Police lock factional Anambra lawmakers out of Assembly complex

The Police in Anambra State on Thursday locked out members of
the state House of Assembly.

The lawmakers, made up of those who purportedly impeached the
Speaker of the House, Rita Maduagwu, on the 13th of November, were
stopped at the gate of the complex and asked to leave from
there.

No fewer than 200 policemen had barricaded the entrance to the
legislative complex as of 8am on Thursday.

Efforts by the factional Speaker, Ikem Uzoezie, and his group to
persuade the policemen for about two hours to let them in to the
complex failed.

Speaking to the press, Uzoezie decried the continued sealing of
the state House of Assembly complex by the Police, describing it as
unconstitutional and affront to democracy.

About 20 out of the 30 members of the House had, on 13th
November, impeached Maduagwu for alleged financial impropriety,
highhandedness, incompetence and gross misconduct.

Maduagwu, who later gained access to the chamber, presided over
a session with 11 members of the House and described her
impeachment as “a bundle of illegality.”

The state government had openly shown support for Maduagwu and
asked the parallel members of the House to sheathe their
swords.

The All Progressives Grand Alliance, Anambra State chapter, as a
consequence had suspended the factional Speaker , Uzoezie; the
Deputy Speaker, Hayford Oseke and Victor Okoye who were identified
as the “ring leaders” of the impeachment plot.

When contacted on the telephone, the Police Public Relations
Officer in the state, Haruna Mohammed, confirmed that the lawmakers
were denied entrance into the legislative complex.

He said the Police action was sequel to an application from the
leadership of the House to protect the complex.

He said, “We had earlier issued a press statement notifying the
public of sealing off of the Assembly. We stand on that press
statement.”

Asked how long the sealing of the complex would last, Mohammed
said it depended on counter-instruction the Command would be
given.

“What we did is called proactive measures to protect the place
and prevent breach of law and order.

“The world over, proactive measures for crime prevention is
preferred to reactionary measures,” Mohammed stated.

Related

Health: FG Unveils 2018 NNHS Report
The Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Health has
unveiled and disseminated the 2018 National Nutrition and Health
Survey (NNHS)/SMART Survey report.

Speaking at the dissemination meeting recently in Abuja, the
Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, said that the Report
being the third after the first and second in 2014 and 2015
respectively was to further demonstrate the Federal Government’s
strong commitment towards strengthening data collection and
utilization which was an essential aspect of the ‘’Saving One
Million Lives Programme for Results’ (SOML-PforR).

The Minister informed that the NNHS was to provide up-to-date
information on the situation of Health and Nutrition as well as
measure the SOML-PforR key indicators and other health related
indicators with particular focus on six key priority indicators
that required immediate action: Skilled birth Attendance,
Immunization/Pent A3, Contraceptive Prevalence Rate, Vitamin A,
PMTCT, Insecticide-Treated Bed Nets (ITNS).

Consequently, Adewole noted that available reports from recent
assessment of the states showed some improvement from the previous
assessments though there were still few challenges which he said
could be resolved through continuous liaising with the National
Programme Management Unit of the SOML-PforR.

The Minister also informed that the Health Ministry had procured
some ‘Ready-to Use Therapeutic Foods’ (RUTF) in partnership with
UNICEF for the treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) in six
selected States. 12,000 cartons of the RUTF were handed over to
States with the highest burden of Acute Malnutrition. The States
included: Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Edo, Osun, as well as FCT who
got 5,000 cartons. The Six States were picked from 12 States with
the highest burden of malnutrition selected from the six
geopolitical zones of the country based on their readiness to
participate in the programme.

Commending the SOML-PforR for using statistics to monitor her
programme and decision making, the Statistician General of
Federation, National Bureau of Statistics, Dr. Yemi Kale, noted
that since inception of the survey, the data quality had improved
judging by the data quality score. This, he attributed to adequate
training and use of electronic data tools, which he said eliminated
error.

Speaking on behalf of the Health sector Development Partners,
the Representative of the Country Director, World Bank, Dr.
Benjamin, described the report as a great accomplishment by the
Nigerian Government, in that, every decision based on data ensured
sustainable development in every strata of an economy. He further
advised that the Survey should be conducted annually.

The Country Representative of UNICEF, Mohammed Malinfa, said
that Nutrition was the foundation of life. He therefore appealed to
Federal Ministry of Health to release more funds for the purchase
of the RUTF and other Nutrition commodities. This would go a long
way in building a sustainable human capital which according to him
was the greatest asset of any Nation.

The report was made possible by the successful collaboration of
the Federal Ministry of Health through the ‘Saving One Million
Lives Programme for Results (SOML-PforR), National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS), National Population Commission (NPopC) and
UNICEF.