*It’s rumour-peddling—Ajuonuma By Emmanuel Aziken ABUJA — THE Senate Committee on Upstream Petroleum has accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, of undermining the Senate’s work on the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, and circulating fake copies of the bill. Lamenting the intrusion of NNPC officials at the ongoing Senate retreat on the PIB yesterday, the […]

By Owei Lakemfa NIGERIA was “elected” into the 15- member United Nations (UN) Security Council last Friday and there was a big jubilation in government circles. It was hailed as proof of the country’s growing international status, thanks to President Umaru Yar’Adua’s outstanding leadership qualities. Foreign Affairs Minister, Ojo Maduekwe, located our election partly in […]

By Emma Amaize LAGOS — MILITANT group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, expressed cautious optimism, yesterday, after a meeting between its leader, Henry Okah and President Umaru Yar’Adua. “It looks like this is the beginning of dialogue MEND has been advocating,” the group’s spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, said in an email statement. […]

By Henry Umoru & Enyim Enyim ABUJA — ONE of the aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party gubernatorial aspirants in Anambra State, Chief Chuma Nwafor, has written to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, asking it to disregard Prof Chukwuma Soludo as the party’s candidate. Nwafor’s letter to INEC came on the heels of efforts by Soludo’s […]

ABUJA—The 2009 edition of the Zik Lecture titled: “The African Woman and the Challenges of the Global Economic Crisis,” will be delivered by First Lady, Hajia Turai Yar’ Adua.