.
The victim was returning from a trip when the incident happened.
In November, his family detailed how they had been battling to survive following the death of their breadwinner.
Sacking of UNIZIK VC
November 2024 was a month of intrigue and drama at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka (NAU), in Anambra State, known as UNIZIK.
Hours after PREMIUM TIMES’ exclusive report, President Bola Tinubu sacked the newly appointed Vice-Chancellor of the university, Bernard Odoh.
Mr Tinubu also dissolved the university’s Governing Council led by Greg Mbadiwe.
The sack of Mr Odoh, now a disputed professor, came about three weeks after his appointment.
On 20 November, the lecturer rejected the sack and argued that the education ministry had no power to sack him as vice-chancellor, even as Bayo Onanuga, the special adviser to Mr Tinubu, also announced Mr Odoh’s sack as UNIZIK’s vice-chancellor.
The Nigerian government, later on the same 20 November, announced the appointment of the acting vice-chancellor of the university.
The following day, there was another drama when the management of the Federal University, Gusau (FUGUS), Zamfara State, disowned the sacked vice-chancellor.
The FUGUS Registrar, Yakubu Anivbassa, narrated how Mr Odoh allegedly obtained his professorship fraudulently. Mr Odoh later sued FUGUS for denying his professorship.
Simon Ekpa’s arrest, imprisonment
On 21 November, Nigerians woke up to the news that the Finnish authorities had arrested Simon Ekpa, a controversial pro-Biafra agitator alongside four others in Finland, on suspicion of terrorist activities.
The Finnish police said Mr Ekpa “has contributed to violence and crimes against civilians in South-eastern Nigeria.”
The District Court of Päijät-Häme later ordered that the pro-Biafra agitator be imprisoned “with probable cause on suspicion of public incitement to commit a crime with terrorist intent.”
The Finnish-Nigerian citizen is being held at the Kylmäkoski Prison in the North European country.
According to Finnish authorities, he is expected to face charges in May 2025.
Mr Ekpa was indicted for financing terrorism alongside the four other suspects.
The police suspect that the Biafra agitator committed the crime of collecting money, violating the Finnish Money Collection Act.
The Finnish police said he allegedly committed the crimes between 23 August 2021 and 18 November 2024 in Lahti, a town in Finland.
Days after his imprisonment, Finnish authorities announced that Mr Ekpa’s assets and those of other suspects had been frozen.
Arrest of Anambra LG chairperson in US
In November, Nigerians were shocked to learn about the arrest in the US of Franklin Nwadialo, the chairperson of Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Mr Nwadialo, 40, on his arrival at an airport in Texas on 2 November, the US Department of Justice announced in a statement.
He is accused of romance scam.
According to the indictment and criminal complaint filed in the case, the politician allegedly defrauded victims of more than $3.3 million in the alleged romance scam.
If convicted, Mr Nwadialo could spend up to 20 years in prison in the US.
In response, the Anambra State Government said it was not concerned about the arrest of the council chairperson in the US, given that local government is now autonomous in Nigeria.
Fatal stampede in Anambra
On 21 December, tragedy struck in Okija Community, Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, when many people were killed during a fatal stampede in the community.
The victims had gone to take part in the sharing of bags of rice and other food items donated by a renowned entrepreneur, Ernest Obiejesi, popularly known as Obijackson.
The police in Anambra State, the following day, confirmed that 22 people were killed in the stampede.
