THERE are palpable fears that commercial activities in Aba, Abia State, are gradually being crippled as commercial banks in the city remained closed, yesterday, after last Wednesday’s violent robbery attacks at First Bank and Fidelity Bank Plc on Port Harcourt road and Alaoji (flyover) areas of the city.

THE Dr Samuel Ogbemudia- led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Edo State, yesterday gave condition for the resolution of the protracted crisis in the state PDP.

Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA, yesterday, said any attempt by President Goodluck Jonathan to dishonour agreements reached by his late boss, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua, in government will send the wrong signal.

The controversy trailing the extra-judicial killing of six traders at the Apo mechanic village, in 2005, took a new dimension, yesterday as two lead witnesses in the matter, pleaded with an Abuja high court handling the trial to disregard separate statements they made before the Mike Okiro panel of inquiry that earlier investigated the case, insisting that they lied.

UNEMPLOYED graduates in the country may soon start earning between N10,000 and N15,000 monthly salaries as a Bill seeking to provide social security for unemployed graduates and the aged scaled through a second reading yesterday at the Senate.

OIL producing communities and other stakeholders in Delta State have demanded the inclusion of proceeds from the Excess Crude Account to the 50 percent of the 13 percent Derivation Fund allocated to the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, by the state government.

As the second round five-day strike of British Airways’ cabin crew sets off tomorrow, the airline has again assured Nigerian travellers from Lagos and Abuja to London Heathrow that their flights would not be affected by it.

SPEAKER of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, yesterday, dropped some committee chairmen and swapped others.

The state government through the Overseer, Ministry of Information, Communication and Strategy, Mr. Nathan Egba, described the claim by some politicians that the governor handed members of the House N50m each for the impeachment of the deputy governor as “inconceivable” and “condemnable” stressing that the state governor was monitoring the situation in the House.

The Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, has absolved itself of blames in the death of two persons who lost their lives in Festac area of Lagos on Monday night after a downpour.

Two weeks after the mysterious death of six people in Ayegunle-Ekiti after taking ‘amala’, another casualty has been recorded at a farmstead in Odo Iro, near Iyin-Ekiti, as three other people, including a seven- year-old boy have lost their lives after taking food suspected to be poisonous.

The diplomatic community in Lagos has expressed concern over the state of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA and some link roads in the state, positing that their poor state could affect foreign investment in Lagos and Nigeria as a whole.

An Ikeja High Court was yesterday told how two policemen demanded money from a community to investigate an alleged armed robbery case.

Gabriel Heinze – Marseille, Javier Mascherano – Liverpool, Angel Di Maria – Benfica, Gonzalo Higuain – Real Madrid, Sergio Aguero – Althletic Madrid, Juan Sebastian Veron – Estudiantes, Martin Demichelis – Bayern Munich, Mario Bolatti – Fiorentina, Carlos Tavez – Manchester City, Diego Milito – Inter, Lionel Messi – Barcelona.

For the second time in a year, Virgin Nigeria Airways has changed its name, this time to Air Nigeria.