After the doctors/police clash that happened last week in Owerri, angry doctors in the state have declared a three day closure of all private and public hospitals in the state to protest the cruel treatment by the police in Imo & also the ill treatment of Gov. Rochas Okorocha's administration.

"The association condemns the action of the police,  the police acted the script of some government officials by shooting our  members on a peaceful protest",

 "Contrary to the police claim that NMA never obtained permission for the protest, it was monitored by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Bisong and Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of New Owerri, Eric Uchegbu, who came with six vans loaded with armed policemen, escorting the protesters",

 "The police vans which have been escorting them, at the Ware House roundabout, turned against the doctors, diverting them to end their protest at the Freedom Square and not the Government House as contained in their permit",

"At that point, the police, who were hitherto friendly, threw teargas at them and shot some of his members with live bullets".

Tension has engulfed Imo state over the plan to sack over 3,000 civil servants by Imo State Government.
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The activities in some of the affected parastatals, agencies and departments yesterday were observed, as workers were seen in their offices.

Those of them that spoke to newsmen claimed that despite the directives by labour leaders in the state, all the affected workers said that the state government followed due process before employing them.



“The state government strictly followed due process, including interviews, before employing us. It therefore follows that if government wants to disengage us for whatever reason, it must follow due process,” a staff that simply identified himself as Chukwuka, fumed.

While wondering why government should make a sweeping order, sacking thousands of workers and for no just cause, Chukwuka equally recalled with grief that “most of the victims of the executive recklessness never had a single query in their personal files.”

In her own reaction, another worker that simply identified herself as Chiaka, said it was most improper for the Okorocha administration to sack workers through the airwaves of the state radio and television.

“Bizarre things have been happening in the state between 2011 and now. One of the first things this administration did soon after coming on board, was the sacking of the 10,000 workers engaged by the immediate past governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim,” Chiaka recalled with grief.

Continuing, Chiaka equally recalled that apart from workers that retired when it was due, Governor Okorocha had at various times, brazenly suspended workers without pay.

“It is most shocking the way the Governor takes delight in maltreating workers in the state. Some permanent secretaries and directors, including those in the Ministry of Justice, were earlier suspended without pay.”

She passionately appealed to religious leaders in and outside the state, to call the governor to order, adding that several people that draw their living from the affected workers will obviously suffer undue hardship.

FROM GEORGE ONYEJIUWA,OWERRI
As preparations for the 2015 general elections intensify, Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha and his former Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development and currently chairman of Imo State Housing cooperation, Prince Charles Onuoha may be heading for a collision over the gubernatorial ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
It will be recalled that Governor Rochas  Okorocha had during his 2011 campaign promised to serve only one term in office and after which he would pursue  his presidential ambition in 2015.
But the governor recently made a sudden u-turn to contest for a  second term as governor of Imo State. It was learnt that Okorocha’s sudden  decision to stand for re-election is apparently to counter the alleged threat by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to take over the state, claiming  that he is the only one with the capacity and wherewithal to stop the PDP  from reclaiming power in the state.
However, Onuoha who had also served Okorocha as Commissioner for Special Duties, has called on his boss to  toe the path of honour by abiding by his single-term vow as well as handing over to Owerri Zone whose turn he, Okorocha usurped in 2011 going by the Imo Charter of Equity.
The governorship hopeful who was fielding questions from newsmen yesterday in Owerri, the capital of Imo State, stated: “Beyond Governor Okorocha’s one-term promise, my ambition to take over power from him is driven by what transpired on January 15, 2013 when the governor convened stakeholder’s meeting in government house.
In that meeting, the governor categorically told us that he was going to Abuja and urged those with governorship ambition to make declaration.
Of course, having contested the Labour Party ticket in 2011 and lost to a fraudulent primary before collapsing my entire structure into APGA towards actualizing Governor Okorocha’s victory  in 2011, it became an opportunity for me to openly make my intention known in our camp and party.”
Onuoha said the  governor even expressed happiness and promised “to ensure that my dream will never die. Besides, I am eminently qualified having garnered the pedigree and capacity to take Imo to the next level in terms of development and good governance.
“Also, I am from Mbaise axis of Owerri Zone that has never had a shot at the Douglas  House. So, from any angle you wish to judge my ambition, you will definitely agree that I am the right person for the state’s plum job and that’s basically the  reason Governor Okorocha should support my ambition which obviously is divine”.

A policeman, Michael Okoli, has been arrested by the Okokomaiko Police Division for allegedly attacking his wife, Felicia, with a cutlass, leaving her in critical condition at Gbagada General Hospital.

Vanguard reports that the incident happened at their home, 4, Abukareem Close, Afromedia Estate, Lagos State.

Narrating the incident, the Delta-state born Okoli said he kept the N70,000 at home before he went to work only to find out upon his return that the money was no longer there.

He said when he asked Felicia about the money, she was rude and started abusing him, asking him whether he was sure he kept any money at home at all.

Okoli, an elder in a Celestial Church of Christ parish at Afromedia and a spy policeman, said he did not know what came over him while carrying out the attack.

Nearby residents say, it was not the first time Okoli was attacking his wife, Felicia with cutlass. He admitted he cut off one of Felicia’s fingers during a quarrel before the current incident.

The couple got married 18 years ago and are blessed with four children, two boys and two girls, the eldest being 17.

Two policemen were feared dead following a clash between them and some youths in Difa village in Yamaltu/Deba Local Government Area of Gombe State.



A reliable source in the area said yesterday in Gombe that the incident occurred in the night of February 16.

According to the source, some policemen on routine night patrol from Kwadon division arrested some youths in the village for allegedly being in possession of illegal drugs.

The source said that the arrest did not go down well with other youths whose protest led to violent clashes that resulted in the death and burning of the bodies of the two policemen.

NAN learnt that police investigators from Gombe had been deployed to the area to investigate the incident, a development that compelled many youths and elderly men to flee the village.

Contacted, the Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the state police command, DSP Fwaje Atajiri, confirmed the incident, saying investigation was ongoing.

Atajiri, however, declined comments on the number of casualties in the incident and the arrest of some traditional rulers.

BEVERLY HILLS, February 16, (THEWILL) - The Ijaw Peoples Development Initiatives weekend alleged a fresh twist in the case involving a human right activist who was charged alongside 29 others for alleged breach of peace at the Ebrumede Police Station in Delta State.

National Coordinator of the group, Comrade Austin Ozobo, alleged on Friday that police have purportedly destroyed their own station to incriminate the activist of the arson charges.

"The police in Ebrumede Police Station on Wednesday, 12th February, broke down parts of their building fence and set some parts ablaze to cook up arson charge against him (Ogedegbe); all to sentence him as was directed by the superior authorities in the state," the group alleged.

Ozobo who claimed he witnessed the protest which culminated in the arrest of the activist said that no part of the police station was damaged as at when the protest took place on Monday.

Omemiroro Ogedegbe and 29 others were charged for unlawful assembly, riotous assembly and attempt to burn the Ebrumede Police Station of which they were remanded in Okere Prision by Chief Magistrate O.

Oforkeya of Magistrate Court 1, Effurun, near Warri.

He argued that if the activist had destroyed the police station as claimed by the police, would the police had allowed him to be rushed to the hospital where he was later arrested in the hospital bed.

"if all these charges were true, why didn't they arrest him right on the spot ? Why did they allow him to be taken to the hospital if he actually carried out the act? "Is it possible for the police to watch an unarmed civilian break down their fence and burn part of the station in broad daylight without them firing the person to death?," he asked.

"His (Ogedegbe's) arrest is politically motivated.
The truth is that he committed no offence.
All the count charges level against him were targeted to discredit him.

''Barr.
Omes has not done anything wrong against the law.
He only followed his client to the police to complain.

There was no act of violence during the protest.
He was even tear-gassed and hospitalized.
So why should the police try to turn the case against him? "When the police invaded the hospital where he was admitted, they brutalised and arrested sympathisers who came around to share feelings with him .

"Barr Ogedegbe was picked up while being placed on a drip.

He was denied of his right to medical care.
Barr Omes was not arrested in police station as it being alleged by the police.

"If he had rioted as alleged by the police, he would have being arrested in the police station not in his hospital bed because when the police invaded the hospital they clearly tell him that there is directive from above to bring him death or alive.

"All these are happening because the judiciary is not truly independent in this country.

This is the reason why some people are suggesting that judges should also be elected by the people and not appointed .

"As it is now, for the fact that the judiciary has been appointed by the executive arm of government, it tends to only fulfill the interest of the executive which is unacceptable.

" Ogedegbe's travails started when he led some protesting Okada riders to Ebrumede Police Station over the alleged seizure of their tricycles and motorcycles by the police along Alegbo/Okoribi road in Uvwie Council area.

The protest turned sour when the police shot and tear-gassed the protesters in a bid to disperse them.

Ogedegbe fainted as a result of the impact of the tear gas and was hospitalised .

He was later arrested by the police at the hospital and was charged alongside 29 others.

The case comes up for hearing March 4.
Meanwhile, it was leant that the activist was granted bail Friday.

Though his bail conditions were still hazy when filing this report, source said some persons had influenced his release from prison custody.