GOVERNOR Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, has said the state recorded a 100 per cent improvement in the 2012 West African Examination Council, WAEC, results, attributing the achievement to the “Support Our Schools Initiative” that promotes better teaching and learning environment in the state.

National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, yesterday, threw his weight behind the recent state pardon granted by President Goodluck Jonathan to former governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, and former bank executive, Shettima Bulama, among others, saying they deserved the pardon and called for the understanding of Nigerians.

PREPARATION for the conduct the local government elections in Kogi State slated for May 4, got underway weekend with the councillorship primaries of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, held across the 21 local councils.

PREROGATIVE of mercy and state pardons are not new in politics and public administration. Since Nigeria gained independence in 1960, state pardon has been a powerful instrument used by the successive regimes and ruling cliques to manage relationships with their former friends who have become foes or their former foes who have either become friends or are no longer threats.

If I had my way, I would have banished this topic to the recesses of my personal history. In the words of the NFF President Alhaji Aminu Maigari, I would have taken this as one of those experiences needed to guide one through the slimy maze of one’s sojourn on earth.