Pandemonium as rival youth groups clash in Imo

There was pandemonium at the Umuapu Junction on the Owerri-Port Harcourt road on Tuesday following a clash between the youths of Umuapu community and their counterparts from Obitti.

An eyewitness also told newsmen that three persons were feared dead while many were injured in the bloody clash in the Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area in Imo.

Among those who allegedly lost their lives were two youths from Umuapu and one from Obitti, according to an eyewitness.

Trouble was said to have started when youths of Obitti allegedly gathered at Umuapu Junction to dismantle the road block mounted by the youths of Umuapu to stop traders from accessing the popular Orie Obitti Market.

According to the eyewitness, the youths of the two communities had been at daggers drawn until it eventually snowballed into the bloody clash.

It was gathered that youths of Umuapu had insisted that commercial motorcyclists from Obitti who operate their business at Umuapu Junction pay some money known as ‘marching ground’ to be allowed to operate.

The Obitti youths, on the other hand, refused to yield to the demand, leading to a strained relationship between the neighbouring communities.

When contacted, the Imo Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Andrew Enwerem, confirmed the report but said he had no knowledge of any loss of lives.

Enwerem, however, said the police had restored calm in the area.

He assured the people that the police would commence investigation into the clash, saying that no arrests had been made.

The traditional ruler of Obitti Autonomous Community, Eze Clifford Chibuzor, also confirmed the clash.

He said he had earlier warned his youths to resist the temptation of confronting their Umuapu neighbours in spite of recurrent provocations.

Chibuzor said he had sent emissaries to the traditional ruler of Umuapu, Eze Boniface Ihueze, with a view to finding a lasting and amicable solution to the conflict.

Where Miracles Happen: Haitian Voodoo In Saut D’ Eau Waterfalls (18+) [Photos]

Every year in summer thousands of pilgrims from all over Haiti make a religious journey to the village of Ville Bonheur and the sacred Waters of Saut d’Eau waterfall, located near Mirebalais and 60 miles north of Port au Prince, a main pilgrimage site in Haiti since 1847.
It is believed that 150 years ago, Erzulie the goddess of love and beauty, camouflaged in the spirit of Virgin Mary of miracles has appeared on a palm tree close to the waterfall, a French priest, afraid of the superstition this would inspire, cut the tree down, but it nonetheless became an important religious destination for Haitians.
The sick and the needy let the water of the falls wash over them as they perform various rituals of Voodoo in a religious festival that lasts for three days.
Haitians wearing only underwear perform a bathing and cleaning ritual under the waterfall and Voodoo followers get possessed by the spirit of water.
Believers spend hours under the sound and the coolness of the water, praying, hugging. Many throw their old clothes to the sky, a symbol of a past they want to leave behind.

And some hougan consult the (priests) or the mambo (priestess) possessed by loas (voodoo deities).
Beneath the waterspout is impossible to hear a word, the devotees dance, make ablutions with their bottles and bowls of pumpkin and delivered to communion with saints ‘praise’.

20 things you don’t know about the late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa

He is famously known as the ‘Socrates of the Supreme Court’, and indeed, he demonstrated this as the head of the Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission, popular called Oputa Panel. Below are 20 things you may not know about the late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa.

1. He was born to Chief Oputa Nzukwu and Mrs. Nwametu Oputa on September 22, 1924.

2. His father died when he was about three months old while his mother died just about the time he turned six months.

3. He was brought up by his grandmother, Ogonim Enesha, a trader with the Royal Niger Company.

4. Growing up, he was fondly referred to as Sylvester, and attended the Sacred Heart School, Oguta, from 1930 to 1936, and Christ the King’s College, Onitsha, from 1937 to 1940.

5. Though he got admission to the Higher College, Lagos, he had to move to the famous Achimota College, in the then Gold Coast (now Ghana), where he obtained a Bachelors degree in Economics in 1945.

6. During the Second World War, Oputa, while a student at Achimota, was drafted into the army, during which he joined others to establish the Achimota Home Generals.

7. He studied at home to obtain his Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of London.

8. On return from Ghana, he became a teacher at the African College (now in Rivers State), where the likes of Prof. Chike Obi, famous mathematician, and Dr. Pius Okigbo also taught.

9. He was once a principal at the Kalabari National College, Buguma, and one of his students was Prof. Tam David West, a former petroleum minister.

10. Oputa read Law in England and by June 1953 he received his LL.B (Hons) degree.

11. He was called to the English Bar-Grays Inn, London, on November 26, 1953.

12. He returned to Nigeria in 1954 and appeared in virtually all the magistrate and high courts of the then Eastern Region of Nigeria, the West African Court of Appeal, the Federal Supreme Court, the Supreme Court, and the court in the Region of Cameroon.

13. Oputa was the lead counsel in the Harcourt Commission of inquiry into the Oguta Chieftaincy dispute between 1958 and 1959. He was also the leading counsel in the Ukelonu Inquiry into the Nembe Amayangbo Dispute (1959/1960), as well as the leading counsel in the Harding Commission of Inquiry into the Onitsha Obaship dispute between 1960 and 1961.

14. In 1976, he was appointed the first Chief Judge of Imo State, a position he held till July 2, 1984.

15. He was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria after his tenure as the CJ of Imo State.

16. He established his Justice Oputa Foundation on October 2, 2010. The foundation according to him was an initiative, which “operates with deep understanding that it is virtually impossible to address the malaise bedeviling the continent without sound, people-oriented governance constructed on sustainable developmental modem.”

17. He was a staunch Catholic and social crusader for justice, a prominent member of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Oguta. He’s a Knight of St. Sylvester.

18. Oputa owned a Limousine-1950 model, which afterwards was used for ceremonial events.

19. His wife, Margaret, 92, was a nurse.

20. Oputa lost two of his children- his first child, Michael, sometimes in 2003; and his only daughter same year. She died during childbirth.

See How Much Gov Shettima Will Spend On The 53 Escaped Chibok Schoolgirls

The abduction of the over 200 students from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state by the Boko haram sect on April 14 has been a matter of serious concern both locally and internationally.

The Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, has said N150 million have been set aside to take care of the 53 Chibok schoolgirls, who escaped from the den of the Boko Haram terrorists.

The governor made this development known while addressing the presidential fact-finding committee in Chibok said: “The Borno State government has set aside the sum of N150 million to fund a rehabilitation programme of the 53 girls and to support parents in Chibok, whose sources of livelihood have been truncated by the trauma, leaving them with little or nothing to feed on, while we continue to work immeasurably towards the release of the girls being held.”

Governor Shettima who is very optimistic that the others will be freed also said that his government is already in touch with key international organisations and a plan of action has already been proposed by the Ministry of Health in the State on issues relating to the health and well-being of the 53 girls who escaped.

Human skull in church ceiling: DPP identifies culprits

The Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions has said 49-year-old Samson Adeneye and a woman, Oyerinde Olawunmi, 48, have a case to answer in a matter in which a human skull was found in the ceiling of an orthodox church in Lagos.

Two policemen attached to the Special Anti-robbery Squad – ASP Franklin Alade and Cpl Deleojo Odunayo – were also implicated in the matter, for abuse of office.

PUNCH Metro had reported in July 2013, that a human skull was found in the ceiling of the St. Peter Cherubim and Seraphim band on Moses Adebisi Street, in the Ketu area of the state.

Prior to the incident, Adeneye and Olawunmi, who were former members of the band, were said to have sent threat text messages to some of the church’s ministers.

The two suspects were said to have accused the pastors of occultism and threatened to deal with them and kill them.

Both suspects were said to have alerted the two SARS officers that there was a case of gunrunning in the assembly.

The policemen reportedly stormed the assembly without any search warrant and headed for the ceiling where they allegedly found the item.

Our correspondent learnt that further investigations by the police revealed that the two former members might have arranged the object to implicate the ministers, as suggested by earlier text messages sent to them.

They were subsequently arrested and arraigned before a Surulere Magistrate’s Court on charges of unlawful possession of human head.

The matter had been adjourned for DPP’s advice.

The DPP in its advice, signed by the Deputy Director, Adegboyega Bajulaiye, said, “After carefully considering the facts available in the duplicate case file, this office is of the view that there are sufficient facts to establish a prima facie case of conspiracy to commit felony to wit; offering violence to officiating ministers of religion, written threat to kill and publication of false news which is likely to cause fear and alarm to the public….

“Facts available in the duplicate case file reveal that prior to January 19, 2013, there was a malice that brewed up over the years between Apostle Albert Samson and Samson Adeneye, which culminated into unauthorised search on the premises of Albert by men of SARS, led by ASP Franklin Alade, on the trumped-up allegation of gunrunning. This act of the police officers, which was believed to have been instigated by Adeneye, amount to abuse of office….”

The advice further stated that the two defendants had been sending death threat messages to the ministers, which were meant to distract them from their duties as ministers.

On the matter of the skull, the advice said, “There is however a strong inference from the facts in the case file that Adeneye may have been instrumental to placing ritual objects, including human skulls, on the ceiling of Albert’s church because of his prior accusation of Albert being a ritualist. This will only amount to speculation and suspicion, which no matter how grave, cannot stand in the place of law, particularly in the absence of eyewitness account or unequivocal evidence of inference.”

The DPP said based on its findings, Adeneye and Olawunmi, should be arraigned for conspiracy to commit felony, written threat to kill and publication of false news.

Four other suspects were ordered to be released, if still in police custody.

The magistrate, Mrs. A.O Adedayo, adjourned the matter till July 1, 2014.