January 31, 2022
The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr.Udom Emmanuel has unveiled his Commissioner for Lands and Water Resources Rev. Umo Eno as his preferred successor.
Governor Emmanuel unveiled Umo Eno on Sunday night during a meeting with some political stakeholders in the State and interested aspirants for the governorship post, including National Assembly members.
The announcement ended months of speculations and tension in the State over Emmanuel’s preferred successor.
Former Governor Victor Attah and some fathers of Faith, an association of influential church leaders in the State, it was gathered, influenced the Governor’s preference for the Commissioner.
The Governor had invited some party elders, including some of those nursing gubernatorial ambitions to the Governor’s lodge without disclosing the meeting’s agenda to them.
January 19, 2022
Two weeks after the Akwa Ibom State government placed a ban on the activities of scrap scavengers in all her 31 Local Government Areas, a Magistrate Court sitting in Uyo, on Tuesday, sent no fewer than twenty (20) offenders to the facility of the Nigerian Correctional Service.
The culprits were apprehended at different parts of the State by a Joint Task Force recently inaugurated by Government to ensure compliance on the ban of scavengers, open grazing and motorcycles use in Uyo metropolis.
They were charged for having committed offenses punishable by sections 6 (1) and (8) of the Akwa Ibom State Internal Security and Enforcement Law 2009.
The court however, passed that the culprits be remanded in the Nigerian Correctional Centre, Uyo pending further advise or possible prosecution from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).
Recall, Secretary to the State Government, Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, had on January 4, announced the ban on scrap scavengers in the state following the death of three persons as a result of the clash between youths and the scavengers.
Speaking on behalf of the State Chief Executive, Ekuwem said as a responsible Government, they can no longer tolerate the activities of the people which evidently is in no way adding value to the socio economic well being of the State but rather escalating tensions and threatening the overall peace and security of the State.
Government had cited several incidents of grave infractions including acts of criminality and threat to peaceful inter-ethnic relationship in the State by operators of the enterprise as some of the reasons for the ban.
Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, who spoke on behalf of the State Chief Executive, stressed that action of Government was also in consonance with public sentiments amidst popular complaints against the activities of most scavengers who wantonly violate peoples properties, stealing and assaulting law abiding citizens in the process.
The SSG pointed out that Sundays appear to be the busiest day for the scavengers who take advantage of mass Church attendance to invade homes and cart away valuables, leaving hapless citizens with tales of woe upon their return from Church.
January 19, 2022
The Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, psc (+), NPM, fdc, with the support of His Excellency, Udom Emmanuel, the Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom State, will on 7th and 8th February, 2022, host a 2-day Conference and Retreat for Senior Police Officers comprising Deputy Inspectors General of Police (DIGs), Assistant Inspectors General of Police (AIGs) and Commissioners of Police, and other Heads of Police Formations, in the beautiful city of Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State Capital.
The Conference and Retreat, themed “The New Police Vision: A Roadmap for Stabilizing Internal Security in Nigeria”, is part of efforts by the current Police leadership to collaborate with critical stakeholders in driving a policing vision that would amongst other benefits, avail Police Strategic Managers with contemporary and vantage opportunities to effectively deliver on their mandates. It will also afford the Police leadership the opportunity to identify and set measurable crime fighting agenda for the Force in the year 2022.
The IGP notes that the Conference and Retreat will equally provide a unique opportunity for the Strategic Managers of the Force and carefully selected Public Safety Experts to engage in peer review and cross fertilization of ideas for improved internal security management in the country. This is in addition to providing new traction for driving the new NPF policy aimed at modernization, re-orientation and re-tooling of the Force.
The IGP, while assuring the nation of concerted efforts at improving Police service delivery, public safety and crime management in the year 2022 and beyond, expresses belief that the Retreat will help to evolve new pathways to tackling crimes and other law enforcement challenges in the Country.
The Conference and Retreat is being coordinated by Matchmakers Consult International – the approved facilitators of the event.
January 14, 2022
A National Youth Service Corps member, Chidinma Paschaline Odume, who was standing trial over the gruesome murder of a 26-year man in Uyo, Akwaowo Japheth, has been discharged by Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Uyo.
The incident occurred on 10th January, 2021 at Abak Road, Uyo following a misunderstanding between the deceased and the accused person.
The Presiding judge, Justice Bassey Nkanang, in his ruling struck out the case and discharged the accused person following the Nolle Prosequi entered by the Attorney General of the State, dated 10th January, 2022.
Nolle Prosequi is a formal notice of discontinuationof the prosecution without a conviction.
The Court noted that the action was pursuant to section 211 (1) (c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Section 71 of the Criminal Code Procedure Law of Akwa Ibom State.
