21st Century Media

18/09/2025

Onyekachi Isaac (a.k.a. Brigadier General Angel Make-up) 2nd in Command To The Dreaded Unknown Gunmen Leader, Gentle de Yahoo Reportedly kpaied

16/09/2025

BREAKING!!! Gentle The Yah00 Reportedly Arrested In Imo State |

09/09/2025

An Igbo businessman has settled one of his boys in Port Harcourt after years of loyal and diligent service. 🙌

He blessed him with a brand new shop fully stocked with goods — a true reward for hard work and commitment.

This is the Igbo spirit of apprenticeship at work… teaching, guiding, and then empowering the next generation to also succeed. 💯

05/09/2025

04/09/2025

🤓 Let's Widen The Tax Net.
Reminder!
So starting January 2026, Nigerians will pay an extra 5% tax on every litre of fuel, under a new law signed by President Tinubu. With fuel already expensive, the levy will push costs even higher for motorists, transporters, and businesses that depend on fuel.

03/09/2025

JUST IN: From 2026, I don't want to see or hear anything about house/land agents in Ebonyi state, those agents are the reasons why house reπt and sh0p rent keeps on going higher everyday. Agent will C0llect almost half a m!ll!on just to show someone another person properties not even his own, I'm here for the good people of Ebonyi state. – Ebonyi governor says through his aid

03/09/2025

🧐
Tony Okocha: APC Will Work with Fubara’s Govt, Woos Wike, PDP Members to APC.

The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Chief Tony Okocha has declared that the party will work with the suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, when he returns to office.

Okocha made this known yesterday, at the APC Secretariat on Aba Road, Port Harcourt, during a press briefing to commend Rivers people for electing his party’s candidates to man the leadership of 20 local government councils in the state.

This was as the APC chairman has urged the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike and members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state to join the APC for a successful and progressive Rivers State.

Okocha commended President Tinubu, the National Working Committee of the APC, for the APC victory at the August 30, 2025 local government council election in the state.
He said with the recorded victory at the LG elections, “we are going to double and redouble our membership for the President, as far as my party is concerned, we will be fielding him for a second term in 2027”.

He stated that the Rivers State LG election is a prelude to what will happen in 2027, recalling that he had “told our people that there is a need for us to believe and leave the periphery. In 2023, APC in Rivers State had no shoes, now we are wearing psychedelic shoes”.

On why APC lost in three LGAs to PDP, Okocha said “We did not field candidates in Obio/Akpor, PHALGA and ONELGA because we do not have the strength in those areas. It was our own calculated strategy not to field candidates in those LGAs and concentrate only where we have comparative advantage”.

https://www.thisdaylive.com/2025/09/03/tony-okocha-apc-will-work-with-fubaras-govt-woos-wike-pdp-members-to-apc/

02/09/2025

Anambra police bursts armed robbery and kidnapping syndicate

Police Operatives attached to the Rapid Response Squad Awkuzu in the early hours of 1st September, 2025 arrested four male suspects and recovered 2 (Two) Pump Action Guns and Nine 9 (Nine) Live Cartridges in Amansea, Awka. This was based on credible intelligence on a Case of kidnapping where a ransom of N5,000,000 (Five Million Naira) only was paid before the victims were released. The Case was earlier transferred to the unit from B Division Awka on 14th August 2025.

The arrested suspects are: Chigozie Igboekwu ‘M’ aged 31 years, Odumegwu Chibuike ‘M’ aged 23 years, Jonah Awudu ‘M’ aged 40 years, and Okechukwu Nwari ‘M’ aged 33 years.

The suspects have voluntarily confessed to the crime and narrated how they conspired among themselves, on 12th August, 2025 at about 7.00 pm and kidnapped two victims in Amansea, Awka, kept them for two days in a bush at Ugwuoba, Enugu State, collected ransom before they were released.

The Commissioner of Police, Anambra State Command, CP Ikioye Orutugu, fwc MNIPS PhD has commended the operatives for their resilience and reassured Ndi Anambra of the Command’s unwavering commitment to rid the State of criminal elements and ensure the safety and security of all residents.

The Case shall be charged to the Court on the conclusion. Meanwhile, operations are still ongoing to arrest other gang/syndicate members.

SP Ikenga A Tochukwu
Police Public Relations Officer
Anambra State Police Command, Awka

2nd September, 2025

01/09/2025

Rivers: Wike Regains Control Of Political Structure As Fubara, Loyalists Boycott

Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Minister and former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike has regained his political influence in the state after a prolonged face-off with his successor, Siminalayi Fubara.

The Minister recaptured the local government structure on Saturday following the election conducted in the 23 Local Government Areas of the state by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC.

The elections were conducted after the political crisis that tore the state apart.

Recall that in the heat of the crisis last year, Governor Fubara conducted a highly controversial local government election, with his men sweeping relatively all the chairmanship positions.

Fubara’s loyalists had contested the election conducted on October 4, 2024 under the Action Peoples Party, APP, and won 22 out of the 23 chairmanship positions in the state.

However, the Supreme Court on February 28, 2025, nullified the election, following an appeal brought before the apex court by the All Progressives Congress, APC.

The court, in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Jamilu Tukur, invalidated the election after it restored a judgment of the Federal High Court, which earlier in 2024 restrained RSIEC from proceeding with the conduct of the council polls on the grounds that the state’s voter’s register must be updated before the conduct of the poll.

Fubara’s suspension and reconciliation with Wike

Worried by the impact of the prolonged feud between Wike and his then estranged political son, President Bola Tinubu on March 18, declared a state of emergency in Rivers and suspended Governor Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the state House of Assembly for six months.

The president said the decision was taken to restore stability in the state.

A few months after the suspension, Tinubu met with Fubara and Wike at the state House and brokered peace between them.

The duo reportedly entered a concrete agreement witnessed by President Tinubu himself. Part of the agreement, according to reports, was to allow Wike’s men to return to the local government.

The deal paved the way for the fresh LG election conducted across the state on Saturday.

How Wike’s loyalists regained control

In the run up to the Saturday polls, Wike’s loyalists and former Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, stalwarts defected to the Chief Tony Okocha-led All Progressive Congress, APC, and picked the party’s ticket to contest the elections.

The move, according to analysts, was to allow Wike to take control of both the PDP and the APC ahead of the 2027 general elections in the state.

All the loyalists were cleared by the RSIEC to contest the election despite opposition from another faction of the APC, which has now shifted to the African Democratic Congress, ADC.

DAILY POST reports that in the 23 local government areas in the state, chairmanship candidates linked to Wike contested the election on APC platform in 20 local government areas, while three others ran as PDP members.

Those linked to the FCT Minister in PDP are contesting in Obio-Akpor, the minister’s Local Government Area; Port Harcourt and Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni.

Although RSIEC is yet to announce winners of the Saturday polls, the coast is clear for Wike’s men.

Fubara and his men shun election

The suspended Governor, who is expected to return to the government house on September 18, was conspicuously absent from the state during the exercise.

DAILY POST also gathered that the governor’s key supporters included his Chief of Staff, Edison Ehie, the Secretary to the Government, Dr Tammy Danagogo and other notable loyalists were absent from their various polling units during the election.

Similarly, the 23 former local government chairmen sacked by the Supreme Court shunned the election, paving the way for Wike’s men.

One of the loyalists, who spoke with DAILY POST on condition of anonymity said there was no need to participate in the exercise, stating that “we knew the winners before the election started. So why do we need to waste our precious time to go and vote? Vote for who?”

He clarified that the governor is not in the country at the moment, saying “we are expecting him to be back early next month close to when he will be returning to the office.

“Most of the things happening today are parts of the agreement Wike and Fubara signed in the presence of Mr President. They have taken the power from the governor,” he added.

According to him, “Fubara believes that there is nothing, including his seat, that cannot be sacrificed for the sake of peace. Have you seen where an elected president removes another elected leader before? It has never happened.

“We all listened to Shettima when he said the president has no power to suspend even a local government chairman not to talk of a sitting governor but it has happened and they did it successfully. That’s the country we live in today”.

Election marred by apathy

There was a very low turnout of voters across the state on Saturday as only a few residents could be seen queuing up at various polling units.

DAILY POST gathered that as of 11.40am on Saturday, there was no single voter at the Ward 17 Unit 054 Obio-Akpor LGA of the state.

A resident of the area and an eligible voter, Wisdom Kagbara alleged that boys were seen “thumb printing ballot papers” for the APC candidate.

“Lets wait and see what they will announce as results as all our streets are for soccer”, he lamented in an X post.

Another resident of Port Harcourt, Grace Agba told DAILY POST that there was no need to waste time to vote “when they have already written the results. Whether you vote or not, the results they wrote is what they will announce”.

“I was in the market three days ago and everybody was saying that there was no need to vote. The agreement has been signed and Wike’s men are taking over.

“Left for some of us, they shouldn’t have wasted the money spent for the exercise, they should have just announced the unelected winners. This is pure selection and not an election”, she lamented.

01/09/2025

😳
Finnish Court Jails Simon Ekpa for Terrorism Linked To IPOB

The District Court of Päijät-Häme has sentenced Simon Ekpa—a Nigerian-born Finnish citizen and former local politician in Lahti, to six years in prison for terrorism related offenses linked to the separatist struggle in southeastern Nigeria’s region.

Ekpa, 40, who has long styled himself as a voice for Biafran independence, was found guilty of participating in the activities of a terrorist group, public incitement to commit crimes for terrorist purposes, aggravated tax fraud and violations of legal practice regulations.

According to the court, between 2021 and 2024, Ekpa built influence through fiery social media campaigns, using platforms like X (formerly Twitter) to rally followers and exploit divisions within the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a proscribed separatist group in Nigeria. The judge ruled that his leadership role helped transform the movement into a more organized structure with violent offshoots.

“He used social media to gain a position of political influence and exploited internal confusion within a major Nigerian separatist movement to assume a significant leadership role,” the court noted in its verdict. It further found that armed groups tied to the movement were classified as terrorist organizations and that Ekpa supplied them with weapons, explosives and ammunition through his network of contacts.

Ekpa, who arrived in Finland in 2007 as a promising track and field athlete before gaining citizenship, has become a polarizing figure. To his critics, he is a dangerous propagandist fueling violence from abroad. To his supporters, he is a defiant freedom fighter standing against what they describe as Nigerian state oppression in the southeast.

On the stand, Ekpa denied all terrorism allegations, portraying himself instead as a humanitarian moved to action after reports of government backed troops attacking his home community in Biafra. He claimed three widows from a group of women he supported financially were killed, sparking his decision to use social media to highlight the plight of his people.

He admitted to hosting frequent live broadcasts and sharing images and videos about Biafra but insisted his advocacy was peaceful and aimed at an international audience. While he acknowledged being named “Prime Minister” of a so-called Biafran government-in-exile, he dismissed it as ceremonial and denied directing IPOB or armed groups on the ground.

01/09/2025

Enugu is working, Imo is rotting…Chinedu Agu

“As the goalkeeper of NBA Owerri FC, I went to Enugu to represent my branch in the NBA Football Tournament where 40 branches battled for glory at the just-concluded AGC. We came 4th — a commendable feat. But beyond that, I was privileged to be awarded the Golden Glove as the Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament.

It was a moment of honour. But the true reward came not from a medal; it came from the eye-opening, soul-wrenching experience of spending 10 days (August 18–28) in Enugu, a city that, quite frankly, left me in awe, and in pain.

Because I drove myself and spent time moving around Enugu, I can say with confidence: I saw the city. I felt it. I lived it. And what I saw left me with one question — "Gịnị mere anyị na Imo? What happened to us in Imo State?"

From the moment I entered Enugu, I noticed something strange — no potholes. Yes, I drove across town, from GRA to Uwani, from Independence Layout to Trans-Ekulu, and never once did I fear my tyres would burst or my suspension collapse. The roads were motorable, marked, clean, and vigilantly maintained.

Contrast this with Imo State, where even the so-called capital city of Owerri is riddled with craters that swallow cars and test your patience daily. Literally, a man driving in Owerri carries his heart in his hands.

But in Enugu, I drove with ease. No fear of "boom" sounds. No "zigzagging" to avoid gullies in the middle of the road. Just calm.

One of the most painful yet enlightening moments of my trip was my visit to the Enugu Geographic Information Service (EGIS), an agency under the Ministry of Lands. I went there to conduct a simple search, and what I saw stunned me: digitized records, clear service processes, courteous staff, and fast results.

This is how a public institution should function.

Now tell me — when last did anyone walk into Imo State Ministry of Lands and successfully conduct a search? That Ministry has been under lock and key for over two years. A ministry that holds the key to economic development, investments, and housing — completely paralysed.

What kind of leadership allows such critical infrastructure to collapse while singing songs of development?

When an animal's head begins to rot, you know it's been left in water too long. That is what has happened to our institutions in Imo.

In Enugu, the police were present, but not predatory. They were there to maintain order, not to extort, intimidate, or frustrate motorists. For 10 days, I was not stopped indiscriminately. I was not asked for “particulars,” “ECMR,” or “fuel our car.” The officers were polite, civil, and professional.

I even saw a vehicle marked DRS – District Response Squad, strategically situate at major junctions and roundabouts, ready for emergency response; an idea clearly built around public service, not harassment. In fact, a colleague told me how they quickly responded on Tuesday night to a distress call to rescue a lawyer whose leg got stuck inside a Gutter Lid infront of Golden Royale after the Meet-and-Greet Outing of the Eastern Bar Forum. The hotel management called and they responded in less than 4 minutes.

But in Imo, the story is different. Young men drive with their hearts in their mouths. Police stop you for sport. In fact, if you don't want trouble in Imo, don't drive. They are at all nooks and crannies, not to protect but to prey, especially at nights - Amakohia Road, before Amakohia Flyover; Onitsha Road before A.A. Rano Fuel Station; Bank Road; Warehouse Roundabout; Okigwe Road, before Government College; Orji, before Orji Flyover; MCC Road; Concorde Road; Yar' Adua drive; Egbeada Road, before A.A. Rano junction, just to mention but a few. Drive down there tonight and you will definitely see them, preying on young motorists and commercial drivers in a manner most callous.

Being a lawyer, I paid attention to the judiciary during my stay. In Enugu, the courts are active, orderly, and strategically digitizing. There is a Chief Judge in place, and we were even treated to a cocktail by the Chief Judge of Enugu during the NBA Conference. That is a judiciary that understands its role as a partner in nation-building.

Meanwhile, in Imo, we do not currently have a Chief Judge. For a state battling land disputes, insecurity, and civil unrest, that vacuum is dangerous. It’s also telling. Our courts are underfunded, under-equipped, increasingly inefficient and non-existent in this vacation period.

I visited Aba High Court in Abia State from Enugu last Thursday, and I saw how digitization is transforming, how records are kept and accessed. The future is arriving in our neighbouring states, while Imo clutches tightly and happily to the past.

The tortoise says it will go on a journey, but forgets that it must have strong legs. You cannot build the future with broken systems.

During the NBA Conference, over 20,000 lawyers descended on Enugu. Yet, the city did not choke. Why? Because the road network absorbed the pressure. Planning worked. Agencies worked.

Compare that to Owerri. A single wedding can lock down the entire city. There’s no plan. No foresight. Link roads are abandoned. Intersections are chaotic. If you want to see the practical definition of chaos, drive down to Worldbank Last Roundabout, or Hospital Junction at Portharcourt Road!

And yet, we clap. We clap for every shallow project, every half-done road, every fresh coat of paint.

Until the leadership changes how it sees governance, nothing will change in this abandoned property called Imo State.

This is not an attack piece. This is a lamentation. A public mourning. Because it is shameful that Imo, once a shining light of the Southeast, has now become its sick patient, limping behind as Enugu, Abia, Ebonyi match forward, and probably looking at the recent Anambra and saying, "let's limp along."

Imo is falling apart, and those who should speak have zipped their mouths.

Let me speak to those still praising mediocrity, especially lawyers who ought to know better: You must not give a vulture the food meant for a hen. We are rewarding those who have failed us while punishing our own future.

If you truly love Imo, stop clapping. Start asking questions. Start demanding good governance.

After 10 days in Enugu, my heart is heavy. I love Imo State. I owe my roots to it. But love tells the truth. And the truth is: we are broken. We are behind. And no one is coming to save us unless we rise to demand better.

So I raise my voice — as a lawyer, a son of the soil, and I say:

Enugu is working. Imo is rotting”.

Chinedu Agu is a Solicitor and Notary Public, past secretary of NBA Owerri, and writes from Owerri. He can be reached on [email protected] | 08032568512.