By  Chidi Nkwopara OWERRI—The Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly, Chief Goodluck Opiah, has signed into law the Imo State Prohibition of Hostage Taking and Related Offences Law, Number 4 of 2009”. Governor Ikedi Ohakim, had withheld his assent to the Bill, earlier passed by the assemblymen, which prescribed death penalty for anybody found […]

A company secretary is a much more important person nowadays than he was in 1887 … He is an officer of the company with extensive duties and responsibilities …

THE choice of Major-General Godwin Abbe as the latest Minister of Defence, had a lot with the expectations of the President that a former military administrator, who is also an indigene of the Niger Delta, and other indigenes of the area in government, would work for the benefit of the region.

SUDDENLY, coaches are beginning to handover their technical duties to men of God. Before now, every coach is as good as his last job. Little wonder therefore they say that there are two types of coaches. Those who have been sacked and those waiting to be sacked.

MR and Mrs James Okaffor, both traders and residents of Ojo, have been married for 10 years, but it was 10 years of marriage marred by crises. But reprieve came their way when they were recently invited to attend a couples event.

PRESIDENT Umaru Yar’Adua has said that the deregulation of the downstream sub-sector of the petroleum industry is inevitable, but that government is still holding consultations with stakeholders on the necessity of the action.

Nobel Laureate,Professor Wole Soyinka, will deliver a public lecture on Electoral Integri-ty Begets Governance Integrity to mark the first anniversary of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as Edo State governor on Thursday, November 12, 2009, at the main auditorium of Oba Akenzua Cultural Centre, Benin City.

RIVERS State govern-ment has urged former governor, Celestine Omehia and other members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), opposed to the emergence of Chuibike Rotimi Amaechi as governor of the state, to drop their bitterness and partner with his government to develop the state.

Agip should put on hold any financial engagement they have entered into with the Obotebe people pending when NAOC and the state government identify and recognise Gbekebor as the real owners of the land in question. Obotebe people are mere settlers in the land,” the forum said.

Farmers in Bayelsa State have raised alarm over an alleged plan to deny them access to the N200 billion Federal Government agricul-tural loan facility.

IMMEDIATE past Governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori, has exonerated the presiding Judge of the Federal High Court, Asaba Division, Justice Mercel Awokunlehin, handling the 170-count charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of the accusations that he (Justice Awokunlehin) sent a letter to the Southwark Crown Court, in a bid to influence a similar case in London.

DELTA State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, has joined in the call for resolution of all electoral disputes before winners of elections are sworn into office.

WITH all its pretentions to international democracy, liberty and the brotherhood of man, France on Tuesday October 27, 2009 opened its presidential doors to Mauritanian coup plotter, General Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz. The General had on August 6, 2008 overthrown the democratically elected President, Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.

A Nigerian Naval Ship, NNS Pathfinder has arrested a Lagos-bound vessel for embarking on illegal bunkering of crude oil at Shell Petroleum manifold, Bille Cawthorn Channel in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Vanguard, Uduaghan asked, “where is the dagger? I don’t have a dagger. So I cannot be at daggers-drawn and I am not aware that he (Ibori) is with a dagger either.