AFTER several postponements, Justice Neels Claasen of South Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, South Africa, pronounced a 24-year sentence on leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND, Henry Okah for his alleged roles in the bombings that shook Abuja and Warri in 2010.

CHRISTIANS will mark today as Good Friday, in remembrance of the selfless sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross to redeem mankind. The culmination would be Easter, which would be celebrated on Sunday.

DURING 2010 Bauchi attack, there were complaints about a break down of intelligence. Residents insisted that it was worse. There seemed to have been outright ignoring of petitions people filed with the security agencies about Boko Haram. Not much seems to have changed as clinical execution of recent jail breaks testified.

Arsons, bombings, killings, prison breaks, kidnappings have become routine; hardly a day passes without killings in parts of the country. Damaturu, Gombe, Maiduguri, Mubi, Potiskum, Yola, have held headlines for bombings. The incidents spread to Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Niger, Sokoto States, joining the perennial killings in Plateau State. The most embarrassing of the incidents remain the bombing of the nation’s 50th independence anniversary in Abuja and the targeting of elite military and other security offices.

ONE of the biggest on going frauds in Nigeria is the budget – federal, state, and local governments. Millions of Nigerians pine away over late passage of the budget, but with the budget neither speed nor lack of it profits the larger public.