From the rescue of a former tennis champion in Anambra State to the pipeline explosion in Imo State, the past week was action-packed in South-east Nigeria.
Here are the highlights of the top stories that made headlines in the region within the past week:
Ifeanyi Ubah says he will contest in 2025 Anambra governorship
The week began last Sunday with the declaration of interest by a Nigerian senator, Ifeanyi Ubah to contest in the 2025 Anambra governorship election.
Mr Ubah, who represents Anambra South District in the Senate, said he will only serve for one term in office.
The senator is the first to publicly declare interest in the next governorship election in the state.
The current governor of Anambra, Charles Soludo, will finish his first term by 17 March 2026.
A governorship election is expected to be conducted in the state in 2025 with the incumbent governor, Mr Soludo, poised to seek reelection.
Mr Soludo is a member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance under which he won the governorship election in the state in November 2021.
Mr Ubah has been seeking to be governor of the South-east state since 2013 without success.
But his latest declaration of interest was said to have unsettled Mr Soludo’s camp because of the belief that the senator, a member of the APC, could take advantage of ‘federal might’ to unseat the incumbent governor.
Rescue of ex-lawn tennis champion
The week continued on Monday with the rescue of a former lawn tennis champion, Tanya Okpala, who was said to be homeless and mentally ill.
Ms Okpala represented Nigeria in a female lawn tennis tournament in the 1990s.
Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State who rescued the former tennis star ordered that she should be rehabilitated.
The governor’s intervention came after the US-based former tennis star was captured in a video clip roaming the streets in Awka.
Bi-racial, Ms Okpala’s mother is from Belarus, an Eastern European country, while her father is from Nkpologwu Community in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria’s South-east.
The former tennis star has since narrated how she became homeless and roamed the streets of Awka, Anambra State capital.
Nigeria’s Minister of Sports Development, John Owan-Enoh, would later reveal more details about the former lawn tennis champion.
Expert’s suggestion on how federal govt can fight looming food insecurity in Nigeria
An expert in agriculture, on Monday, suggested that the federal government must adopt multiple measures to fight food insecurity in Nigeria.
The expert, Agwu Ekwe, in an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES, said the federal government can prevent looming food insecurity in Nigeria if it focuses on strengthening “critical pillars” that support food security.
Mr Ekwe listed what he called the “basic critical pillars” of food security as production, availability, distribution and use.
Anambra intercepts woman about selling her sons
On Wednesday, there was a strange story of a woman who attempted to sell two of her sons in Anambra State.
The Anambra State Government intercepted the 38-year-old woman in the state while she was scouting for people who could buy the two sons from her.
The older son, whom she put up for sale, is nine years old while the other is eight.
The woman, Chinyere Chukwu, and her first daughter, Joy, have since been arrested for the alleged offence.
The arrest of the suspects was facilitated by the Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare in Anambra State, Ify Obinabo.
The woman and her 17-year-old daughter were arrested after Mrs Obinabo approached them and pretended to be a willing buyer.
During her interrogation, the woman claimed that she and her daughter decided to sell the two sons because of economic hardship.
Pipeline explosion in Imo
On Tuesday, tragedy struck in Imo State when an explosion rocked the Obitti Community in Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of the state.
Five vandals were killed when the explosion occurred in the state.
The vandals were said to have stormed the Obitti Rubber Estate in the area with an articulated vehicle and dug through an oil pipeline that passed through the area.
Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State would later order security agencies to end illegal crude oil bunkering in the state.
Killing of police operative in Ebonyi State
It was a black Thursday in Ebonyi State when some gunmen attacked some police operatives on patrol, killing one of them on the spot.
The incident happened at about 11:00 a.m. on Thursday along Ngbo-Effium Road in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of the state.
The Ebonyi killing occurred a day after gunmen killed another police officer in Akwa Ibom State, South-south Nigeria.
However, there is no indication that the two attacks are related or carried out by the same group as various armed groups operate in different parts of Nigeria.
Prosecution of Anambra lawyer for alleged abuse of house help
Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State, on Saturday, announced that his administration has begun prosecution of a female lawyer who allegedly abused an 11-year-old house girl in the state.
The lawyer, Adachukwu Cukelu-Okafor, was said to have used a broken bottle, knife and electric iron to “brutalise” the child who began staying with the lawyer on 5 January.
The incident happened in Akpaka, Onitsha in Onitsha North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
The suspect, Mrs Cukelu-Okafor, reportedly accused the survivor of touching her daughter.
The governor said the suspect’s prosecution will serve as a “firm warning to all abusers of any kind” in the state.
He said the Child’s Rights Act (2003) and Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (2017) have long been domesticated in the state in addition to other laws against abuse and violence.
Imo lawmakers move to reclaim assembly quarters from squatters
Last week, the Imo House of Assembly passed a motion urging the state governor, Hope Uzodinma, to recover the assembly quarters from squatters so they can be used as intended.
The motion was sponsored by the representative of the Orlu State Constituency, Ikenna Ihezuo (APC), who claimed that the Assembly’s staff quarters were illegally converted for personal use and needed to be recovered.
Mr Ihezuo said, that although the staff quarters had been renamed “Heroes Apartments,” the assembly records showed that there was no resolution or agreement to cede the said properties.
He added that the illegal conversion had impacted negatively on members and staff of the assembly who had to rent accommodation elsewhere.
The lawmaker was supported by a number of colleagues, which prompted the Speaker, Chike Olemgbe, to rule in favour of prayers of the motion.
Cult killing in Ebonyi
The police in Ebonyi State, on Wednesday, confirmed the death of three men as a result of a cult clash in the Oriuzor Community, Ezza North Local Government of the state.
The police spokesperson in the state, Joshua Ukandu, who confirmed the development, said suspects have been arrested in connection with the clash, adding that the situation had been brought under control.
Discovery of decomposing corpses in Imo forest
The police in Imo State, last week, announced that their operatives discovered three decomposing corpses in a forest in Ihiagwa and Avu Communities in Owerri West Local Government Area of the state.
The police spokesperson in the state, Henry Okoye, who announced this on Monday, said the decomposing corpses were suspected to be those of kidnap victims.
Reports in the national media had suggested that a total of four corpses were discovered in the forest by Imo hunters and forest guards.
Mr Okoye, an assistant superintendent of police, said the Commissioner of Police, Aboki Danjuma, had directed a tactical team to thoroughly search all the bushes and forests in the area to see if there were more kidnappers and dead bodies.
The discovery of the decomposing corpses came days after troops of the Nigerian army from 82 Division discovered burnt corpses of police operatives in a camp belonging to suspected members of the Indigenous People of Biafra and its armed militant wing, Eastern Security Network.
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