LIVENEWSGUNS

  Top Okpe leaders on Sunday kicked against the narrative of Okpe as Urhobo, listing the errors in Orodje's recent declaration. ‘’At its meeting on November 15, 2025, the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Okpe Union (Worldwide) exhaustively discussed Orodje's declaration. Relying on historical facts in debunking the grave errors in the Orodje’s declaration, the union provided the evolution of the Orodje’s disturbing flip-flop of policy pronouncements, a flip-flop which falsifies Okpe History and exposes Orhue l as an enemy of the Okpe Kingdom whose national interests he swore to promote and defend when he was crown as the Orodje of Okpe Kingdom on July 29, 2006’’. In the response to the Orodje of Okpe Kingdom by the National Executive Council of the Okpe Union (Worldwide), the union narrated how His Royal Majesty began to move away from his role as the chief promoter and defender of Okpe Identity in favour of his personal aggrandizement. ‘’He cautioned the then NEC of the...

   BY DR AUSTIN ORETTE For democracy to work, citizens must be enlightened. The issue is not about demolition. I am against demolitions. Nearly all the governors in Nigeria are guilty of that because they do it without due process. To demolish the abode of a person, the government must go to court and obtain a judgement before carrying out any demolition. The governors have been very lawless. The unfortunate thing is that no one has gone to court to challenge these illegal acts. Apart from citizen apathy, the Land Use Decree of 1978 gave unchecked powers to do as they wish with the land that belongs to the people. The governors have unchecked powers in this regard. This is a military decree that have not been reviewed by the lawmakers because it benefits them as they use their positions and relationship to acquire choice lands in Nigeria. The process of acquiring land in Nigeria is so opaque that only well connected people can authenticate their property. In a functioning demo...

  BY DR AUSTIN ORETTE   The longer the military stayed in power in Nigeria, the more they damaged the fabric of the Nigerian society and destroyed the military professionalism of the Nigerian soldiers due to their ad-hoc policies.   Nothing the Nigerian military did had any rhyme or reason. They did everything to entrench themselves and desecrate all standards of civilized behavior. They turned Nigerians to people who have been conquered and under a foreign army occupation. Any of their daydreams became decrees. In order to wrest the land from the indigenous people, they passed all kinds of ad-hoc decrees. This is the Land Use Decree. This decree has cost the Nigerian more problems and discord than any of their pugilistic stance on freedom. Overnight land was forcibly taken from citizens and given to the government and the governor became the only person who decides who gets land. This is an extreme plunder.   This decree is still a law. The new leaders have not seen...

   BY DR AUSTIN ORETTE In the Biafran dialogues, I have posited that Biafran actors have been de-marketing and undermining Nigeria as a Nation. Their actions should never be considered benign.   They have become a clear and present danger to our corporate existence as a people. They are starting a bush fire and don’t care who gets incinerated. This is to fulfill their anarchy ideology.   Recent events have confirmed my summation and concerns about Biafra that will never go away.   For fear that they will call someone Igbo hater has made it difficult to discuss this elephant in the room.   A group of Igbo officers in the US army wrote the letter that made Donald Trump tell the world he wants to invade Nigeria. He will make it so sweet because he will have special bullets that will know the difference between Christians and non-Christians.   What the Biafrans are doing is beyond treason. There are soldiers from all over the world in the United States Arm...

  By Bush Udombo In an era where leadership often sinks into self-praise and hollow promises, His Excellency, Pastor Umo Eno, PhD, stands as a luminous figure of purposeful governance. His style is not flamboyant, yet profoundly effective — a blend of pastoral humility and administrative precision. He governs not for the gallery but for genuine transformation. The blueprint he carries is not a political ornament designed to please voters; it is a working compass guiding Akwa Ibom into a new dawn of sustainable development. It is both spiritual and strategic, merging vision with verifiable impact. Each page of his plan speaks of inclusion, compassion, and empowerment — the real DNA of progress. True leadership is never about occupying power but about inspiring trust. Pastor Umo Eno embodies that creed. His leadership is moral, methodical, and measurable. As a pastor, he understands the language of empathy; as a governor, he translates that empathy into economic empowerment, rural up...

  BY DR AUSTIN ORETTE   It takes time to form a country. It takes patience and dedication to change attitudes. When people from disparate places and cultures are brought together to form a Nation, it is never easy. In the long run, the tears and toil are worth it because the interactions lead to expansion of consciousness which drives human progress.    The journey of nationhood is not for timid souls. It was never easy for countries like India, China   and the USA to rise. It is not an easy journey. These countries have more divisions and more ethnic and religious cleavages and groupings than we can ever imagine.    America conducted an election in the midst of war. Nigeria conducted elections by declaring curfews and turning cities to militarized zones.  These democracies we try to emulate did not give power to their military to intimidate their citizens.   Since the advent of our democracy, we have used the military as a law enforceme...

  • Commences Modalities For Empowerment Of PLWDs, Aged • Gives Scholarship To 2 A'Ibomites  BY Kendi JUMBO Dr Chris Okongko, a Canadian-based business mogul and globally-acclaimed 2025 South-south Nigeria Humanitarian Personality has continued to break new grounds in a bid to expand the reach of his Foundation's humanitarian services to the people living in the hinterlands of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria and the African continent at large.  Resolved to accommodate more communities in Akwa Ibom in his scheme of things, the management of Okongko Charity Foundation, led by the African Representative, Sir Daniel Ekanem, Monday, 6 October, 2025, embarked on a solidarity tour to the palaces of the Paramount Rulers of Ukanafun, Oron as well as other humanitarian engagements in Abak, and Uyo local government areas, respectively. In Ukanafun, the team while paying homage to the Paramount Ruler of the area, HRM Akuku Engr Amos Daniel Akpan, described the visit as a homecoming, noting ...

 RIVERS CRISIS: WHOM THE GODS WOULD DESTROY, THEY FIRST MAKE MAD   By Aniekan Udofia  The latin concept, "Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat," which literally means in English: Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first deprives of reason, captures the political situation in Rivers State.  When the crisis began in Rivers State, there were those who knew that the battle was only dictated by the former governor Nyesom Wike because the current governor had not found his footing. In what many laughed at, it was an act of scorn by former governor of Ekiti State  Ayodele Fayose to look an incoming governor in the face and warned him not to try his predecessor that he would crush him. The likes of Fayose and some others have extolled Wike to the point that the former governor of Rivers State saw himself larger than life. Like an emperor, Wike reigned supreme in Rivers State and, in his own word, singlehandedly bought the forms for all the elected political office h...

 GODSWILL AKPABIO : KEEPING IT IN PERSPECTIVE                    Sen.  Akpabio I received calls from ardent followers of my *KIIP* column to re-publish a piece I wrote on March 8, 2019 about Sen. Godswill Obot Akpabio’s political future after he lost the Senate race in 2019. The article was inspiredy by the negative press statement by Barr. Emmanuel Enoidem after Godswill lost the election. In the article, I made some  strong predictions about his political future, (while those that called me today say I 'prophesied”. Today, in the wake of his election as the Senate President, they ask me to publish the said article again. And I have hereby obliged.  And my solemn prayer is that may God guide him to use the powerful position, the third in Nigerian national protocol list, for the good benefits of the common man in the country and particularly his most neglected, often forgotten and vulnerable Annang women and children....

  Governor Umo Eno:  the peg of good governance, peace, unity By IFIOKABASI ABIA In a significant move, Governor Umo Eno has demonstrated a commitment to peace and unity in Akwa Ibom State. By hosting the reception and 61st birthday celebration of the President of the 10th Senate, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, he did not only provides a venue for this important event but also underscores the importance of collaboration between state and federal leadership.  The governor's presence alongside some of his State Executive Council members at the celebration signals a concerted effort to foster harmonious relations and strengthen the state's ties with the federal government. This gesture reflects Governor Umo Eno's dedication to promoting a spirit of love and cooperation for the benefit of Akwa Ibom State. Governor Umo Eno's decision to host the reception and 61st birthday celebration for Senator Godswill Akpabio, the President of the Senate, speaks volumes about his commitment to f...

    “After every storm the sun will smile; for every problem there is a solution, and the soul’s indefeasible duty is to be of good cheer.” – William R. Alger Every trying time in human history comes with agents of solutions who turned out to become heroes and celebrated icons. One of our illustrious sons, Prof. (Dr) Augustine Vincent Umoh, is serving as the Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Health at a time dreadful Covid-19 pandemic gnaws at not only the state but the entire humanity. There is never a more difficult time to be a health commissioner in the history of Akwa Ibom than this morbid period in which the state government is under intense pressure to contend the spread of the evil pandemic that does not only brought economic hardship but put human lives into a serious risk of survival. Just like Dr. Thomas Dyer Tuttle, a Washington Health Commissioner in the United States who was celebrated for his outstanding contributions to the fight against the Spanish Influenza pa...