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COVID-19 Palliative: Over three hundred people beseech Igala Chief for Palliative meant for thirty people

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COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown Palliative
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The inconveniences and even death caused by imposed lockdown as a result of the brutal and rampaging novel coronavirus aka COVID-19 is no longer news, but what is new and alarming now is the growing suffering of the general masses. Over five hundred people beseech the Igala chief palace for Palliative meant for thirty people today, May 1, 2020.

Some people were crying, cursing just to get one and a half mudu of rice, while others got one mudu of rice. Some got two spaghetti, two semovita, three to five sachet of tomatoes and one sachet of oil. It was pathetic!

Alhaji Muhammed Saliu said, “according to what government is saying about lockdown, we agreed it is for our own interest because by associating with different different people, you can easily contract the virus.

“So by staying at home is for our safety. I think government should do the right thing to give people tangible palliative because people are hungry, people are really hungry.

“Like what this our royal highness is doing now, you can see the people that troop here. Even if they say one-one bag of semo, if it reach everybody at least peoples mind will go down, compared to what they are giving out today. What they are giving out today is not in order at all, honestly speaking. You too can see what is going on here now.

“With this hunger, you invite people here to give them; how many cups of gari, one mudu of gari and one semo and people have being staying indoor for over six weeks, it is not proper, honestly.

“We agreed that staying at home is for our own safety but the people are suffering because government is not doing well and the people they are fronting to share the thing are not doing well as well, honestly speaking people are suffering. That is just it.

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The pandemic has thrown a lot of issue to the front burner. If the government must be effective in it social responsibility, accurate and up to date data of the inhabitant of the FCT must be maintained at all time.

Chairman, Igala Cultural Development Association, ICDA, Karu-Jikwoyi, Comrade Kabir Ebiojo Shuaib said, “We thank God as it is not very easy and it is not easy and we pray this thing should not affect our members, and you know the lockdown has affected everybody, not even the widows alone but it affect everybody. But with the wisdom of our chief, he tried his own possible best to get little thing to share for priviledge people and that is what we are doing. We thank God at least one or two person has little thing to take home at least for a day.

“I hereby implore the federal government that this thing they are sharing is a welcome development but we still need more. The one they are sharing is too meagre and cannot even go round everybody because people have sit down at home for the past one month. It is not easy, no work, no food, no money, so we need the federal government to add more. They have tried a lot. The FCT minister have tried and we need the federal government to add more.

“As at around twelve o clock, we have over five hundred people here and the food items giving to us is only seventy. We have to share the seventy so that it can go round everybody. Those who have semo would not have rice, those who have rice would not have maggi.

“We have to share it for everybody so that everybody would have to take one or two things home; so that they would not be disappointed.”, he concluded.

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HRH. Alhaji Abdulsalam Tijani Musa the Ogah Attah of Igala, and the Onu of Igala, Karu Jikwoyi, FCT., said, “Truly, I am also a COVID-19 Palliative Committee member in AMAC, precisely Karu Ward.

“We were partially part of the people that were distributing the palliative materials that was donated to the vulnerable people of FCT by the honourable minister of FCT, Honourable Musa Muhammad Bello. And it happened to be that the number of the items given were too small to the number of the vulnerable people that came out for collection.

“But by and large, we have to still thank the government for what they have done but we are still expecting more because some of us could be able to scratch up and down to be able to satisfy people a little which we know we can never satisfy them in totality.

“Even the government himself said that we should start, may be as time goes on, more may come on the way and that is how I have been able to go up and down to see how I can be able to reach out to people.

“Though in my own ward, the palliative was distributed through the traditional ruler; that is tribal community leader, and Dagachi as well as Hakimi of the community.

“So, what came to me as the tribal chief of Igala people, Karu-jikwoyi was a condiment, thirty pieces and rice thirty pieces. That is just thirty pieces, let me call it thirty pieces because one condiment and one rice (goes together) is to be given to one person.

“Invariably, people that gathered in my palace are over two hundred. I don’t have a choice than to go extra mile to make sure I give the little I can do which is still not yet okay and I have to equally beg others to go and wait when next have been provided or I have made by myself, I would still call on them, I would still give to them again.

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“That is how I was able to manage. But that is the material that was given to me as confirmed by Esu of Jikwoyi whom I collected the material from.

HRH Abdulsallam confirmed that people are really suffering under the hammering head of the lockdown.

He said, “The HungerVirus is more serious in Jikwoyi than the Coronavirus. That is the reality, the hungervirus is more serious in Jikwoyi, Karu ward, in fact in AMAC as a whole in FCT more than the COVID-19, the coronavirus that we are talking about.

“That is the reality. Because if person has to come out just for the purpose of two and half mudu of rice to trek from a long distance which amounted to, even if you enter Okada (bike) is about twho hundred to three hundred naira and they don’t even have. They have to trek to come and take this palliative. You can imagine what it is. So, people are suffering, that is the reality, people are suffering.” he concluded.

The authority at all levels must do something urgently serious to tackle the looming hunger as we continue to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, as the threat of starvation is also around the corner.

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Abdulrahman Obaje
Abdulrahman Obaje
Prince Abdulrahman Obaje is a Media and ICT Consultant, Journalist, online marketer, social media strategist, Mathematician and Computer Scientist based in Abuja, Nigeria. He is the Founder and the Publisher of The Informavores!. You can reach me on +234 805 939 5252 or send i-witness report directly to me on news@informavores.com.ng.

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Organ Trafficking: Ekweremadu, Wife, Doctor Sentenced To Various Prison Terms

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The duo of Ekweremadu, former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, and Doctor Obinna Obeta has been senenced to various jail terms for bringing a 21-year-old Lagos street trader to London to exploit him for his kidney.

A judge at The Central Criminal Court, [ Old Bailey], announced the sentence friday.

At a sentencing hearing on Friday, Ekweremadu was jailed for nine years and eight months, his wife Beatrice was sentenced to four years and six months imprisonment while Obeta received a 10-year prison term.

The sentencing follows their conviction in March for organ trafficking, The Ekweremadus’sick daughter, Sonia was cleared of any wrongdoing.

1rem;">The three were found guilty after arranging or facilitating a young Nigerian man’s travel into the United Kingdom in a bid to obtain his kidney on behalf of Sonia.
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The jury said Ekweremadu, his wife and their doctor criminally conspired to bring the 21-year-old Lagos street trader to London to exploit him for his kidney.

The conviction is the first under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act 2015.

The sentencing comes after pleas from multiple prominent personalities and institutions, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

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Other petitioners included both chambers of the National Assembly, the Chairman/CEO, Nigeria in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Erewa Dabiri, and the International Human Rights Commission (IHRC).

The charges were preferred on the Ekweremadus on June 23, 2022, when their arrest was announced. Obeta was later arraigned on July 13, 2022. While his wife was granted bail, the senator was refused.

After months of a pre-trial, the trial commenced on January 31, 2023 and lasted about six weeks, culminating in a guilty verdict against Ekweremadu, Beatrice, and Obeta.

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Reps Seek UK Government Clemency for Ekweremadu

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The House of Representatives  has write to the government of the United Kingdom seeking mercy in sentencing the embattled Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice.

This is contained in a resolution reached following a motion moved by Toby Okechukwu, a lawmaker from Enugu State.

A UK court found the duo guilty of conspiracy of organ harvesting of another Nigerian. The Ekweremadu couple will be sentenced in the coming days.

Moving the motion, Okechukwu said diplomatic intervention in this kind of case is normal.

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“It is a common practice in international relations for nations, including the UK, to seek relief for their citizens involved in situations such as that of the Ekweremadus,” he said.

Speaking on the motion, Femi Gbajabiamila, the Speaker of the House, said intervention by the House is not a justification for the charges against the Ekweremadus. He urged the UK government to consider Ekweremadu’s years of public service.

Consequently, the House resolved to urge the UK government and the court to temper justice with mercy in sentencing Ekweremadu, his wife and the doctor.

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Also, they urged the Federal Government of Nigeria to take all diplomatic steps and other necessary interventions regarding the travails of the Ekweremadu family.

Author Profile

Abdulrahman Obaje
Abdulrahman Obaje
Prince Abdulrahman Obaje is a Media and ICT Consultant, Journalist, online marketer, social media strategist, Mathematician and Computer Scientist based in Abuja, Nigeria. He is the Founder and the Publisher of The Informavores!. You can reach me on +234 805 939 5252 or send i-witness report directly to me on news@informavores.com.ng.
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HYPPDEC Donates Food Stuff, Clothing to Locals in Kogi to Tackle Cashless Policy Effect

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By Joseph Amedu, Lokoja

The Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPDEC), on Tuesday, donated 400 bags of rice, 250 gallons of vegetable oil and some packaged women rappers to ten Local Government Areas in Kogi State under the agency to cushion the effect associated with the new cashless policy.

Making the presentation to Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State at the Lugard House, Lokoja on Tuesday, a Board Member of HYPPDEC, Alhaji Isah Ozi Salami, said that the gesture is part of the agency’s intervention in times of natural disaster or any hardship situation on citizens.

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Salami expressed the commitment of HYPPDEC in tackling the prevailing economic hardship on Nigerians as a result of the Cashless Policy.

“We owe it as a duty to take adquate care of the people in the 10 Local Government Areas belonging to HYPPDEC communities in Kogi

“Our concern under the present economic hardship is to alleviate the sufferings of the people within HYPPDEC communities in Kogi” Ozi Salami told Governor Bello.

He commended Governor Yahaya Bello for the provision of logistic supports that have facilitated smooth operation of the agency in Kogi.

He also told the Governor that HYPPDEC will soon begin the construction of 50 housing units in Kogi for resettlement of last year’s flood victims in riverine communities.

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“I appreciate Governor Bello’s magnanimity in providing land for the housing project. The Governor is expected to perform the foundation laying ceremony of the project” Ozi Salami disclosed.

The Chief of Staff to Governor Bello, Jamiu Asuku who received the food stuff on behalf of his boss, hinted that Kogi will key into HYPPDEC’s intervention initiative in the areas of provision of food and security of lives and property for citizens.

Governor Yahaya Bello appealed to HYPPDEC to focus more on Ibaji Local Government Area in its intervention programme as a result of the bad terrain of the area.

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