Michael Adikwu, Vice Chancellor, University of Abuja, says the university faced a lot of difficulties in getting accreditation of some of its courses because it took off in a primary school in Gwagwalada in 1990 after its establishment in 1988.
“You should understand that this university started in a primary school. Most of the facilities we had on the mini campus were based on primary-school structures; the spaces were meant for headmistress and primary school teachers,” Adikwu said at the main campus of the university on Tuesday.
“When I came here, only Agricultural Science had full accreditation. From 2005, there was no accreditation in this university. But now, among the 53 courses that we run in this university, 50 have accreditation.”
Adikwu was appointed Vice Chancellor of the university in July 2014 after James Adelabu left at the end of his five year tenure.
But the university witnessed its lowest moments under him, when, in 2012, the Federal Government suspended four disciplines – Agriculture, Engineering, Health Science and Veterinary Medicine – due to substandard facilities, poor labs and accreditation problems.
Speaking at a press conference held after the university graduated its first set of medical students who had been studying for the past 12 years due to the suspension and re-accreditation of their course by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) last Saturday, the Vice Chancellor disclosed that only Political Science still had a serious challenge with accreditation now.
He stated that all the other courses suspended alongside Medicine had all been fully accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and other regulatory agencies such as the Council for the Regulation of Engineering In Nigeria (COREN).
While speaking earlier, Sani Maikudi, Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council of the university, said the College of Health Science of the university had, since inception in 2005/2006, faced serious challenges resulting from the non-accreditation of the medical courses and three others.
He expressed optimism that the graduation of 18 medical students on Saturday had helped the university put all its bad experiences behind.
“You may wish to know that courses in Engineering, Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture have now been fully accredited and have been graduating students,” he said.
The Office of the Public Defender (OPD) in the Lagos State Ministry of Justice has rescued a 10-year-old girl in the home of Ada Onyejike Ananaba, founder of the Girl Child Art Foundation (GCAF) — a non- profit organisation that claims to provide more than 17,000 girls with life skill programme opportunities.
The ICIR confirmed that Ananaba had been arrested and would be charged to court, likely on Wednesday, for maltreating the girl and denying her education (She had not been attending school since the start of the current academic session in September.).
The girl was rescued on Tuesday afternoon by the OPD at Ananaba’s home in Omole, Ikeja, where she has been subjected to untold hardship and deprivation.
The source said that although the girl had stopped schooling, she continued taking Ananaba’s two kids to and from school every day.
Irony… Ananaba preaching against violence against women and girls
“She is up as early as 5am sweeping the house and even up till 11pm. You need to see all the marks on her body; horrible!
“She gets beaten up by Ananaba all the time; morning beatings are customary. This is a very serious case of human trafficking.”
When Ananaba brought the girl to Lagos from the eastern part of the country about three years ago, she enrolled her in public school while her children were attending private school.
It was alleged that the girl had been doing all the domestic chores and she was constantly beaten by Ananaba.
At the moment, OPD has taken custody of the girl.
Ananaba “standing” with girls
Ironically, Ananaba claims to have used her NGO to improve the education and future of vulnerable girls in Nigerian communities.
In an appeal to donors about two months ago, she said: “Our projects have covered areas such as the use of Art to advocate for education, promote the sexual reproductive health and development of girls in and out of schools in Nigeria. Our strength has always been in the provision of free, friendly training class on various topics, targeting girls and youth in local communities.
“So far, your donations have helped us reach about 8,653 girls in 42 schools through our school outreach programmes, pay school fees for six girls who nearly dropped out of school. Your donations have also helped in transporting volunteers to the various communities, buy learning materials for our outreach programs, art materials for our free training classes, and conduct 1 free basic training on computer skill and screen-printing summer classes for 35 girls.”
Ananaba is a graduate of Fine and Applied Arts from the Institute of Management and Technology Enugu (IMT), Enugu, and holds an M.Sc. in Management of Development, with specialisation in HIV and AIDS from Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Science Wageningen, Netherlands.
Rochas Okorocha, Governor of Imo State, says he wants to become President because he has something in his head that can fix all of the country’s problems.
Okorocha said this during a recent interview with Mowarin Oritsegbami of Channels television.
However, he reiterated his earlier stance that only President Muhammadu Buhari could prevent him from running for the presidency come 2019.
Okorocha has been in the news lately for a series of controversial decisions, including his recent appointment of his sister as Commissioner for Happiness and Purpose Fulfillment.
Nnamdi Obiareri, Commissioner of Information in Imo State, says the decision of Governor Rochas Okorocha to create a Ministry of Happiness is “a clear constitutional provision”.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Obiareri stressed that Section 192 (2) of the 1999 constitution as amended empowers state governors to create as many ministries as possible for the good of his people.
When Obiareri was asked whether the creation of a happiness ministry was the top priority in Imo State, he replied “exactly, the happiness of Imo people”.
“If you remember, the mantra of the government is ‘Imo must be better’. ‘Imo must be better’ recognises the fact that Imo people must be happy.
“Imo people must be made to be able to fulfill their purpose in life. The young school leavers who are out there on the street must be mentored.
“The young apprentices that we have all over the place, the 2005 youth millennials that have been created by this government, the women that have been empowered must be made to realise their purpose in life.”
Obiareri also clarified that the correct nomenclature of the newly created ministry is ‘Ministry of Happiness and Purpose Fulfillment’, not ‘couples fulfillment’ as was widely reported in the media.
He also said that the fact that the ministry is being overseen by Ogechi Ololo, who is Okorocha’s sister, does not amount to nepotism on his part.
Explaining further, Obiareri said that Okorocha created the happiness ministry “in order to articulate and pursue plans and programmes to promote the happiness of the Imo people”.
“You can realise that what the Governor has done is to be able to give a clear umbrella portfolio to all the programmes that the government has put on ground to be able to achieve happiness in Imo State.
“That is a ministry that is newly created. The fact that the Deputy Chief of Staff, Honourable Mrs Ogechi Ololo, was put in charge of that ministry in a supervisory capacity does not and cannot amount to nepotism.
“What the Governor of Imo State has done in creating the ministry of happiness and purpose fulfillment is to be able to assist Imo people to realise happiness, which is the very primary essence of governance, and their purpose in life.
“Some people are happy for different reasons, some are also unhappy irrespective of the wealth and the economic stability around them. Most people are also unhappy because of ignorance.
“So the government of the day, acting under clear constitutional provision, created that ministry of happiness and purpose fulfillment in order to cater for that.”
Isa Misau, Senator representing Bauchi Central at the National Assembly, has taken the campaign for the scrapping of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police Force to the Senate.
Misau, a retired police officer, raised the issue as a point of order on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday, calling for an investigation into the allegations of human rights violations by SARS personnel over the years.
The hashtag EndSARS has been dominant on Twitter since the weekend, many Nigerians recounting their negative experiences at the hands of SARS operatives.
“Mr. President, I have in the last few months received several petitions from my constituency against SARS,” Misau said.
“The complaints vary from extra-judicial killings, brutality, torture, arrest for bribe and other menacing conduct by the men of the unit.
“Most of the tweets with the hashtag, EndSARS, reported several cases of harassment, and arbitrary arrest of Nigerian youths labelling them Yahoo Boys.
“Mr. President, the complaints have ranged from how officers waylaid citizens at ATM points to how they often threaten to kill, avowing they will get away with it. There are specific cases of how SARS officers allegedly murder citizens for declining to pay bribes.”
Misau added; “SARS is supposed to be a section in each state command criminal investigation department with the sole responsibility of handling armed robbery cases; it is answerable to the state commissioner of Police.
“It is dangerous for us to have a unit of the Police Force act as if it is above the law. We must now take a major decision to end SARS until a unit built around the rule of law and human rights observance is created by the police.”
“I’m aware that in 2015, the then IGP, Solomon Arase, had due to incessant reports of abuses by the squad split SARS into two units with a view to checking its human rights abuses.
“This was done to ensure that officers don’t make arrests and investigate the same case. However, the abuses have continued.”
Responding to Misau’s comments, Bukola Saraki, Senate President, said the issue must be given urgent attention.
“I think it is clear that something wrong is going on and it needs urgent attention,” Saraki said before referring the matter to the Senate ad hoc committee on security.
Misau has been in a running battle with the Police leadership over the circumstances surrounding his retirement.
The Police maintained that Misau deserted the police and fraudulently procured the retirement certificate he presented to INEC during his election.
But the Police Service Commission said Misau’s retirement letter was genuine and that he retired the proper way.
Currently, Misau is facing a libel suit filed against him by Ibrahim Idris, the Inspector General of Police, over his allegations that Idris collects billions in bribes monthly from top companies and individuals before providing them with special police security.
The Federal Government says it has a record of 2,778 Nigerian migrants registered in “accessible” detention camps in Libya, ready for repatriation.
Tiwatope Elias-Fatiile, the Spokesperson of Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said officials of Nigerian Embassy in Libya had been visiting detention camps to identify Nigerians for registration.
“From the 2,778 registered Nigerians who are still in detention camps, another set of 250 Nigerian migrants will be arriving on Tuesday Dec. 5, at Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos at 7.00.pm. to be received by NEMA officials,” Elias-Fatiile disclosed in a statement issued on Tuesday.
He stated that those registered were issued Emergency Travel Certificates, adding that the Nigerian Embassy in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) repatriates 250 migrants weekly and had returned 3,000 of them so far.
“The Embassy, in collaboration with the IOM, repatriates 250 Nigerian migrants by flight to Lagos weekly – each flight can accommodate only 250 passengers.
“The repatriation is a continuous exercise and the Embassy routinely issues the requisite travel documents to the migrants.
“The Embassy will continue to engage the legitimate government in Libya and other stakeholders in addressing the plight of Nigerian migrants in that country.,” he said
Elias-Fatiile further said that Geoffrey Onyeama, Foreign Affairs Minister, had invited Iliya Fachano, Nigerian Embassy’s Head of Mission, to Abuja for consultations.
“He is in Abuja already and during the period of the consultations, arrangements have been made for him to address press conferences on the issue.
“This would afford the Nigerian public the opportunity to hear from him directly.”
The Ministry, he said, advised intending Nigerian travellers to “avoid Libya at this period, because of the dangers they may encounter in the process of their journey”.
He also urged citizens to reach the Nigerian Embassy in Libya for assistance through these emergency numbers: 218910144487, 218925099384 and 218917953365.
He said that through these contacts, the embassy had received requests for intervention from some relations of the victims based in Nigeria.
While condemning the slave market in Libya, Iliya Fachano said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it would engage the UN, African Union, European Union and other stakeholders to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.
“It violates the fundamental human rights of the victims and it is unacceptable to the civilised world.”
The House of Representatives wants Kemi Adeosun, Minster of Finance, to upturn the suspension of Mounir Gwarzo as Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Gwarzo was suspended last week by Adeosun, who is also Chairman of the Board of SEC, over allegations of financial impropriety.
He was suspended alongside Abdulsalam Naif Habu, SEC’s Head of Media Division, and Anastasia Omozele Braimoh, Head of the Legal Department.
However, during Tuesday’s sitting of the House of Representatives, the lawmakers resolved to form an ad hoc committee to probe Gwarzo’s suspension, but they want both parties to maintain the status quo pending the outcome of the investigation.
This is following recent revelation that Gwarzo’s suspension was as a result of his insistence on a forensic audit of Oando Plc’s finances.
According to a report by This Day newspaper, Adeosun had held a meeting with Gwarzo and Mahmud Isa Dutse, Permanent Secretary of the finance ministry, on Monday, November 27, during which she verbally instructed Gwarzo to discontinue the Oando probe.
Gwarzo was said to have objected to the idea, but given that the Finance Minister is also the Chairman of the board of SEC, he wrote her a letter asking for her demands to be made in writing.
“Pursuant to our meeting on the above subject held on Monday, November 27, 2017, I am compelled to advise you ma, on the implication of the verbal directive issued to me in which you stated that the SEC should discontinue the forensic audit on Oando Plc and hold a tripartite meeting with Legal Officers of the Commission, Oando Plc and the Federal Ministry of Finance, with the purpose of coming up with penalties which would be issued to top officials of Oando Plc in their personal capacity for payment,” read Gwarzo’s letter which was sighted by journalists.
“The Commission in Section 13 (cc) of the Investments and Securities Act 2007, is mandated to advise the Honourable Minister of Finance on all matters relating to the securities industry.
“Thus, this advice proffered is as a result of our obligation to properly guide you on the best approach to take on capital market issues and it is strongly our recommendation that it should be adopted.
“Honourable Minister, my request to seek for a written directive is not in any way meant to disrespect your person, but stems from the basis that every decision or directive of the Board to the management of the Commission are always documented to enable ease of implementing such directive.
“Given your current capacity as the Board of the Commission. It is only proper that you be guided on the necessary procedure to adopt.”
Gwarzo was suspended a day after his letter got to the finance ministry.
However, an official of the ministry who does not want to be named said it was not true that Gwarzo was suspended because he refused to drop the Oando probe.
“That Gwarzo was suspended because of the Oando matter is not true,” the official was quoted as saying.
“The minister that day informed him that Oando had made an approach and had pleaded guilty to the charges against its management. They wanted to settle, they wanted a plea bargain of sorts.
“So, she instructed that since the management of Oando had admitted that it was guilty of the charges, she saw no reason for the audit to continue and instructed that a committee be set up to recommend penalties that will be imposed on the managers of the company in their personal capacities.
“But Gwarzo refused and insisted that the audit must go ahead, to which she informed him that he was using Oando as a ruse to divert attention from the allegations of financial impropriety against him.”
Rochas Okorocha, Governor of Imo State, is fast making a name for himself as the most controversial State Governor in Nigeria, no thanks to his numerous policies that has been described at best as nepotistic.
On Monday, he swore in Ogechi Ololo, his own biological sister as Commissioner for Happiness and Couples’ Fulfillment. Before her recent appointment, Ololo was the Deputy Chief of Staff to Okorocha, as well as his Special Adviser on Domestic Matters.
But that’s just one out of the many grossly unpopular decisions of Okorocha’s that leaves one wondering what exactly is going on in his thoughts.
Here are some of his more incredulous actions.
APPOINTS RELATIVES INTO CHOICE GOVERNMENT POSITIONS
Anthony Anwuka, Minister of State for Education, is Okorocha’s in-law. His son is married to Okorocha’s daughter
Following the demise of Justice P.I Okpara, former President of the Imo State Court of Appeal in May, Okorocha appointed Christiana Anwuka, as Acting President.
Now, Anwuka is mother of Uzo Anwuka, who is married to Okorocha’s second daughter, Uju.
Also, Justice Anwuka is the wife of Anthony Anwuka, who is currently Nigeria’s Minister of State for Education.
Anwukah, who recently drew public ire for travelling to the United States for medical treatment, was also nominated by Okorocha. Before his nomination to the ministerial position, he had served as Secretary to the Imo State Government.
Similarly, Uche Nwosu, another of Okorocha’s sons-in-law, was Imo State Commissioner for Lands and Urban Planning.
DEMOLITION OF EKE UKWU MARKET
The Eke Ukwu Market in Owerri was demolished in August this year
Eke-Ukwu Market is a historic market in Owerri, the state capital, but Okorocha demolished the market in August.
It was bad enough that he ordered the demolition of the market, but he did it in spite of a valid court order directing that status quo be maintained, Matters came to a head when security officials sent to disperse the protesting traders shot and killed a 10-year-old boy who was helping his widowed mother pack wares out of their shop.
But Okorocha maintained that there was no court order against the demolition of the Market, adding that he had built two bigger markets to relocate the traders.
“Four years ago I issued a notice that Eke Ukwu would be removed and we started making arrangements for an alternative places for them,” he said during an interview with Channels Television.
“We built over 5,000 shops, while what was in Eke Ukwu was about 3,000 shops; we built an additional 4,000 shops somewhere, total of 9,000 shops to accommodate Eke Ukwu and other street traders.
“On three instances we gave them deadlines, but rather than leaving, people who are not even traders there, but who are some few opposition trouble seekers, now said they were defending the market people and decided to go to court. No market person is in court.”
ALLEGED CONSTRUCTION OF SUBSTANDARD ROADS
During the same interview, when Okorocha was asked why roads constructed by his administration were already worn out, he said: “Any road in the world can have some patches.”
“Some of these your questions make me laugh,” he continued. “The roads that we have not even finished is already adjudged substandard.
“Your political enemies can never see anything good in what you are doing. My worst enemy can only say he does not like Rochas but he cannot say Rochas is not working.
“You must differentiate between the roads we are constructing and the old roads that have been in existence. If you go to Yar’Adua Road and you see patches, that is not constructed by this government and we are patching them up.”
BIRTHDAY WITH 27 CAKES
Okorocha turned 55 on September 22. Four days before that, he tweeted about how women groups from the 27 local government areas of Imo State decided to “celebrate” him with 27 birthday cakes.
“It’s not yet my birthday, but the sound of celebration and drum rolls begins, a show of love as women from 27 LGA with 27 cakes visits me today,” he tweeted.
JACOB ZUMA’S STATUE
This is arguably Okorocha’s most daring and brazing decision since taking office as Imo State Governor in 2011.
Okorocha invited Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa, to Imo in October, not to attend any special function in Nigeria or the state, but to finalise a partnership between the individual foundations — the Rochas Okorocha Foundation and the Jacob Zuma foundation.
During Zuma’s visit, Okorocha conferred on him the Imo Merit Award, the highest award in the state, and also gave him a chieftaincy title: Ochiagha di oha mma of Igbo land (The people’s warrior).
A street was named after Zuma and a gigantic statue of his was unveiled in Owerri.
All these for a man facing several corruption allegations in his home country, South Africa.
Earlier in 2017, Zuma was made to return money that he had illegally used to upgrade his personal residence.
Also, many Nigerians have lost their lives to xenophobic attacks in South Africa, and Zuma hadn’t done enough to check the ugly trend.
Few weeks after Zuma’s visit, another African Leader, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, visited Imo State.
Like Zuma, Johnson-Sirleaf was conferred a chieftaincy title –Ada di oha mma of Imo State -, and her statue was also unveiled by Okorocha.
Perhaps, the gesture was Okorocha’s way of honouring the first democratically elected female President in Africa.
With his recent appointment of his sister as Commissioner of Happiness and Couples’ Fulfillment, one can only wonder what he will do next before eventually leaving office in 2019.
“What is the government doing about substance abuse and addiction?” That was the question a lady asked at a substance abuse prevention and rehabilitation stakeholders meeting organised by the United States Embassy in Abuja last Thursday.
It was a question that many who spoke after her also wanted to ask, but thought it was needless since the answer was obvious. Nothing is being done by the Nigerian governments-federal and states! While a lot may be going on at the law enforcement level, there is yet no inkling that the political leaders see substance addiction as a present danger to the security of the country and the welfare of her citizens.
Yet drug/substance abuse and addiction is increasingly becoming an epidemic sweeping through the youth population of the country. We are not yet a country with reliable data on so many critical areas of national life otherwise the substance abuse problems would have long find its way into party manifestoes in this country; it would have become a campaign issue
Yet we only need to visit any of the neuro-psychiatrist hospitals in the country to appreciate what substance abuse is doing to our youths. A former Medical Director of one of the hospitals told me that not less than 10 youths-male and female-with addiction problems were brought to his hospital every day, some of them at a very advance stage of mental impairment.
By our culture and level of health education, the psychiatrist’s hospital is not a place any family would want to take their ward for fear of stigmatisation. It takes courage, and even desperation, for any family to take their ward to a psychiatrist hospital. That is why if there is access to proper record, the real statistics of people with substance abuse disorder would be scary.
This was what came out of the stakeholders meeting at the US embassy in Abuja. Nearly all the gentlemen and women who turned up for the meeting had suffered drug abuse disorder in the past and said they were only lucky to be alive and recovering. But the instructive part of their revelation is that none went through any psychiatrist hospital or government established recovery centre.
They revealed that many parents or friends who knew about their addiction problem now come to them seeking advice on where to treat their family members suffering from addiction disorder. But sadly, there is no such place yet, except a few private facilities whose charges fly through the roof.
Some of them who had fully recovered have now dedicated their lives towards helping others recover too, using their own means. They all lamented government’s unfathomable policy neglect in this area and lack of any executive action towards recovering our youths from the deadly clutches of drug addiction.
For now, only the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) is doing a little about substance abuse prevention education and drug demand reduction through largely ineffective radio and television jingles. Drug demand reduction requires much more than jingles to materialise. Saddling the law enforcement agency with the additional responsibility of pursuing drug demand reduction tantamount to over burdening it and rendering it ineffective bother as law enforcement apparatus and as the driver of drug/substance addiction education.
As it is, the agency is overwhelmed by the activities of illicit drug traffickers who permeate the society. The total staff strength of the agency is 5001 representing a ratio of one drug agent to over thirty-three thousand, nine hundred and ninety three Nigerians, using the 170 million population projection. It is abysmally low in a country with additional burden of myriads of illegal entry routes. The agency is starved of funds and lacks operational vehicles. You only need to speak with NDLEA staff to know how frustrated and demoralised they are. Yet this is the agency we have now saddled with helping addiction sufferers into recovery. It cannot work.
Drug demand reduction requires concerted and well-coordinated health education campaign to mobilise the people against this ravaging scourge. NDLEA has neither the manpower nor the funds to drive this.
The Nigerian government, at federal and state levels, must wake up to their responsibility and come up with a policy framework that will be supported by consistent funding to save the future generation of this country from self-destruction.
Nigeria should study the solution model of other countries battling youth addiction problem, especially the US where President Donald Trump has declared it an epidemic and national emergency, and find what is adaptable to our circumstances. A first step is a presidential pronouncement and a drug demand reduction policy to be incorporated into our national health policy.
It is inexplicable why this is yet to happen, especially considering how substance addiction is ravaging cities across Northern Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari’s region. NDLEA statistics put Kano, Maiduguri and Sokoto states as the states with highest prevalence of drug/substance use in the country.
Last year when the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, visited Kano, she lamented the alarming rate of drug and substance abuse in the North and called on Northern leaders, including religious clerics, to do something urgently about the menace. But her message never resonated in the corridors of power.
Recently too, the www.icirnigeria.org published a two part investigative report on how drug addiction is killing a generation of women in the North. The report exposes use of cough syrup with high codeine content and other psychotropic drugs by girls and women in the north, including married women in purdah.
As it is done in the US, federal and state governments must follow up by budgeting special intervention funds for drug demand reduction to support Non-Profit organisations already working in this area. The NGOs have the expertise and organisation needed to fast-track substance abuse prevention education, treatment and rehabilitation. Governments must identify NGOs with requisite addiction treatment specialists and support their work with targeted funding.
States, especially those with huge addiction problem such as kano, Borno, Sokoto and Lagos, must not wait for funds from the federal government before they start to address the problem. These states and indeed other states must evolve their own strategies to combat this problem before it becomes intractable. Substance abuse is already responsible for many of the security challenges in these states, including the eight-year long Boko Haram insurgency.
The military had reported several drug/substance siezures during raid of Boko Haram hideouts in Sambisa Forest, confirming the fact that drug abuse also fuels the insurgency. The police in Kano have made similar seizures during raid on criminal havens in the metropolis. Thus, there is little doubt that drug abuse fuels crime. Anyone who is drug- dependent would do anything to get the drug, including violent crimes. This is the reality of life in South Africa where youth addiction has become pandemic and drug related deaths occur daily.
Nyesom Wike, Governor of Rivers State, has bought 16 brand new Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) for all the federal legislators in the state.
Presenting the gift to the lawmakers at the Rivers State Government House on Monday, Wike said the gesture was his way of helping them carry out their official functions.
“Defend the interest of the state wherever you are,” Wike charged them. “This is from the Government of Rivers State, which you are part of. This is to aid you carry out your official functions in Abuja.”
Three of the newly-acquired cars are for the senators while 13 are for members of the House of Representatives, as Wike said the gift was for all the legislators irrespective of their political party.
While receiving the cars, Betty Apiafi, leader of the Rivers caucus at the House of Reps, and Bari Mpigi, her deputy, thanked the Governor for providing the needed support for lawmakers.
It is not clear whether Magnus Abe, senator representing Rivers South East in the Senate and member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), accepted the gift, given that Abe and Wike are sworn political enemies.
In August, the Court of Appeal nullified the election victory of George Sekibo, who hitherto represented Rivers East at the Senate on the platform of the PDP, pronouncing Andrew Uchendu of the APC winner of the election.
But Uchendu is yet to be sworn in and when ICIR checked on the website of the National Assembly, only the name of George Sekibo was shown as senator from Rivers State.
