LAGOS — THERE was pandemonium in Apapa area of Lagos State, weekend, when some armed naval personnel and policemen from Area B Police Command clashed.

The Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria, NPAN, has filed an appeal against the ruling of a Federal High Court in Lagos, declining jurisdiction over a suit it filed against the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, APCON.

No fewer than three Fulani herdsmen including a husband and wife were yesterday reportedly killed at Amla village in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State following an outbreak of a bloody crisis between Idoma farmers and the herdsmen.

Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo weekend, said the turn of the Igbo to occupy the Presidency had come, warning that any attempt to rip the South East of its due after President Jonathan’s tenure would be resisted.

As intrigues preceding the 2015 presidential election continued to play up, strong indications emerged weekend that the Presidency has succeeded in splitting the ranks of the leadership of the defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND.

Asari Dokubo, Ebikabowei Victor-Ben(Boyloaf), Ateke Tom and Pastor Reuben, in the past three weeks, have expressed misgivings about the reported aspiration of President Jonathan to seek re-election in 2015, saying the President had done little or nothing to deserve a re-run in the next presidential election.

When the Super Eagles step out against Ethiopia’s Antelopes tomorrow in a crunch tie that determines the fate of the Nigerians, Chelsea’s Victor Moses would be missing in action.

Indications are that the 2013 budget is already facing challenges and may not be fully implemented. The budget may have to be reviewed with the oil bench assuming a far lower benchmark than the $75 proposed by the executive. This is because Nigeria crude oil sale is facing difficulty finding market.

The Federal Government, yesterday, reacted to comments by the former Minister of Education, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, alleging that the governments of presidents Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan, squandered $67 billion in foreign reserve, describing the allegation as “outlandish and clearly fictitious”.

Joint Action Committee, JAC, on Edo State Hospital Management Board, has faulted the comments credited to Governor Adams Oshiomhole that his late Principal Private Secretary, Mr. Olaitan Oyerinde, died due to doctor’s nonchalance at Benin Central Hospital.

A NEW twist was, weekend, introduced to the kidnap case in Delta State involving a Warri-based lawyer, Mr. Casely Omo-Irabor, when his counsel told Magistrate E. A. Odjugo that his court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan’s take on terrorism in northern Nigeria in his recent interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour was bound to elicit some verbal shoot-out. It did not take long in coming because the words he used were fraught with the germs of controversy. Hear him:

The 24 Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governors are meeting today to consider the peace proposal in their face-off with the national chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

I DEPLORE hackneyed terms otherwise the title of this article should have read “Celebrating a true icon.” But the word icon has been so trivialised and abused that its true worth has been diminished or lost in the classical sense.

IBADAN — PEOPLES Democratic Party, PDP, in Oyo State, has accused the state government of contract inflation, faulting the cost of one kilometre Mokola Round-About fly-over which the state government put at N2.5billion.

I know we are all still deeply concerned with the state of the global economy. Where do we stand? Well, thanks to policy actions taken over the past year, we have seen some respite and some stabilization in financial conditions. But it is not all good news. The recovery is still weak, and uncertainty is still high.