SECTARIAN strife is nothing new in diverse parts of Northern Nigeria. Each dispensation seems to spawn its own type of religious zealots, people with one form of score or another to settle with others in their communities if not the state at large.

NIGERIANS woke up one morning to hear that the country has been enrolled in the Organisation of Islamic Conference in a secular state such as Nigeria.

Senate President, Senator David Mark, said yesterday that the nation is committed to May 29 handover date, adding that the National Assembly was amending the Constitution to accommodate the timeline requested by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in order to guarantee credible, free and fair elections.

Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko recently spoke with select journalists in Akure on the need for the nation to hold credible elections next year and if this is to be achieved, Nigerians must get involved in the electoral process. He also called for stiff sanctions for election riggers to ensure that our votes count.

After the initial shock and dejection occasioned by the change of government, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the State House of Assembly have cautioned the new governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi to always be guided by the principle of the rule of law in his approach to governance.

THE bid of the Speaker Tunji Egbetokun led Ogun State House of Assembly to hold its sitting was, yesterday, aborted for what the State Police Commissioner; Mr. Musa Daura, said was in response to Egbetokun’s letter asking for adequate police presence and protection for the members

JOHN Ighodaro in the Vanguard of Wednesday October 6, 2010 titled his story thusly: “Population of seven W-African states equals the poor in Nigeria”. He was quoting Mr. Adama who made this known at a workshop in Calabar.

THE successful rescue of all the 33 miners trapped underground for more than two months in Chile has resonated in celebrations throughout the country. The world joined Chileans in watching the agony of the men buried more than half a kilometre underground.

The Lagos State Government said last week that it will carry out evaluation of foundations of buildings at Ajegunle along Ikorodu Road to ascertain their fitness for human habitation following the flooding of the entire Lagos suburb as a result of the release of water from Ogun/Oshun River.

Nature’s riches can play a major role in poverty eradication, but only if governments and businesses recognise the true economic value of the goods and services our environment provides us.

A JOHANNESBURG court in South Africa was told, yesterday, that former militant leader, Henry Okah, who is facing trial for allegedly masterminding the October 1 twin bomb blasts in Abuja had vowed two weeks before the incident that it was going to be a “fight to the finish”.

Two traditional rulers and one serving Local Government Transitional Committee Chairman have been indicted by security reports on kidnapping and other crimes in Abia State.

FOR residents of Isheri, Warewa, Mile 12 and other communities on the beds of the Ogun River in Ogun and Lagos states, these are certainly not the best of times. Some have lost their homes, some their shops and means of livelihood they have laboured for all their lives.

Lagos lawyer, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, yesterday, faulted plans by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to compile a new voters’ register, saying the law in place provides for an up-date of the register.

NINE months after the wife of the Vice Chairman of Ughelli South Local Government Area, Delta State, Mrs Elizabeth Otidi, escaped from her kidnappers’ den, the Ughelli Police, yesterday, arrested three persons in connection with her abduction.