Delta CDHR chairman, Mr. Ikimi asserted “we, members of the CHDR, Delta State, do hereby condemn in very strong terms the Federal Government’s provocative reversal of PTI, Effurun from a University status and the subsequent upgrade of the National College of Petroleum Studies, Kaduna, to the status of a higher institution at a whopping cost of N14.5 billion to train management manpower for the oil industry at the detriment of the ailing PTI in Effurun, Delta state, which under the present dispensation would train junior cadre in the oil industry .

Speaking with State House Correspondents at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport shortly before his departure to Brazil, on a three-day official visit, the President hinted that the bottom line in the whole issue is that the constitution cannot be compromised, but hoped that the issue will be resolved once and for all through constructive dialogue.

Magistrates in the country have raised the alarm over threat to their lives and properties and called on the National Judicial Council (NJC), to come to their rescue.

French-speaking West African states may soon be admitted into membership of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), a regional organisation that conducts examinations for secondary school students in the five English-speaking countries of West Africa.

The Head of Service, Alhaji Dabarako Mohammed, made this known in Ilorin at a news conference to mark the 2009 civil service week.

The Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board in Gombe State has announced fares for this year’s hajj, which indicate a slight increase of between three and 15 per cent.

National Chairman of the PPA, Mr Clement Ebri, told a delegation from Gombe State, which paid him a solidarity visit in respect of the defection of Governor Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State to the PDP, that Yar’Adua was not honest in his Rule of Law mantra.

THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has absolved Access Bank of violating any regulatory laws on foreign exchange.

Outpouring of disaffection against the omnibus Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), continued at the Senate public hearing yesterday even as the major oil producers warned that their plans to invest $95 billion in the sector over the next five years could be derailed by the provisions of the proposed law.

They faulted insinuations about the authenticity of Mr. Idehen’s educational qualifications and asked critics of Idehen to go back to thorough investigations and jettison sentiments.

APPARENTLY in a last ditch effort to end the political crisis rocking Ogun State, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday reinstated the Alhaji Sule Onabiyi-led State Elders Council which was suspended on September 15 last year.