Kalu: I didn’t join APC to escape EFCC trial

Orji Uzor Kalu

Orji Uzor Kalu, a former governor of Abia State, said he did not join the All Progressives Congress because of his travails in the hands of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Kalu was responding to questions from reporters after he was received by the Chief John Odigie-Oyegun-led National Working Committee of the APC in Abuja on Wednesday.
When asked whether he was joining the party because of his travails at the hands of the EFCC, Kalu said, “My family members are here (APC) and I am coming to join them.”
He explained that his decision to join the party was largely due to pressures from his family, friends, political associates and other well wishers who placed a premium on his political value.
The former governor added, “All my friends are here. I am not saying my friends are not in the other party but it’s time to take stock.
“It is important to go along family lines in order to rebrand Nigeria. I am back to join where my family are.
“If I had joined earlier at the time they were forming government, it would look like I am trying to join them to form government.  This is the right time for me to join because this is the middle time between now and the next season to do politics. I am joining now to be able to play raw politics.”
He maintained that his decision would help convince his kinsmen especially in the South-East that “the APC is an all inclusive party which has the growth and development of Nigeria as the reason for its existence.”
The entrepreneur, publisher and businessman also announced that since he registered in his ward on Sunday, over 4, 800 others had registered as members of the party.
He announced that there two sitting members of the House of Representatives from Abia would soon make public their decision to join the APC.
The politician dismissed insinuations that the APC would disintegrate before 2019. He expressed confidence that the party had come to stay.
Kalu, who described himself as a complete Nigerian, said he schooled in the North, learnt to do business in the South-West and “by virtue of my birth, I’m an Igbo man.”
“The South-East and other parts of the country will be delivered to the APC in 2019,” he vowed.
Kalu pledged to abide by the party’s rules and regulations as well as carry out any task entrusted to him by the party.

65-year-old man rapes two-year-old girl

A 65-year-old man, Emeka Asibirionwu, has been arrested for allegedly raping a two-year-old girl at Oriendu, near Umuahia, the Abia State capital.

The Abia Commissioner of Police, Mr. Leye Oyebade, who addressed newsmen on Monday in Umuahia said the suspect was arrested on September 28.

Oyebade said that Asibirionwu was “arrested when the victim’s mother raised the alarm on sighting her daughter crying, while blood and fluid were gushing out from her private part.”

He said the victim’s mother reportedly kept the minor in the custody of the suspect, who was her neighbour, when the incident happened.

The suspect, however, denied the allegation in an interview with newsmen.

He said that he was in his house around 10 p.m. when the victim’s mother accosted him, screaming and accusing him of having defiled her daughter.

He said that he declined the demand that he should provide the money for the victim’s medical treatment because he knew he was innocent of the allegation. (NAN)

Abia police uncover baby factory, rescue pregnant girls

Operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad attached to the Abia State Police Command have uncovered a suspected baby factory at Ogbor Hill, in the Aba  area of the state.

During the operation, the detectives rescued five pregnant women and arrested a 54-year-old man, identified as Nkem Nwokocha.

Nwokocha, who hails from Obegu village in the Ugwunagbo Local Government Area of the state, allegedly ran the factory with his wife, identified only as Nurse.

The rescued pregnant women are Chidinma Chukwu (29), of Isiala Mbano community, Imo State; Kelechi Sampson (20); Happiness Godwin, of Mboko Umuanunu village, Obingwa, Abia State; Okoronkwo Mercy, of Alayi, in the Bende LGA, Abia State; and Oluebube Onyabu, of Umuanunu village, in the Obingwa LGA, Abia State.

While parading the suspect at the police headquarters in Umuahia, the state capital, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Adeleye Oyebade, said the police acted on a tip-off.

He explained that upon receipt of the information, operatives moved into the area and discovered the hideout, where the pregnant women were camped.

The police boss lamented the rate at which people indulged in illegal sale of babies in the state, adding that it was an act of wickedness against innocent children.

He said, “Any crime that involves the sale of children is against humanity and God. Sometimes, it’s even hard to imagine that a child will be stolen and sometimes, their parents are involved. But we are not going to accept it. We are asking members of the public to give us useful information that will assist us in this direction.”

The suspect, Nwokocha, said his wife was a midwife who had been running the maternity home for over six years.

He said although the home was not legally registered with the government, it was working in liaison with a yet-to-be-identified social welfare home.

He said, “I’m aware of what my wife is doing. Most times when I returned from my place of work, I saw these girls and when I asked them what they were doing in my house, my wife told me that their parents registered them with her for treatment.

“When the girls put to bed, my wife takes the babies to the welfare home we are working with. I don’t make any money from this because I have my own business and I am comfortable.”

Two of the pregnant girls, Mercy and Kelechi, said they knew Nwokocha’s wife through a woman who referred them to her for treatment of stomach ulcer.

Others, however, claimed that they were only on a visit.

All the victims said they were not legally married, adding that they went to the maternity home without the consent of either their parents or those responsible for the pregnancies.