THERE is no doubt that the politics of Edo state took another dimension on the 12th of November, 2008, with the coming of the former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Adams Aliu Oshiomhole as Governor of the state. After the protracted legal battle between the gubernatorial candidate of the now Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Edo state, Comrade Oshiomhole and Professor Oserhiemen Osunbor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), over the conduct of the 2007 governorship election in the state, the Appeal Court had on 11th November, declared Oshiomhole as the authentic winner of the April 14, 2007 governorship election in the state and was subsequently sworn in on the 12th November, 2008. This brought the over ten_year reign of the PDP in the state to an end.

LAGOS — THE Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has released the rules and regulation governing the implementation of the modified universal banking model which is billed to take off Monday.
In the new banking model, three classes of banks will be permitted to operate in the country. They include commercial banks, merchant banks and specialised banks.

Following the recent the delisting of the Nigeria from the list of drug traffic nations by the United State of America, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has received a moral boost from German Police for more technical support in the fight against drug trafficking.

Succour is on the way for two teenagers in Bayelsa State suffering from spinal cord injury and multiple burns as the NGO, Centre for Gender Values and Culture, founded by the wife of the state governor, Mrs. Alayingi Sylva, has moved them for corrective surgeries in South Africa and India respectively.

AS Governor Adams Oshiomhole celebrates his second year in office today the Governor has reiterated his desire to uplift the lives of the people of the state despite what he described as the “primitive political opposition” of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state.

SEVEN amalgamated Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, host communities in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State, have warned the management of the Anglo-Dutch oil giant against issuing jobs within their technical competence and financial capabilities to the general public, saying that they are now prepared to prevent the smooth operations of the company if it goes ahead with its plans.

RENOWNED social scientist and an elder of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Professor B. I. C. Ijeoma, has vowed to stand behind the party and ensure that the outsted governor Emmanuel Uduaghan is returned during the coming re-run election in the state.

AN Ijaw leader from Ogbe-Ijoh in Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State, Chief Couple Oromoni, said yesterday it would be against the existing power-shift arrangement in the state if former governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, was not returned in the re-run poll.

As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark the World Pneumonia Day, today, multinational pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline, GSK, has pledged support for the reduction of childhood pneumonia in Nigeria as its own contribution to the global effort to reduce death and suffering due to childhood pneumonia.

The Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre, CIRDDOC, Nigeria, and other civil rights agencies have rated Nigeria below Liberia and Ghana on transparent and effective budgeting.

A nation can only advance forward in the provision of pow-er, infrastructure, water supply, and security and as well revolutionise the state of agriculture, housing, education, health and employment, if there is Corporate Social Responsibility in governance. But from events and observations hereunder, it is not practicable for us to do so.

FRIENDSHIP is a word that has fallen into frequent disrepute over abuses that have become part of it. I am therefore a bit reluctant to describe people as friends even if we so regard ourselves.

Labour, Student and Civil Society Coalition, LASCSO, comprising about seven civil society groups,has endorsed the candidature of General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida for the 2011 general elections while urging President Goodluck Jonathan to abide by the zoning of the 2011 presidency to the north agreed upon by the Peoples Democracy Party, PDP.

WEDNESDAY’s shooting of the Edo State Chairman of National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE, Comrade Gowin Ehikioya, by a Police Orderly with Force No. 97775 at the Benin Airport during the warning strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has taken a new turn as the Edo State chapters of the NLC and TUC have demanded for the immediate transfer of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr. Olufemi Adenaike, from the state’s police command.

THE Senate has turned down a proposal to immortalize the late Ogoni environmental activist, Mr. Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was hanged in 1995 by the military regime of late General Sani Abacha.