From the bombing of a police facility by gunmen in Anambra State to the shocking remark by Ohanaeze Ndigbo against the Nigerian constitution, last week was eventful in the South-east.
It was the last week of March 2024.
Here are the highlights of the top stories that made headlines in the region within the past week:
Controversy over reported washing away of newly constructed road in Anambra
The week began in the South-east with a controversy over the washing away of a newly constructed road in Anambra State.
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A video clip that was circulated on social media showed part of Ochanja Road being washed away by rainfall. The road, constructed by Governor Charles Soludo’s administration in Anambra State, was reportedly commissioned barely a week earlier.
Apart from the Ochanja Road, Iweka Road was also flooded after the rainfall, another clip showed.
But Mr Soludo’s media team quickly debunked the allegation and argued that there was no washing away of any road already completed by the governor.
Ejiofor Opara, a media aide to Governor Soludo, said construction works were ongoing on the roads before the rainfall.
Mr Opara said those who recorded the video clips were simply being mischievous in claiming that the governor had commissioned the roads.
The matter trended for days in the state and across the region.
Bombing of police facility by gunmen
It was a sad day on Thursday in Neni, a community in Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State, South-east Nigeria, where gunmen threw explosive devices into the Neni Police Divisional Headquarters.
The explosion affected part of the police facility.
The police in the state would later announce that they had destroyed some camps belonging to the gunmen who attacked the police facility and other facilities in the state.
Although no life was lost in the attack in Neni, it was another reminder that the growing insecurity in the state and region has not slowed down.
Ohanaeze not happy with Nigerian constitution
On Wednesday, the President-General of the Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, announced that Ohanaeze was not happy with the 1999 Constitution as amended.
During a retreat of the Ohanaeze, Mr Iwuanyanwu called for the restructuring of Nigeria, where power would devolve from the federal government to the state governments.
The Igbo leader asked for the creation of an additional state for the South-east.
He threatened to take legal action against the federal government if it failed to give the region an additional state equivalent to other zones in the country, saying, “We are assembling Igbo lawyers to pursue it.”
Apart from the remarks on the Nigerian constitution and state creation, Ohanaeze also asked South-east governors to address the growing insecurity in the region.
Six LP members of Enugu Assembly defect to PDP
Six members of the Enugu House of Assembly from the opposition Labour Party (LP) defected on Thursday to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
The lawmakers announced their defection in a letter read by the Speaker of the Assembly, Uche Ugwu, during Thursday’s plenary.
The defectors include the Majority Leader, Johnson Ani (Enugu North); the Chief Whip, Ejike Eze (Igbo-Eze North 1); and the Deputy Chief Whip, Princess Ugwu (Enugu South Rural).
Others are Pius Ezugwu (Nsukka East); Williams Amuka (Igbo-Etiti West); and Osita Eze (Oji River).
In the letter, the defectors said they took the action because of “irreconcilable division and incessant crisis” within the LP at the national level and across all the state chapters.
With the defection, the PDP now has the majority in the House with 17 members, while the LP has six members.
Exhumation of bodies of kidnap victims from IPOB/ESN camp, killing of suspects
The raids of camps belonging to suspected members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed militant wing, Eastern Security Network (ESN), by Nigerian security agencies continued in the South-east last week.
For instance, troops of the Joint Task Force, Operation Udo Ka, on Friday, discovered and exhumed bodies of kidnap victims during a raid of the IPOB/ESN camp in Imo State.
The army said it would conduct forensic analysis of some of the exhumed bodies for a befitting burial.
Similarly, the police in Enugu State said they killed two suspected IPOB/ESN members when police operatives raided a camp belonging to the separatist group on Saturday in Akwuke Community in the state.
The Nigerian security agencies, mainly the police and the military, have been carrying out operations against the IPOB/ESN members across the South-east and some parts of South-south Nigeria, resulting in casualties among the security operatives and members of the separatist group.
IPOB is seeking to carve out a sovereign state of Biafra from the South-east and some parts of the South-South of Nigeria.
Ex-PDP senator, LP governorship aspirant, others defect to APC in Enugu
There was a defection of politicians from various political parties to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State on Saturday.
Among the top defectors is a former PDP senator from Enugu State, Chukwuka Utazi.
Mr Utazi, who represented Enugu North District in the 9th Senate under the PDP platform, resigned from the PDP in October, shortly after the 2023 general elections.
The former senator explained that he resigned from the PDP because “those ideals that attracted me to the party have since receded into oblivion.”
Besides Mr Utazi, a 2023 LP governorship aspirant in Enugu State, Dave Nnamani, and a former Nigeria’s minister of Aviation, Fidelia Njeze, also defected to the APC.
The senatorial candidate of the African Democratic Congress for Enugu North District, Chuka Idoko, his All Progressives Grand Alliance counterpart for the same district, Jonathan Eze, and an entrepreneur, Goddy Jinegwo, equally defected to the APC.
The Enugu State Government is controlled by the PDP.
Observers say the defectors might consider contesting for federal positions in the next general elections.
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