Earlier this year, I was approached to do some media consultancy in Nigeria. I’d just left the BBC after 18 years, to set up my own business, so this seemed a great opportunity. I spoke to a number of friends and former colleagues. I’d heard many stories about Nigeria, seen the reports on Boko Haram and had my own impressions of sub Saharan Africa.

Prof. Jubril Aminu is a founding member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He was also at different times the Minister of Education and Petroleum Resources. He was equally a senator. In this interview, he speaks on the PDP crisis, saying the attempt by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and some governors to break away from the mainstream PDP is borne out of the need to remain politically relevant.

Dogged by challenges capable of denying him re-election in 2015, President Goodluck Jonathan has taken the battle to the doorsteps of his known and perceived political opponents, using the carrot and stick approach. Last Wednesday morning, he shocked members of the Federal Executive Council when he fired nine ministers, who are believed to be irrelevant to his second term bid and are more loyal to their governors. Will the ouster of the ministers remove the mounting roadblocks to his re-election? There seems to be more questions than answers.

What happens when the promises of men are not fulfilled? We are disappointed. We might even become bitter. What about the promises of God? They never disappoint. Even when they are not fulfilled, we are not bothered because we know that God’s promises transcend time. His word is from everlasting to everlasting. Therefore, God’s promises move us from time to eternity. If they are not fulfilled in this lifetime, it is only because they are slated for fulfilment in the life to come.

If all goes as planned at today’s meeting, President Goodluck Jonathan is expected to create a soft landing for the embattled National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, septuagenarian Bamanga Tukur, pursuant to working out a tidy strategy for his removal from office, Sunday Vanguard can authoritatively reveal.

In this interview, the Coordinator of the Northern Emancipation Network, Mal. Abdul-Azeez Sulaiman, says that the ordinary people in the North can no longer follow the political elite blindly. He also warns that the North could suffer after 2015 if it continues to antagonize President Goodluck Jonathan as it is not in a position to win the presidency in the next general elections.

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, yesterday, shed light on the state government’s decision to appeal in the Supreme Court, the Major Hamza Al Mustapha and Alhaji Lateef Shofolahan’s acquittal by the Appeal Court over the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, saying the state places premium on human lives.

About 10 persons were feared dead, several others wounded while no fewer than 50 houses were reportedly burnt in when fighting broke out between Eggon and Alago ethnic groups in Obi local government area of Nasarawa State on Friday.

THE crisis rocking the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in Rivers State deepened as the faction loyal to Governor Chibuike Amaechi went ahead to inaugurate it’s state secretariat at No. 38, Forces Avenue, Old GRA, Port-Harcourt.

Tributes, yesterday, poured in, in torrents, for former Governor Olusegun Agagu of Ondo State who passed on, on Friday.