United Igbo Elders Congress - News Blog

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 The House of Representatives passed the constitutional amendment bill to establish state police across Nigeria on Thursday.  The bill which proposes a major constitutional shift from the current centralized policing system to a dual Federal and State Police structure to tackle local security challenges was passed with overwhelming vote support—289 votes in favor, 1 against, and 1 abstention.  The legislation, officially titled “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 to Provide for the Establishment of State Police; and for Related Matters (Sixth Alteration) Bill, 2026," is a major step toward decentralizing the country's security architecture. Key details and provisions of the bill: 1. Core Constitutional Changes  Legislative Shift: The bill moves policing from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List, empowering the 36 state governments to establish, fund, and manage their own police forces along...

State By State News Roundup Friday, June 12 — Democracy Day Abuja (FCT) / National President Tinubu marked Democracy Day with a national address, touting a record N5.41 trillion 2026 defence and security budget and the recruitment of over 50,000 new police officers amid a security emergency. He acknowledged the day's mood was dampened by ongoing child abductions in Oyo and Borno states. [Premium Times](https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/887063-june-12-what-tinubu-told-nigerians-on-democracy-day-2026-full-text.html)  Oyo State The school-abduction crisis from the May 15 attack in Oriire LGA continues — it's now been 26 days since gunmen seized over 40 pupils and several teachers, with the Air Force deploying aircraft to support search-and-rescue operations. Politically, the Oyo PDP is mid-screening for its 2027 governorship candidates ahead of party primaries. [Childreninfobank](https://childreninfobank.com/26-days-in-captivity-oyo-borno-school-abductions-spark-air-sur...

UNITED IGBO ELDERS CONGRESS (UNIEC) Mobilizing the Strength of Ndigbo in the Diaspora   BACKGROUND OF THE ORGANIZATION The United Igbo Elders Congress (UNIEC) is a noble assembly of distinguished Igbo elders and patriots drawn from across the world. The organization is duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) under RC No. 8583834, and guided by principles of integrity, unity, wisdom, and moral reawakening within the Igbo nation and beyond A CALL TO IGBO ELDERS, PROFESSIONALS, AND STAKEHOLDERS ABROAD To our brothers and sisters across North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Oceania: The story of Ndigbo is no longer confined to the geographical borders of Nigeria. Today, millions of Igbo sons and daughters are spread across the world—excelling in medicine, engineering, academia, business, technology, law, diplomacy, faith institutions, and public service. Yet, despite our remarkable global achievements, the collective voice and strategic infl...

 AN URGENT CALL FROM THE UNITED IGBO ELDERS CONGRESS TO NDIGBO  Otu mkpịsị aka adịghị awa ọjị. The Igbo have never been defeated by the courage, intelligence, or industry of our people. Instead we have often been defeated by our disunity. This is the truth that our enemies know and that we must finally accept. The United Igbo Elders Congress — speaking with the authority of accumulated years, with the grief of those who remember Biafran war, with the hope of those who see what our people have achieved against every obstacle — calls on every man and woman of Igbo extraction to rise to this historic moment. A. Register. Vote. Dominate. The 2027 elections are a referendum on whether the Igbo will remain perpetual spectators in the political arena of the country our labor and blood helped to build. Every Igbo man and woman who is eligible to vote and has not registered is a soldier who has abandoned the battlefield. We call on every Igbo person from the age of 18 upward: Go to you...

 The camouflaged fighter roared over us in a south-easterly direction following the trace of the muddy Imo River. Several kilometres downstream, the plane suddenly turned in a wide sweeping arc on the other side of the river, tilted on to one wing and swung low as it performed one orbit over us, engines roaring and flew back. It aligned itself with the dirt road, flying so low that we could clearly see the grim-faced, heavily goggled and helmeted white pilot peering down at us. His thin lips were drawn even thinner in a wicked grin. His stern and unfriendly visage neither frightened nor disturbed me because we children knew that white "aeroplane drivers" normally throw down bags of money to children. So believing that this was certainly my luckiest day (having escaped death by drowning just a few minutes earlier) and that my second miracle for the day was about to unfold, Uche and I raised our voices in song to the unknown pilot, "Aeroplane, turalum akpa ego-oo..." ...

THE AGE OF FERRIES — LIFE BEFORE THE BRIDGE Canoes and the Ancient Crossing The earliest crossings at Onitsha were made by dugout canoe — the long, hand-carved vessels that Igbo and Ijaw boatmen had perfected over generations. These were not primitive crafts but sophisticated tools: some large enough to carry several passengers and considerable cargo, paddled by men who read the river's currents with the intimacy of those who had grown up on it. In the pre-colonial and early colonial period, the crossing by canoe was the only option available to most people. Traders from the Onitsha market would descend to the waterfront laden with goods: palm oil in clay pots, dried fish, yams, kola nuts, groundnuts. On the Asaba side, people from the Ika Igbo communities of the west — cassava farmers, kola traders, government messengers — waited to cross in the opposite direction. The crossing was cheap but slow. It depended on the skill of the boatman, the temperament of the river, and the seaso...

BETRAYAL OF TRUST: How a Driver Murdered His Bishop-Employer in Cold Blood The gruesome killing of Bishop Clarence Chinedu Okonkwo of Asaba and the swift police dragnet that followed The Victim The deceased has been identified as Bishop Chinedu Clarence James Okonkwo — also widely known as Bishop Clary James Okonkwo — the founder and presiding bishop of End-Time Reconciliation Ministries in Asaba, Delta State. [Lagos Post Online] (https://www.lagospostng.com/driver-accomplice-arrested-over-bishops-killing-plan-to-sell-victims-suv/) He was a Pentecostal clergyman with a notable profile in the South-East Christian community. The Crime The incident occurred on May 12, 2026, when the Bishop was abducted and shot dead during an attack, after which the assailants fled with his Toyota Land Cruiser, triggering a multi-state manhunt. [Lagos Post Online] (https://www.lagospostng.com/driver-accomplice-arrested-over-bishops-killing-plan-to-sell-victims-suv/) However, another account adds a chillin...

  PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Director of Media and Publicity, United Igbo Elders Congress (UNIEC) Apostle Prince Iyke Obasi (0814 462 9622; 0806 568 3466) Date: May 17, 2026 PINLEAF ESTATE AND PROPERTIES LIMITED LAUNCHES PHILIPPINE ESTATE IN UGWUOBA, ENUGU STATE, WITH STAR-STUDDED CEREMONY Dignitaries, Clerics, and Cultural Icons Gather as Landmark Real Estate Venture Takes Off; New "Land Banking" Scheme Promises Affordable Land Ownership for All Igbo Sons and Daughters UGWUOBA, ENUGU STATE — In a colourful and spiritually charged ceremony that drew some of the most illustrious personalities across Igboland and beyond, PINLEAF Estate and Properties Limited has officially launched and broken ground on its newest development — the PINELEAF PHILIPPINE ESTATE, situated in Ugwuoba, Enugu State. The landmark event, hosted by the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PINLEAF Estate and Properties Limited, Archbishop Dr. Onyeka Joseph Nzekwesi — widely known by hi...

 BEFORE STEEL CROSSED THE NIGER The History of the Old Niger Bridge, Onitsha, and the Ferry Era That Connected a Nation Part I: The River That Divided and United Nigeria The story of the Old Niger Bridge at Onitsha is not merely the history of a steel structure crossing a river. It is the story of a nation struggling to unite geography, commerce, peoples, and political destinies across one of Africa’s greatest waterways—the River Niger. Long before concrete pillars sank into the riverbed and steel trusses stretched from bank to bank, the River Niger stood as both a blessing and a barrier. It nourished commerce, carried stories, connected kingdoms, and yet stubbornly interrupted movement between what would later become western and eastern Nigeria. For generations, crossing the river at Onitsha and Asaba required patience, courage, and dependence on ferries whose schedules were ruled by tides, currents, mechanical breakdowns, and the moods of the river itself. When the Old Niger Brid...

  US group faults Gowon for allegedly distorting facts on failure of Aburi Accord  Sylvia Runor  June 23, 2025 4 minutes read  A United States-based group, Rising Sun, has faulted the former Head of State, Retired General Yakubu Gowon, over a statement he made on the reasons for the failure of the historic Aburi Accord of 1967. The group said the reasons canvassed by Gowon for the breakdown of the Accord were not a true reflection of history but an attempt to distort the facts. The group stated this on Sunday in Abuja in a statement jointly signed by Chief Maxwell Dede and Rev. Fr. Augustine Odimmegwa, President and Secretary of the group, respectively. The statement condemned Gowon’s position that the Aburi Accord failed because General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu wanted regional governors to control the military. The statement added that the demand by the regional leaders to control the security forces in their territories was made in good faith, in pursuit of just...

NIGERIA – WHITHER BOUND?  Nigeria’s democracy has always evolved in moments of tension—between power and restraint, loyalty and independence, unity and diversity. Currently navigating a period of intense strain and pivotal transition, a new phrase has entered the nation’s political vocabulary with unsettling force: “On your mandate we stand.” Repeated by influential voices within the legislature and echoed in judicial undertones, the chant has ignited a heated national debate about the health, direction, and the very soul of Nigeria’s democratic experiment. As the nation’s political class shifts its focus almost entirely toward the 2027 general elections, profound questions emerge about the health of its democratic institutions, the independence of its branches of government, and the very trajectory of the state itself. The familiar chant of "On Your Mandate We Stand" within the halls of the legislature and even the judiciary, echoes with new and troubling implications, signa...

  Obuzor of Ibusa Counters Asagba of Asaba, Insists Asaba is 100% Igbo, Originated from Nteje. https://dailybuzzwire.com/obuzor-of-ibusa-counters-asagba-of-asaba-insists-asaba-is-100-igbo-originated-from-nteje/

  A Judiciary At War With Its Own Laws: The Tragic Case of Justice Omotosho And Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, By Njoku Jude Njoku, Esq. There are moments in every nation’s legal history when a single court ruling forces the country to confront an uncomfortable question: Are we a nation governed by laws, or by the moods and improvisations of those who interpret them? Justice Binta Nyako’s court produced one such moment in 2017. Now, Justice Omotosho of the Federal High Court has produced another. At the center of this legal storm is one man: Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and one disturbing judicial choice: to insist on conducting a criminal trial under a repealed law. This is not merely a legal technicality It is a constitutional earthquake. The Law Is Clear: A Repealed Statute Cannot Sustain a Trial In any country that claims to operate under the rule of law, this would not even be a debate. The Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013 (TPAA) was repealed by the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act...

  Statement from the United Igbo Elders Congress Worldwide e United Igbo Elders Congress Worldwide condemns—unequivocally and in the strongest terms—the barbaric and brutal attack carried out by armed gunmen on worshippers at Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Eruku, Kwara State, on the night of November 18, 2025. This horrific incident, in which innocent Christians gathered in a vigil were savagely attacked, is an affront to every principle of humanity, decency, and civilized society. Reports indicate that the attackers opened fire on worshippers, killing at least three congregants and abducting several others, including the pastor. This tragedy shakes the conscience, not only because of the loss of innocent lives, but also because of the chilling nature of the attack. How can it be said that murderers took their time slaughtering old men and women in cold blood—unchallenged? How can such unspeakable evil unfold in a supposedly civilized society without the immediate intervention of s...

Nigeria 's journey towards a truly united and prosperous nation has been fraught with challenges, often stemming from ethnic and regional divisions .  Overcoming historical grievances and deep-seated mistrust is a big challenge that requires sustained effort and a willingness to engage in difficult conversations. In this complex landscape, the role of organizations dedicated to fostering national cohesion becomes critically important. One such organization striving to bridge divides and promote understanding is the United Igbo Elders Congress Worldwide (UNIEC). While our primary focus as an organization is on the interests of the Igbo people , our potential contribution to national unity is  and warrants examination.  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P0j_Gf2zdQ5Zlc6vxObpgiq0oD6JN8E4yTRb1NwmZ5w/edit?usp=drivesdk

  His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR  President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Aso Rock Presidential Villa Abuja, Nigeria Your Excellency, RE: COMMENDATION ON THE APPOINTMENT OF AIR VICE MARSHAL SUNDAY KELVIN ANEKE AS CHIEF OF AIR STAFF On behalf of the United Igbo Elders Congress Worldwide (UNIEC), representing Igbo traditional, civic and professional leadership across the globe, I write to extend our profound appreciation and felicitations on your decision to appoint Sunday Kelvin Aneke as the Chief of Air Staff of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF). This appointment marks a historic milestone — the first time an officer of Igbo origin has been elevated to that high office — and we commend you for this inclusive and significant decision. We note with pride that AVM Aneke hails from Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State, and brings both exemplary professional credentials and international operational experience to his new role. His appointment sends a strong signal of na...