USAfricaonline.com NEWS Exclusive:
For foiling kidnap crimes, Onitsha America’s president Dr. Egbunike announces N1milllion to Police command
Special report by Chido Nwangwu in New York
(Publisher of USAfricaonline.com,www.PhotoWorks.TV and CLASSmagazine, Houston)
In a bold and target-specific response to the gallant efforts of the Onitsha Police command in thwarting the criminal, reprehensible, violent failed attempt by kidnap hoodlums who assaulted the residential area of the Obi of Onitsha and the Chairman of the Anambra State Council of Traditional Rulers, Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe, Onitsha America Inc (OAI) has announced its decision to donate N1million (Nigeria’s Naira) to six officers of Onitsha Police command. The six policemen are members of the Special Anti Robbery Squad, (SARS) attached to the Onitsha Area command.
This news was communicated directly to an appreciative Inspector General of Nigeria’s Police Ogbonna Onovo in the early evening of Sunday October 19, 2009, in New York by the Onitsha America group led by Houston-based medical doctor and health information technology investor Onwa Chudi Egbunike as recorded, exclusively, by USAfricaonline.com CLASSmagazine, IgboEvents e-group and www.PhotoWorks.TV
The newly appointed police chief Onovo expressed his personal regards for the Igwe Achebe family condemned the foiled kidnapping and such crimes especially in the south eastern area. Onovo said in an upbeat and promising tone that: “I assure Nigerians that the police and the intelligence services are actively combating these criminals. We promise you here and other Nigerians a very safe christmas…. I look forward to seeing most of you home in December 2009.”
He highlighted the new approaches as yielding results, and he cited references to some major arrests.
Onovo was also presented a plaque by Onitsha America for his “professional accomplishments in the Nigerian police” and two bestselling history books: ‘Among the Igbos of Nigeria’ by G.T Basden and ‘The King in Everyman’ written by Prof. Richard Henderson of Yale University. He was also handed a plaque for the Police area commander Onitsha until the presentation of the N1million at a later date at the Kam Salem Building/Police headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria.
Mr. Ifeanyi Austin Edogu and Dr. Egbunike came in from Houston, Nnanyelugo and Mrs. Kwasie and Akunne Chike Egbunike from Boston, Ozonma Victor Ofokansi flew in from Rhode Island, Ms. Chio Chukwuma from the neighboring city of Valley Stream in New York. Dr. Ben Okonta & Dr. Mrs. Okonta were the gracious hosts.
The unedited images of the event shot by Chido Nwangwu and Leon Ibeka are on USAfrica’s mega-site www.PhotoWorks.TV
Before the presentations, Dr. Egbunike expressed his group’s “profound gratitude to your dedicated police personnel who recently in Onitsha ferociously fought and stopped rampaging criminals who were bent on disrupting the much needed peace in our community through acts of violence. We applaud the bravery and the gallantry of these police officers in ensuring the safety of lives and property in our community.”
He expressed “our outrage on these acts of extortion, kidnapping, armed robbery, and murders. We recognize that this is a problem and if unchecked will serve as an ultimate foundation for total and complete breakdown of law and order in our nation.”
For policy prescriptions, Onitsha America Inc. which has led several medical missions and charity work in Onitsha “recommends short term and long term goals” for improving security of lives and property through:
“Public/Private partnership that will encourage community policing nationwide should be encouraged through dialogue between the communities and the Nigerian Police Force. This will also help the police in intelligence gathering as well as improve communication between the two groups.”
Their second recommendation is that “Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the legislative arm of the government in Nigeria can enact a law enforceable by NCC and the Nigerian Police Force making it mandatory that all cell phone subscribers within the country must have a national identification card or officially issued government document such as a Nigerian passport as a precondition for subscription for cell phone usage as it is done in other countries of the world.”
The third item argues that the Nigerian Police Force “should exploit the use of information technology in vehicular movement as it is now done in other parts of the world.”
Nigerians have been living in fear and the daily realities of the lethal disruption of lives and families by the high-tech criminal acts of kidnapping and home invasions across parts of Nigeria, especially in the eastern heartland. Some of the gangs have acquired and used rocket launchers and massive, rapid fire machine guns while the Nigerian Police units are largely limited to the less sophisticated but reliable ally: the AK-47 and smaller value pistols.
Across the traumatized communities, there are those who argue that some corrupt police officers are “in business” with the kidnappers and some criminals. Onovo insists, as reported by USAfricaonline.com and CLASSmagazine during the top cop’s comments at the private reception in New York that “we’re flushing any compromised persons out of the force, and we’re retraining many members of our police force.”
Over the years, political economists and some community leaders interviewed by USAfrica ad CLASSmagazine point to the failure of the leaders of Nigeria at federal, state and local levels to provide structures for responsible and gainful employment and sustained education of the embittered and deprived youth. But significantly, while many groups and citizens make largely verbal volleys and saccharine symbolic shows, the need for financial and weaponized support for the Police remain the unavoidable, urgent edge to counter the hoodlums.
The Egbunike-led Onitsha America Inc. has chosen the line of decisive action by its latest initiative and promise to support the Police and their Onitsha community back home.
•Dr. Chido Nwangwu, recipient of the Journalism Excellence award (1997), is Founder and Publisher of USAfricaonline.com (first African-owned U.S.-based professional newspaper to be published on the internet), USAfrica The Newspaper, CLASS magazine and The Black Business Journal,USAfricaTV, AchebeBooks.com, and several blogs/e-groups. He served as an adviser to the Mayor of Houston on international business (Africa) and appears as an analyst on CNN, VOA, NPR, CBS News, NBC and ABC news affiliates. e-mail: Chido247@Gmail.com
—— USAfrica and USAfricaonline.com (characterized by The New York Times as the largest and arguably the most influential African-owned, U.S-based multimedia networks) established May 1992, our first edition of USAfrica magazine was published August 1993; USAfrica The Newspaper on May 11, 1994; CLASSmagazine on May 2, 2003 and www.PhotoWorks.TV in 2005.
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Chudi Please accept this belated congratulations, didnt know about this great act of benevolence its simply commendable and worthy of emulation this is what I will say to who ever that cares to listen ' we should at all times recycle the culture of decency that was past down to us, recycled by our fathers and heroes past ' with due respect I beg to disagrees with Dr Atuenyi 's view and comment about the obi, I had expected bit of appreciation cos of the structure our king have put in place , I know he is yef to get his act together bearing in mind the moral decadence he met when he ascended the throne of his fathers, maybe this personal experience Ihad about eight years ago woukd help to capture the mind-set 0f our brothers that were feeding fat from the fast growing industries ( burial and ozo ceremonies). you know I lost my father 2003 an ozo title holder and immediately one of my uncles heard I was back from Lagos he quickly sent for me and I was happy that he was going to be sympathetic and give some sort of respite to the late younger brother son,but he rather took me into his private room and told me about the items I need to prepare specially for him and the executives of agbalanze, then and its unbelievable because here was a man I have known all my life and he threw away his integrity because of selfish interest, in summary all we need to do is to begin to initiate community projects as to better the lots of our people in onitsha no matter how small it might appear for instance my humble self and few other onitsha indigents Nebo Ara. Nnamdi anammah , Mbamali, and another Dr chudi egbunke based in nigeria , distributed over 300 bibles wiyhin inland town and we are planing to set up soup kitchens that will gurantee at list one meal ticket a day , set up health centers for some our less privilege relations.
Congratulations and more grease to your elbows. its a good thing that we are looking out for the welfare of a single onitsha man. We must not fail to understand that this same king is responsible for all the problems in that commercial town. He has single handedly employed vices to tear down the cultural prestige of the onitsha people. He has steadily employed the barbaric sanction of ostracism as a primary means of vendetta and intimidation amongst his people. He has without merit sabotaged every faucet of modern day democracy in all organization in that town and any academic challenge against any of his unintelligible decisions will guarantee one a sentence of excommunication. This king and his vices have destroy the grace and mystic of the onitsha person by steadily portraying her indigents as worthless herd that must blindly follow the lead sheep. Well every arm of the Igbo community knows that the Onitsha person with all their education cannot freely exercise democracy in Onitsha and practically has no say nor voice in his/her home town under this present vicious leadership. The trait of excommunication by the King of Onitsha has successfully made a typical Onitsha man very sly and eager to stand the truth on its head. You can ask the first 500 Onitsha indigents why there's serious division in their united states national and/or local meetings and watch 99% of them come up freely with the same concerted lie. Even when they all know that their so called king has every hand in it and travels frequently to the United states without even entertaining the thought of easily ordering a reconciliation with the same ease that he orders excommunication of his own people. Your readers must now know that the graceful Agbalanze of Onitsha has been dealt an irreparable blow. they must be buried without grace just like a regular peasant in a one day ceremony. you see that they parade today in United states with caution hoping that the rest of the Igbo community has not gotten wind of the news. This is part of their kings psychological warfare to reduce anticipated opposition. The same king has also effectively used his vices to dabble into all the women organisation in that town as if he does not have anything better to do. Well the King can tackle the issues of security and other pressing issues instead of petty engagement with women organisations. The latest encroachment in the Odu women's group by the Kings vices is gaining steam amongst so many women right group and will probably expose modern day evil, barbarism and male chauvinism in that ancient kingdom. Onitsha people can use their enormous wealth to secure basic fundamental human right for their people instead of this subtle but divisive insinuation that the attempt to rob or kidnap their Igwes is a conspiracy other than normal day criminality gone wrong. Our loved ones are being kidnapped every day as part of highlighted criminality in the country and no one mans life is more valuable than the other. Most especially this oppressors life can not be more valuable than that of Saddam Husein.
Re: USAfricaonline.com NEWS Exclusive: For foiling kidnap crimes, Onitsha America’s president Dr. Egbunike announces N1milllion to Police command
October 19, 2009: Turning a group into a team is one of the biggest challenges leaders face. Leadership is a human endeavor; although people vary greatly at an individual level, yet a leader must have a strong engagement of followers through actions guided by a vision shaped by personal values, purposes and an in depth understanding of the context in which the leader and followers are situated which ultimately dependent on sets of personal skills of communication and motivation.
Dr. Onwa Chudi Egbunike finds himself leading groups of diverse professionals and dedicated individuals in complex projects and tasks. Whatever the state of the group, we all need team skills. The October 18, 2009 mission to New York to meet with the Inspector General of Police of Nigeria, was a successful Onitsha America Inc goal led by Dr. Egbunike. The visit has shown clearly that a group becomes a team when you treat them like a high level, high profile project.
The Onitsha America Inc's meeting with Nigeria's Inspector General in New York underscores the fact that this group has leaders with the capacity to act decisively to attain the purposes of our organization and community. It also reflects an understanding the realities of confronting crime in our part of Anambra State. Also, the sense of timing helps our community in Onitsha.
Dr. Egbunike and his team of which I am proud to belong purse defined outcomes to achieve the Onitsha community, has set measurable goals, has game plan with benchmarks and deadlines, and above all to keep everyone focused in order to a achieve meaningful project for the betterment of all of us. Therefore, let us join hands to work together for one Onitsha America for such moves which has already drawn the international media report. The challenges that plague us today are tough; they are economic hardship, criminal violence/kidnapping, environmental destruction, and social values problems. But the most critical of all is the issue of an individual's character.
Our leadership and members must have the proper sense of moral direction, recognition of the dignity and worth of people and an ability to offer leadership based on integrity and authenticity.
Again, thanks to Onwa and OAI.
Loretta Akosa-Mbadugha, PHD.