Chief Ebenezer Babatope, 72 came to national limelight as the fiery director of organisation of the Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN in the Second Republic. Babatope was a shinning light among Nigeria’s progressives. An unrepentant Awosit till date, his ideological bearing, however, became an issue among some during and after his years of service in the General Sani Abacha regime where he held the transport portfolio. Such concern also shadows his prominent standing in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

ANY number of reasons could be given for the postponement of the elections billed for February 14 and 28, but none would ameliorate the disappointment of Nigerians that the numerous experiments the Independent National Electoral Commis-sion, INEC, has performed since 2011 came to such sorry conclusion. INEC never indicated it was not ready for the elections.

The dust is yet to settle on the recapitalisation exercise in the mortgage sector even as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) confirmed that 32 primary mortgage banks (PMBs) have met the required criteria and licensed to operate in the country, out of 89 that were in existence before the exercise. 15 PMBs were also said to have converted to either microfinance banks or finance companies.

Lagos—Southern Nigeria Ethnic Nationalities have said postponing the 2015 general elections would afford the country the opportunity to address issues that could impede achieving a free and fair polls.

CAF president Issa Hayatou has slammed the global news media for focusing too much on the violence that occurred at the end of the African Nations Cup semi-final between Ghana and Equatorial Guinea.

THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and the All Progressives Congress, APC, have promised to work for crisis-free elections in Rivers State. Governorship candidate of the PDP, Chief Nyesom Wike, and his counterpart in the APC, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, gave the assurance, weekend, during a meeting with the newly appointed Assistant Inspector-General of Police, AIG, Zone 6, Mr. Tunde Ogunsakin.

THE deputy governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Rivers State, Dr. Ipalibo Harry-Banigo, has said that the incoming Nyesom Wike administration will empower traders with business grants to lift their commercial activities.

AT a public lecture delivered at the Chatham House in London last month, the National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki, (retd), disclosed that he had “advised” the Independent National Electoral Commission to postpone the election.

WARRI—THE National Association of Itsekiri Graduates, NAIG, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to use the interlude provided by the six weeks postponement of the general elections, originally billed for February 14 and 28, to perform the groundbreaking of the Export Processing Zone, EPZ, in Delta State.

”Media reports at the end of July 2007 confirmed that the Presidential Committee which probed the $480 million which the CBN invested in the African Finance Corporation (AFC), has completed its investigations. After what appeared to be a painstaking audit exercise, over three months, and spanning three continents, the Committee Chairman, Tunde Ogunshakin, disclosed that CBN’s equity contribution was actually $462.923 million.

It was a warm afternoon at the OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa, sometime in March 2013. Dr Kayode Fayemi and I were returning to Lagos after receiving the Samsung Award for Best State Government in ICT Education at an impressive ceremony in Cape Town.

Enugu—A team of lawyers, led by Mr. Olu Omotayo, who is also the Zonal Director of the Civil Liberties Organization in the South-East will formally move the bail application for the 11 members of the Biafra Zionists Federation, BZF, currently remanded at Enugu prisons over an alleged attempt to declare Republic of Biafra.

The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) has taken steps over the years to navigate through numerous challenges in the quest to deliver on its core mandate of promoting the delivery of affordable and modern houses to Nigerians.

When Professor Sam Ukala, Nigeria’s renowned playwright picked up his pen to write Iredi War, he was clear about what he wanted- The Nigerian Prize For Literature. As a goal-getter well focused on his priority, Prof. Ukala was said to have turned down the offer to be among the panel of judges for the 2014 Prize. Instead, he submitted his book Iredi War to compete with 123 others.

BENIN—EDO State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has warned those responsible for the defacing and removal of its presidential candidate’s posters, President Goodluck Jonathan from the streets of Benin to desist forthwith, describing their action as undemocratic and unnecessary.