The sack of Super Eagles Assistant Coach, Sylvanus Okpala and the refusal of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF to pay him money due him is still generating ripples with former vice chairman of the football house when it was known as NFA, Barrister Nwabufo Obienu castigating the Aminu Maigari-led Board for dragging the name of the country down.

Ordinarily, I would not have tried to offer any explanations to those asking this question, except that last week, the matter was raised by the Publisher of VANGUARD, our dear Uncle Sam, in Abuja. We had gone to the nation’s capital for different reasons and accidentally met at the VANGUARD office. On our way to lunch (for me a free lunch which no ajeru Area Boy would turn down) Uncle Sam informed me that he was with some friends who were “disappointed” that Dele Sobowale, who writes mostly philosophical articles, would descend so low as to start introducing religion into politics.

Ahead of the Osun State gubernatorial election scheduled for August, the Coordinator, Osun Movement for Peace, Comrade Temidayo Bankole, in this interview, talks on why well-meaning Osun indigenes must speak up against attempts to derail the current developmental momentum in the state to attain the Osun of their dreams.

Lagos State Water ways Authority (LASWA) has recovered the wreckage of the boat which capsized and claimed eight lives on Wednesday.LASWA’s Managing Director, Mr. Yinka Marinho, said the boat was recovered during the search and rescue operation yesterday.

The Project Director of Ughelli-Asaba Dualisation Road Project in Delta State, Chief Sunny Onuesoke, has described the state as the fastest infrastructural developing state in Nigeria.

The new smart national identity card is in compliance with the security recommendations and standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and could be used as travel document. This was revealed after an independent laboratory and field test conducted on the new smart national identity card.

One of the contentious issues that has attracted a lot of comments recently is the issue of Homosexuality or same sex marriage especially since President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan signed the bill into law. Many who commented on it commending the president for his action did that without knowing the serious implications as they just seem to agree that it is not natural.

Gareth Bale deputised ably for the injured Cristiano Ronaldo with a wonder strike from 35 yards as Real Madrid kept up the pressure on Atletico Madrid and Barcelona with a 4-0 win away to Real Sociedad on Saturday.

“It was when my present boyfriend got me a car. Actually, he didn’t let me know that he wanted to get me a car. I was driving a small Kia car when we met. He told me the car was very small. So one day, he just called me over to Lagos, because he was about to travel out of the country. So I flew down,when I got to the airport, he drove down a brand new Lexus Jeep. He told me it’s mine, but I didn’t believe him. So he brought out the documents and they were all bearing my name. Automatically, I knelt down and started crying. I was just wet with happiness and tears of joy”

I think this is a make or mar conference for Nigeria. I appeal to all delegates to understand the urgency of this period. Our country is falling apart. We need to put things right. Nobody should come to this conference with any sense of arrogance. We must not negotiate out of fear. We must come as equal partners to the Nigerian project and shed all our prejudices.