*To rule on fresh bail application today By Ise-Oluwa Ige ABUJA—A Federal high court sitting in Abuja yesterday ordered the remand of the Chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Senator Nicholas Ugbane and eight others in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. The trial high court judge, Justice Garba Umar issued the […]

By Daniel Idonor ABUJA—AS the nation’s electric power supply continues to shrink, the Presidential Steering Committee of the National Integrated Power Project, NIPP, yesterday, gave reasons for the steady drop in power generation and supply, saying that it was the direct consequent of lack of gas to power the power plant. The Minister of Power, […]

By Vincent Ujumadu AWKA—THE Anambra State House of Assembly has commenced the process for clearing Governor Peter Obi’s nominees for the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission, ANSIEC,  which it earlier rejected on the ground that the bio-data of the nominees were not included when the list was forwarded to the House last year. The decision […]

By Enyim Enyim ONITSHA—The people of Obosi community, Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State are now living in fear following the invasion by hoodlums of  the homes of some indigenes. The hoodlums, it was gathered , numbering about 50 invaded the compound of one of the grandson’s of the Ede of Obosi at […]

By Ise-Oluwa Ige ABUJA—The Federal Government yesterday charged another batch of 104 persons suspected to have participated in the orgy of violence that engulfed Jos, the Plateau State capital, last month, before a Federal high court sitting in Abuja. All the accused persons are facing multiple charge of terrorism. About 24 of the 104 accused […]

Umuahia—Governor Theodore Orji of Abia has sent a list of 10-man Abia State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, ASOPADEC, members to the state House of Assembly. The letter was sent by the Governor to  the Speaker, Chief  Agwu Agwu, and read on the floor of the House in Umuahia. The law on ASOPADEC was signed […]

By Chidi Nkwopara OWERRI—Members of the National Assembly have been urged to ensure a thorough  review of  section 145 of the 1999 constitution,  to forestall a repeat of the constitutional crisis that almost engulfed Nigeria, following President Umaru Yar’Adua’s absence for more  than two months. The Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Egbu, Professor Emmanuel […]

ABUJA—The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs says it has awarded contracts for the construction of 360 units of three and two bedroom houses in the nine states that make up the Niger Delta. The houses are to be completed within three months. The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Chief Ufot Ekaette, disclosed this when members […]

THE dispatch the National Assembly used in applying the Doctrine of Necessity to the declaration of the acting President was impressive and finally gave Nigerians hope that things could be done if the politicians have an interest to protect.

The House of Representatives, yesterday, threw out a bill to amend Section 144 of the constitution that sought to strip the Executive Council of the Federation, FEC, of power to declare a president fit or otherwise and confer it on the National Assembly just as the Senate deferred till next week a vote on the proposed constitutional change that would compel the President and Governors to handover to their deputies when on vacation.

I SPRINTED into a shop in Algiers. The weather was very cold. Although it was not raining, people were getting wet. Even in the streets, here and there, you found pools of water. I was fully kitted wearing layers of shirts, a sweater and two trousers. Surprisingly, there were youths with just T-shirts and jackets, some with their trousers not around their waists but their buttocks. This clearly was the American gangster influence.

IN the past couple of columns, I have dwelled on the President’s continued absence and the courage that was so magnificently displayed by Prof. Dora Akunyili, the Minister of Information. I have also said that even though I regard the President as a basically decent man, I despise those of his loyalists who aggressively resisted moves to make Dr Goodluck Jonathan Acting President and think that a medical team should be sent to Saudi Arabia to find out whether Yar’Adua is likely to recover enough to return to his desk at some point in the near future.

This year’s celebration of Valentine Day will for long linger in the memories of residents of Yenagoa the Bayelsa State capital as the Governor of the State, Chief Timipre Sylva and his wife, Mrs. Alanyingi Sylva were awarded a brand new motorcycle popularly known as Okada for being the most romantic couple of the day at a time most Bayelsans are clamouring for the banning of Okada as a means of transportation.

Key supporters of President Umaru Yar’Adua in the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, are pushing for the conduct of the party’s presidential primaries in June.

FRESH controversy has continued to trail last Tuesday’s declaration by the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, of New Generation Telecoms as the winner of the bid for 75 per cent stake in Nigerian Telecommunications Limited, Nitel and its mobile arm, M-tel.