The Informer

The current suspected monkey pox outbreak in Nigeria, which has now spread to seven states, is the third in the nation’s history. There were a total of three recorded human cases previously  in 1971 and 1978 according to the Centres for Disease Control, CDC. The virus was first isolated from colonies of monkeys kept for research, hence the name “monkey pox.” The first recorded human case of monkey pox was in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo during a period of intensified effort to eliminate smallpox. There were also reports of cases in Liberia and Sierra Leone. The following year, 1971, there was one case in Cote d’Ivoire and two cases in Nigeria. Then in 1976 there were two cases in Cameroon and again in Nigeria, in 1978, one case was recorded. Since then, monkey pox has remained strictly a disease of Central and Western African countries, except in 2003, when 47 cases were reported in the US. The 2003 US outbreak is the only time monkey pox infections in humans were documente

OF IGBOS IN BENUEculled from the Nigerian Sun newspapers of April 12, 2014By Chris Oji.They are torn between two worlds. Being of the Igbostock, their soul is in the Southeast, but their bodies and homes are in Benue State, in the Northcentral. That is not all. In Benue, where they are quartered, more for political considerations than for cultural reaons, they lament their lack: no roads, no water, hardly any sign of modern life.They are Igbos of the Ezza, Izzi and Effium stock. Their kith and kin are in other parts of the Southeast, particularly Ebonyi State. They claim they are not fewer than one million scattered in four local governments of Benue State. And for close to 50 years since they were excised from their kinsmen, they have been living primitive lives.Their pathetic plight is that the authorities in Benue, from the state to the local governments, have not seen them as part of the state ostensibly because they speak Igbo. On the other hand, the Ebonyi Stategove

Igbanke is an Igbo community in Edo State. They are of the Ika people family stock in Delta State, Nigeria, which also constitutes Agbor, and up to the border towns of Alifekede (Ala Ifekede) down to Umunede. Today's Igbanke village is constituted by Omoluah, Obiogba, Idumuiru, Igbontor, Idumodin, Ake, Oligie and Ottah, all of which have different histories of migration. The people have organized various movements to change the name of the town back to "Igbo Akiri", which is its true name. The government of Igbanke is presided over by Eze, Dei (Dim), odiowere (ndi owere), Ndichie, Dikens (Dike), okhiolors (okenye ulo), and Okhialis (okenye ala). Each of these heads has his jurisdiction. The jurisdiction could be stratified into three: The family level, the clan or hamlets and the villages. At the family level, the okhilor (he is usually the oldest man in the family) presides. At the village quarters, the okhilor is the head, while the eze rules over the enti