KALABARI— AS the tussle for who ascends the throne of Amanyanabo of Kalabari Kingdom in Rivers State builds up, a contender to the stool, Chief Mac-Donald Abbi, has called on King Theophilus Princewill to vacate the throne, claiming that the court has removed him.

I VISITED Vienna, Austria some years ago. After five days of going round the city, it occurred to me that I had not come across a single policeman.

The 2016 budget should be thrown into the waste paper basket. It can no longer serve as a guide to what citizens can expect of the Federal, States and Local Governments this year. The Finance Minister’s admission, two days before the President addressed the world on his first year in office could not have come as a surprise to economists, finance experts, accountants and even those who have a good grasp of simple arithmetic and can think deeply. If ever there was a budget that was doomed even before it was written, the 2016 budget was it.

“Poverty will clearly deepen nationwide and severe level of unemployment will persist with serious social consequences, if the preferred strategy for rescuing our economy implies further Naira devaluation and outright deregulation of fuel price, as recommended by the IMF and other likeminded experts. (see “Devalue Naira, Remove Subsidy and Kill Nigerians” Rational perspectives: 02/11/2015 www.lesleba.com).

AFTER one year of silence, Vice President Atiku Abubakar seized the opportunity of a book launch in Abuja last week to break his silence. He reviewed the state of the nation under President Muhammadu Buhari, which is what pretty much everyone else has done in the past one week.