Catholic Pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI, has bestowed an honour on Anambra State governor, Mr. Peter Obi.

AN Iranian, Azim Aghajani, and his alleged Nigerian co-conspirators, Ali Usman Abbas Jega, Aliyu Oroji Wamako and Muhamma Tukur Umar, were, yesterday, arraigned at an Abuja Chief Magistrate Court by operatives of the State Security Service, SSS, following the alleged roles they played in the importation of 13 deadly containers into Nigeria, October 25, 2010.

The crisis rocking Ekiti State House of Assembly took a new dimension yesterday, as the 13 members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, vowed not to recognize the new Deputy Speaker, Mr Gbenga Odebunmi, alleging that they did not have an input on his appointment.

Minister of Power, Arc. Nuhu Somo Wya, said Thursday that the administration had achieved far more in power generation, transmission and distribution than any previous government in the history of the country.

A Lagos-based firm, Technocrat Consult and IT Systems Limited, last wednesday dragged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, challenging the legality of the award of contract for supply of the Direct Data Capture machines to three firms without its consent.

INDICATIONS have emerged that the Bureau for Public Enterprises, BPE, will from the first week next month (December 2010) take the first practical step towards the privatisation of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) by advertising for an expression of interest by core investors in the company.

Medical doctors in Lagos public hospitals, under the aegis of Medical Guild, are to meet today at the Malaria Research Centre of the Lagos State Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, Ikeja to review the “mutual agreement” they had with the state government as a basis for the suspension of their 14 week old strik

ONDO State Government yesterday expressed dismay over the refusal of entry Visas to Madrid by the Spanish Embassy in Nigeria to its officials.

PROMINENT Delta leader and politician, Prof Benedict Ijeomah, took Niger Delta elder, Chief Edwin Clark and Minister of State for Education, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, to the cleaners, yesterday, saying he and other elders of the state had challenged them in the past to substantiate their allegations of fraud against the former Governor of the state, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, but they failed.

Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Azubuike Ihejirika, disclosed yesterday that over 450 kidnapping kingpins have been arrested by the Special Task Force put in place and headed by the General Officer Commanding 82 Division, Enugu, to flush out kidnappers in the South East.