ALL the high courts in Imo State remained shut for the second day yesterday, as the judges preferred to remain in their respective homes for fear of their personal safety following the abduction of one of their colleagues, Justice Theophilus Nzeukwu, whose driver and police orderly were also killed by gunmen.

Between February 9 when Nigeria played Sierra Leone in a friendly match in Lagos and now, the home-based Eagles have improved tremendously. This was the assessment of national team handler, Samson Siasia, yesterday while still lamenting the disappointment that was the Green Bowl Tournament in Dallas.

Congestion looms at Lagos ports, following the inability of the senior officers assigned by the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, to assess the password for release of consignments from the ports, claiming that they do not have the password.

Nigeria and 11 other have been earmarked to benefit from a World Bank’s West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP) assisted regional agricultural project just as 1.5million Nigerian farmers are to benefit from the project.

Governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State has charged delegates to the 10th Delegates Conference of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, which opened in Abuja, yesterday, to play critical roles in ensuring that the forthcoming April polls are free, fair and violence-free.

The presidency, yesterday, disowned Senator Mohammed Abba-Aji, a presidential aide, following the denunciation of the Freedom of Information, FOI, Bill passed by the House of Representatives last week.

ANXIETY gripped caretaker committee chairmen in the 18 Local Government Area of Edo State, yesterday, following revelations that some of them may be dropped in order to give some aspirants, who lost in the primaries of the party.

ADULRAHMAN Olajide Akao is the Commissioner of Police, Plateau State. When this reporter met him recently and sought is views on how the crisis in Jos can be resolved, he was very optimistic but was quick to say:”Anybody saying we have religious crisis on the Plateau is not helping matters. Who owns Jos North, that’s is the issue.”

Following hordes of complaints by subscribers over poor quality of service they are getting from telecom operators in recent times, Hi-Tech decided to talk to some of these operators. The first to respond to our call was MTN and here, the company’s Corporate Services Executive, Mr Wale Goodluck spoke on the issue and a lot of others. Excerpts

Rector of Federal Polytechnic Oko, Anambra State, Prof Godwin Onu, has expressed concern over the sudden resurgence of petition writing and rumour-mongering in the institution.

CONTRARY to expectations that there was frosty relationship between Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State and the Senate leader, Senator Teslim Folarin over the incarceration of the latter for alleged involvement in the murder of the former factional leader of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, Alhaji Lateef Salako ak.a. Eleweomo, the senator has reportedly agreed to work with the governor.

THE celebrations are still on in the five states where by virtue of Justice Adamu Bello’s judgement elongating the governor’s tenure, the state executives would stay in power longer than their electoral mandate. But for the Nigerian people, this is a period of mourning for the new Nigeria they have fought so tenaciously to enthrone.

ON what grounds will the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, appeal a federal high court decision excluding five states – Bayelsa, Cross River, Kogi, Sokoto and Adamawa – from the governorship polls?

A senatorial candidate for Anambra South, Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu, who emerged from the ousted PDP National Chairman, Okwesilieze Nwodo, committee on senatorial primaries for Anambra State, has threatened to drag the Independent National Electoral Commission and Dr Andy Uba to court should the commission fail to publish his name as the authentic candidate within seven days.

A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, presided over by Justice Abubakar Sadiq Umar, yesterday ruled that the confession of Mr. T. A. Dairo, Personal Assistant to former Minister of Aviation, Professor Babalola Borishade, on July 25, 2008, was made voluntarily; hence admissible in court.