United Igbo Elders Congress - News Blog

 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...