A former governorship candidate of the African Action Congress, AAC, in the 2023 election in Benue State, Mr Ewaoche Benjamin Obe, has been thrown out of his Abuja house after his wife allegedly used the property as collateral for a loan. The house located at the Sagwari Layout of Dutse, Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, was built by the politician.

The wife identified as Christiana Obe had been married to Obe since 2006. The couple hailed from Ogbadibo Local Government Area LGA of Benue State.It was gathered on Saturday that the incident happened on Wednesday, September 25, 2024. Obe, while on his way to Benue State, received a call that some security operatives invaded his Abuja house and had begun to evict him from his own property.

Angered by the report, the politician swiftly made a u-turn along the Keffi road in Nasarawa State. Upon returning to the house, he was handed a court document where it was stated that the same house had been confiscated over an outstanding loan taken by his wife.  But Obe told DAILY POST upon getting to the scene that he was never issued any court notice prior to the day his house was invaded by the security personnel.

Some military men in uniform and police officers were seen at the scene with Obe’s property littered across the street of Sagwari Layout. Obe, referring to his wife, intermittently told our correspondent: “She has done her worse. This is a house I built with my hard-earned money.”

In a Facebook live, Obe claimed his wife stormed the house that belongs to him in collusion with some officers, wondering why a court could confiscate a property without prior notices. Asked whether he was contacted by the lenders when the loan was taken, Obe said he had no knowledge the wife took any loan and was never contacted prior to the alleged loan.

He also disclosed that the wife took his son away to a place, apparently to a new apartment prior to the incident.

He also denied being served any court paper prior to the eviction. I was never served. This was plotted by my wife and the officers that came. We have been having issues for a while and I think this is her best way of getting at me,” he said. It was gathered that Christiana, an officer of the Nigerian Air Force, had prior to the eviction, moved some of her things out of the house, including air-conditioners.

She went away unquestioned as Obe claimed he did not want to create a scene. Meanwhile, our correspondent obtained the court papers served during the eviction. In the court paper, it was claimed the claimant had lived in the said duplex as a tenant.

A family member who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “Ewaoche (Obe) has invested a lot in this woman, even the job she currently has came from him. He saw this woman through school and has invested in her life in so many other ways. How do you connive with external persons to bring down a man you have lived with for more than two decades? How?.

“From the look of things, it is clear this is a clear case of oppression. Assuming this happened to a woman, we will say is because “na woman. This is a direct opposite. How can wife take a loan without informing the husband? Why did the lender not call to get details from property owner? Who values a house without a man who owns it? Something is seriously missing in all these.

“We gathered that the court papers are all fake and the people commissioned to carry out the eviction were mobilized illegally. We want the Air Force and the police to investigate the officers in the video. When contacted by DAILY POST, Christiana simply said “I am not under any obligation to speak to anyone.

Source: eNCA

In other news –

Traders in Ose Okwodu Market in Onitsha, Anambra State, have blamed the rising cost of food items in Nigeria on the insecurity bedeviling the country. The traders stated this through their market leaders on Thursday when the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council (FCCPC) visited the market for a survey on the cause of the rising cost of food items in the country.

Secretary of Ose Okwodu Market Traders Union, Mr Onyejekwe Cyprian, who represented the chairman of the union, Mr Ikechukwu Umeanozie, during the visit said the market is seen as the food basket of Anambra State and beyond, but lately the cost of items in the market has become unbearable. He attributed this to insecurity, saying that farmers now fear to go to their farms to cultivate crops, and even when they do, they are either abducted when moving crops to urban places to sell, or when coming back.

“These days, traders now go to rural places because farmers who manage to harvest crops fear to transport them by road for fear of kidnapping. Now it is the traders that are suffering because we go to them. Most consumables in Nigeria come down here to this market which serves as a distribution point.

“We receive supplies from all over the country, three times every week. Yams from Benue, grains from Niger, Adamawa and other state, potatoes from diverse places, fish from parts of Anambra here, but today, how many times do supplies come?

“Sometimes, farmers call traders on the phone and tell them there may not be supplies in the near future, that bandits were terrorizing them. In that way, the trader who knows he will not get stock will hike the price of the available ones.

“If government can do something about insecurity, I’m sure farmers will return to farm and traders will not be afraid to transport their goods back for sale.”

Onyejekwe told the South East zonal coordinator of FCCPC, Mr Jude Akonam, that besides insecurity, climate change and cost of transportation were other factors.

Akonam said the reason for the visit was to hear from traders and customers how the rise in prices affect them, with a view to relay the message to the appropriate quarters for action.

Officials of FCCPC who interacted with traders and customers also shared fliers to sensitize them on the role of the Commission. Onuorah said the exercise was a country-wide affair, which is carried out by various zonal offices of the Commission.

Source: Dailypost

Anambra State Police Command in collaboration with the security Joint Task Force, JTF, have recovered three unexploded improvised explosives, two abandoned vehicles, some other dangerous materials from a camp raid in Ihiala.

The State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the incident in a statement on Saturday in Onitsha. He said that the joint security forces in a planned and coordinated operation busted a criminal camp amid the security intelligence gathered over time.

The camps which are located in Lilu, Mbosi and Isseke areas of Ihiala Local Government Area of the state, recovered three unexploded improvised explosives. Ikenga noted that the Commissioner of Police in the state, Nnaghe Itam, had charged the operatives to sustain the tempo of the operations.

He stressed that the commissioner further assured the good people of the state, the commitment of the police and other security agencies to continue to dominate and deny the criminal elements of committing havoc in the state. Two abandoned vehicles, some explosives materials like copper wires, fuel and other dangerous materials were recovered,” he said.

Source: Dailypost