At least four people were killed and 10 others injured when two vehicles collided along the Benin-Ore Expressway, the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, has said.

Where is Governor Sullivan Iheanacho Chime? Is he dead? Is he alive? There is clear indication that in Enugu state, a cabal of state officials has taken government hostage by their complicity to stage what might be the most scandalous and most elaborate cover-ups in Nigeria’s public administration.

Which is better: to be rich or to be poor?  Jesus’ answer is without ambiguity; according to the dynamics of the kingdom of God, it is better to be poor.  Jesus says: “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” (Luke 6:24).  When you bring these ominous words of Jesus to the remembrance of Christians, they attack you as if they were the words of Satan.

The proposed merger of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, and two other political parties is brewing tension in the camp of the former and is threatening to stall activities pursuant to accomplishing the merger objective – the two other parties in the merger talks are the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, and the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN.

The late Ikemba Nnewi, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, apparently modified his Will via a codicil.
In the codicil, exclusively published by Sunday Vanguard, last week, the former Biafran leader restated his position in the Will that the bulk of his properties should go to his wife, Mrs Bianca Odinaka Olivia Odumegwu-Ojukwu.
He declared that two of the properties he willed to Bianca had already been transferred to her by a Deed of Gift (Gift inter vivos).

It was an interview that had to be conducted. After the declaration that the late Chief Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Ezigbo Gburugburu’s Will had been announced and a lion share had gone to Bianca Odinaka Olivia Ojukwu, the deceased’s wife, Sunday Vanguard set out to get all sides of the story, especially after the statements by Emeka Ojukwu, one of the children.
Last week, we published the CODCIL verbatim.
Today, we bring you an extensive interview with Chief Debe Ojukwu, the disinherited first child of the late Biafran warlord. He spoke about the Ojukwu Nigerians and Igbos never knew, just as he spoke about Bianca, his father’s wife, and her role as a small mother in the house. This is a first part.

Contrary to insinuations, Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State may not be flown abroad for the treatment of the injuries he sustained in the accident involving his convoy on Friday.

This is the untold story of the hardship faced by the abandoned families of the Hercules C-130 Crash of 1992 (some 20 years ago). Though they were promised quite a lot, most of the widows are still languishing in despair as the Federal Government their husbands served has abandoned them to their fate.

Some weeks ago, Sunday Vanguard broke the story of a judge of the Delta State High Court, Justice Flora Azinge, who was compelled to stop sitting for almost two months because of the threat to kidnap her and demand for N20 million ransom from her by a kidnap gang.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo; Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, and ex-Head of Interim Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan; yesterday, met with the four traditional rulers in Egbaland following the lingering supremacy tussle among them.

The Nigerian Navy (NN) has called on the Federal Government to direct the relevant agencies, especially the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), to enforce the installation of latest security devices on all vessels plying Nigerian waters to stem the tide of pirate attacks.

At the 2012 Garden City Literary Festival, Veronique Tadjo presented a keynote paper on the theme, African Women and Literature. The event, which held at the Cinema Hall, Hotel Presidential, Port Harcourt was robustly discussed by a panel of discussant that comprised; Prof. Onyemachi Udumukwu, Ms Doren Baingana and Miss Chibundu Onuzo and was moderated by Chioma Opara. Today, Vanguard’s arts presents a rapporteur’s report on the Symposium as recorded by Dr. Obari Gomba and Mr. Ene Igbifa.

It is no news that  the palatial building of former President Olusegun Obasanjo was gutted by fire. What is news is the mystery that pervaded the life of the former president in the past couple of years. Obasanjo had been in the news for his rumoured deaths  since 1999 when he became president and even after he  left the mantle of leadership in Aso Rock.

Hardly did a year pass without Obasanjo being rumoured dead.

He was  rumoured dead  in 1999,2002, 2003,2006, 2009, August 10,2010, January1, 2012  and recently on December 15,2012  which he had all dispelled, claiming that  ‘he dey kampe’.The former president escaped unhurt in the Thursday fire which razed his confidential secretary’s office  located nearby  his bedroom in his Hilltop building at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, Ogun State

capital. The fire, which did not spare anything in the office, occurred  20  minutes after he stepped out of the house. He was reported to have also held a meeting with  some people  before he left the palatial building for Ita-Eko, Abeokuta.

His wife, Bola, children and grandchildren, reported to be  holiday, were hurriedly evacuated from the mansion as the fire raged.

Obasanjo had, in one of his reactions to  his rumored deaths, said,  “I think people take delight in speculation and rumour. A friend of mine broke to me the news of my death this morning. He was trying to confirm, and he said he had counted seven times that I have been rumoured dead since the eve of my inauguration as a democratically elected president of Nigeria in 1999.

”Those who indulge in this will not give up. And there are those who have the superstitious belief that when there are rumours and speculations like this, it means longevity.”Whether longevity or not, what I know is that until the good Lord, who has created me, decides to say yes, I have reached my take-off point to return to Him, people may speculate, people may rumour, and that will be their own handicap.”

However,  a spiritualist, sighted  around the partially-burnt  residence of the former president  after the Thursday fire occurred, disclosed that the fire had to occur to save Obasanjo’s life.

According to the spiritualist, who pleaded anonymity, as a Yoruba man, when you are rumoured dead and you are alive, you must  lose some of your property or something substantial. Sunday Vanguard gathered that the fire started during a party in the building that had in attendance the former president’s wife, Bola and children as well as visitors who  were mostly foreigners. Sources close the mansion said the fire could have been caused by an electrical fault as  computers

and office appliances were among items said to have been destroyed in the inferno.

One of the officials of the rescue team, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, identified as  Kunle Famakinwa, sustained injury while joining his colleagues to put out the fire. The fire, which was said to have started around 4:30p.m, destroyed some documents and household items.

It took security agencies 30 minutes to put out the fire. Two fire fighting trucks of the Ogun State Fire Service, marked  OG 122 AO9 and OG 127 A09, arrived the scene one  hour after the fire had been put under control.

The development forced the former president to return to the mansion to ascertain the level of damage.

Addressing newsmen, Obasanjo expressed appreciation to God, explaining that the fire did not affect the entire building. He said: “You have seen that it is only the office of my secretary that is burnt. The house is almost intact.”

Singing in Yoruba language, the former president said: “Ile Obasanjo to jo ewa lobu kun, ile Obasanjo to jo ewa lobu kun, eyin Press ema wibe, ewa lobu kun”(which when translated means “fire that gutted

Obasanjo’s house has only made it more beautiful, you pressmen sing along with me”).

Meanwhile,  there was a mild drama  when  Obasanjo’s son, Oba, seized and smashed the phone of a journalist taking pictures of his father’s burning house.

Mr. Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji of  the Premium Times  and Johnson Akinpelu of Alaroye newspaper  incurred the wrath of Obasanjo’son who transferred his anger on them and destroyed their equipment.

Oba  descended on Kayode-Adedeji when he  was taking pictures of  his father’s  house. He grabbed the photojournalist’s phone and smashed it on the ground.

According to Kayode-Adeniji” he (Oba) just approached me and before I knew what was happening he had collected my Blackberry phone from my hand and the next thing I saw was my phone scattered on the ground.”

Speaking with Sunday Vanguard on the fire incident, the Public Relations Officer of the NSCDC in Ogun State, Olanrewaju Kareem confirmed that one of his men sustained injury in the cause of saving Obasanjo’s house.

Kareem disclosed that, the Corps got the hint of the fire incident through some of his men attached to the former president’s house,saying, the fire was quenched by his men with the support of other agencies that were present.

They all wore swollen faces, with tears trickling down their cheeks. Some stood with hands akimbo and others placed their hands on their heads, watching as their goods were destroyed by fire. No thanks to the explosion that rocked Jankara Market in Isale-Eko area of Lagos State on Boxing Day. Worst hit were residents of the affected buildings who have been rendered homeless by the inferno which lasted over ten hours, defying efforts by fire fighters to contain the situation.

DANIEL Okoro is 15 years old now. He had lived on Iyara Street, Warri in Delta State with his parents for about 13 years without the ability to walk on his own feet. If you call him a cripple or a lame you may not be wrong though he was not born so. When he was about 16 months old Daniel fell ill and was rushed to a medical centre where he was given an injection that turned out to be deadly. After the treatment he became crippled.