It has become a tale of woes in Cross River State following ravaging flood that has rendered several families in the state homeless and turned them refugees in their own fatherland.

The interbank exchange rate, yesterday, rose to N159.3 per dollar in response to the devaluation of the naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on Monday

FOLLOWING his alleged complicity in sponsorship of the Boko Haram Islamic sect, the States Security Service, SSS, yesterday, arraigned Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume (Borno South Senatorial District), before an Abuja Chief Magistrate Court even as his colleagues in the Senate resolved to stand by him until investigations into the case have been concluded.

CONTROVERSY that attended the issue of non-profit (Islamic) banking in Nigeria was yet to settle down when it appeared that Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, was on another collision course with the Christian commu-nity in the country as he was said to have invested the nation’s $5 million in an Islamic organisation known as International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation.

IGBO living in some Northern states where many Christians had been attacked by members of the Boko Haram sect are now returning en-masse to their home-states, abandoning most of their belongings.

THE furore generated by the British Prime Minister, David Cameron on his plans to hold back aid from countries that do not recognise gay rights and Senator Domingo Obende’s claim that gay marriage is “spreading” and must be stopped has polarised the Nigerian human rights community.

Last week, former governor of Sokoto State and former Presidential candidate of the Democratic Peoples party (DPP), Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, resigned from the Action Congress of Nigeria, (ACN), a party he joined about one year ago. His movement into the ACN then surprised many who wondered why he abandoned a party he virtually founded, funded and was national leader to join another as an ordinary member. In this interview, he gives reasons why he left the ACN, and why he is returning to his older party, the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP). Excerpts:

A LAST minute rally by seven Governors to salvage the candidacy of Governor Timipire Sylva of Bayelsa State for a second term on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP failed, yesterday, as a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan was inconclusive.

UYO – Institute of Chartered Economists of Nigeria, ICEN, has predicted that the efforts by Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, to collect $235 million from British Airways, BA, over alleged abuse of dominant positions may not yield fruitful results as the country had no Antitrust Law.

MINISTER of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, has expressed shock at the level of infrastructural decay in the Federal Government Technical College, Awka, Anambra State, regretting that the situation was almost the same in all unity schools he had visited across the country.

A 33-year- old woman, Josephine John, has been arraigned before a Yaba Magistrate Court, over an alleged stealing of N16 million ($100,000) belonging to Alcateco Bureau de Change, where she worked.

The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday, explained the delay in forwarding the 2012 budget to the National Assembly, saying the executive was consulting with the legislators and did not want to rush the budget.

LAGOS – BARRING further changes, the remains of the Publisher of The Guardian Newspapers and former Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. Alex Uruemu Ibru, will be buried on December 16 at his Agharho-Otor, Delta State home town.

CHIEF of Army Staff, Lt.-General Azubuike Ihejirika, Wednesday, in Benin said the Army recognises the emerging challenge of terrorism in the country and has adopted robust measures which, in cooperation with other sister services, will help checkmate the activities of terrorists groups and other criminal elements in the country.

ABUJA – Justice Suleiman Belgore of an Abuja High Court sitting at Apo, yesterday, ordered the Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Abubakar Salisu Maikasuwa, and his House of Representatives’ counterpart, Mr Mohammed Ataba Sani-Omolori, to appear before him today to explain alleged roles they played in the N40 billion loan saga that trailed the 6th session of the Lower House.