The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has dismissed claims that its Chairman, Ola Olukoyede subjected the immediate past governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello to a media trial.

Olukoyede had organized a press conference where he disclosed that Bello withdrew $720,000 from a government account to pay his child’s school fees.

He also claimed that the former governor told the EFCC to come over to his village and interrogate him.

The EFCC Chairman further vowed to resign if he fails to arrest Bello and follow through the investigation.

But a former Vice President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, Prof. Nwoke Chijioke, disagreed with Olukoyede.

Chijioke said the press conference was a wrong approach and an unfair trial.

Chijioke said, ‘’The EFCC chairman’s press conference of yesterday was really uncalled for. That is an unfair trial. All these challenges are because of what I would call a media trial.”

However, EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, said Olukoyede’s revelations did not violate any rule.

A statement by Oyewale said, “There is nothing the chairman said on Tuesday that was not already in the public domain.

“Also, we have filed our processes, and everything is before the court, so the chairman did not say anything that is not already in public domain.

“The chairman himself is a lawyer, and he knows his onions. Everything he said was within his rights as the Chief Executive Officer of the EFCC.”

President Bola Tinubu has extended his condolences to the Eze family over the passing of Sen. Ayogu Eze.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, said this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

The late politician represented Enugu North Senatorial Zone in the Senate from 2007 to 2015.

Ngelale said during Eze’s time in the Senate, he held several positions, including Committee Chairman on Information and Media and Chairman of the Committee on Works, among others.

He said the president also commiserated with friends, associates, and former colleagues of the deceased, including the National Assembly as an institution.

Ngelale said Tinubu prayed to God Almighty to grant the soul of the departed repose and comfort to those in mourning.

…begins intensive desilting of gutters

BY RAYMOND OZOJI, Awka

Shop owners and residents along Zik Avenue Awka could not withhold their joy and happiness as the Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA) commenced massive desilting of drainages in the area to rescue them from age-long perennial flooding.

Investigations conducted during the commencement of the exercise revealed that the level of devastation caused by flooding in the area is better imagined as flood found its way into people’s homes and shops due to blockage of flood channels.

Human and vehicular movements in the area become impossible because of the level of flood between Post office, Udeke street down to Eke-Awka market area along the popular Zik Avenue road.

Mrs. Ada Nwogbo who lives along Udeke street by Zik Avenue said it was always catastrophic each time it rained because according to her, the height of the flood gets to the waist level and no one dared to come out for fear of being trapped in the menacing flood.

She however expressed joy that the Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA) has come to rescue them from flood menace. She equally suggested that henceforth anyone caught throwing refuse into the gutters should be arrested by the police and dealt with accordingly.

A shop owner who identified himself as Gabriel Tagbo said the intensive desilting of gutters embarked upon by ACTDA was a timely intervention to their sufferings.

Tagbo who observed that the drainages on both sides of the road were too small, maintained that each time it rained, the drainages were filled up resulting in water entering people’s homes and shops.

He equally suggested that all the slabs used in covering gutters should be removed for easy evacuation of silt from water channels.

Although Mr. Tagbo recalled that flood entered his shop and destroyed his goods, he also expressed happiness that ACTDA has come to rescue them from perennial flood menace.

A native of Awka who gave his name as Aiza Nwosu, said he has overtime campaigned against throwing wastes inside the gutters whenever it rained.

Aiza Nwosu said at some point, he volunteered his personal car for waste collections; thereby going around and telling people to bring their wastes for him to use his private car to evacuate them all in a bid to control flood in the area.

Also Pharm. Obiefuna Patrick Eze, who owns a pharmaceutical store at Amaenyi along Zik Avenue Awka, shared his ordeal with our correspondent.

He said he has been suffering from flood menace for the past 4 years but heaved a sigh of relief that the Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA) has intervened with clearing the gutters to ensure free flow of water through the gutters whenever there was a downpour.

He equally suggested that the citizens should assist government by voluntarily desilting drainages within their surroundings as government can not be everywhere at the same time.

Meanwhile Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA) Hon. Ossy Onuko, said the exercise was in continuation of Operation Clean and Green Campaign.

Onuko said the agency is launching a weeklong intensive desilting of drainages along Zik Avenue Awka which is about 7.5 kilometers, stressing that the agency will ensure that debris no longer blocked flood channels.

Onuko said that the agency has gotten complaints that Zik Avenue is covered with flood whenever it rained. He said citizens have imbibed a very negative culture of dumping refuse into the drainages once it rained. That the resultant effect is that plastic wastes which do not decompose fill up the drainages and block flood channels, leaving the roads at the mercy of the flood.

The ACTDA MD noted that when they came on board there were no receptacles along Zik Avenue. But according to him, they have provided receptacles within walking distance where people can dispose their wastes, adding that there was no reason whatsoever people should dump waste inside the gutters only to cause environmental hazards.

According to Onuko, Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo has strengthened the Ocha-Brigade to take up the task of ensuring that those found throwing wastes inside the gutters are effectively punished in accordance with the law.