For President Goodluck Jonathan, the sacking of the National Security Adviser (NSA), General Owoye Azazi, on the heels of the insurgency in the North that has claimed hundreds of lives, did not come easy, Sunday Vanguard was made to understand at the weekend.

A family of six including a six-month old child and a 70-year old grandmother were yesterday brutally murdered by gunmen at Kumpun village in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State. In Lokoja, capital of Kogi State, the police command has discovered a hideout in Koto – Karfe area of the state where guns were being locally manufactured.

The United States, yesterday, named three alleged leaders of the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram as “foreign terrorists”, the first time it has blacklisted members of the Islamist group which claimed responsibility for many bomb attacks in the northern part of the country.

Heavy fighting, killings and burning of property continued, yesterday, in Hausa/Fulani dominated parts of Kaduna, as the minority non-Muslims in the areas tried to fight back despite the 24-hour curfew imposed over the entire state. This came as Pope Benedict XVI has appealed to those responsible for the violence to stop spilling innocent blood.

Declaration of State ofEmergency now looms in some states in the North, following unrestrained killing of innocent persons by Islamist militants and the new dimension of reprisal attacks which claimed hundreds of lives.

Death toll from last Sunday three coordinated bomb attacks in Kaduna and Zaria has risen to 68 even as indications emerged, yesterday, that President Goodluck Jonathan was considering imposing a state of emergency on Kaduna if reprisal attacks continue.

For the second Sunday running, blood flowed again yesterday as 48 persons were killed in three separate coordinated bomb attacks on churches in Kaduna, Zaria and retaliatory attacks.

Police authorities investigating the $620, 000 bribe money allegedly collected by Hon. Farouk Lawan and Boniface Emenalo, Chairman and Secretary of the Fuel Subsidy Probe Panel of the House of Representatives, respectively, are set to grant bail to the duo today after both told the Ali Amodu-led Special Task Force (STF), of their roles in the scam.

Chairman of the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on fuel subsidy management, Hon. Farouk Lawan who is at the centre of the $3million bribe to clear indicted oil companies, was detained last night by the police.

The House of Representatives was, yesterday, recalled from break as the cash for clearance scandal widened with the Police disclosing that other oil industry interests besides Femi Otedola gave bribes in dollars, pounds and local currencies to the committee.

Oil magnate, Femi Otedola, yesterday, stoked his charge against embattled Rep. Farouk Lawan, by handing over to the police, audio and video evidence of how Lawan got the first installment of the bribe and how he demanded the balance.

The leadership of the House of Representatives was last night considering two options in the wake of the bribery scandal that has engulfed its investigation into the utilisation of subsidy in the prices of petrol.

Embittered members of the House of Representatives, yesterday, distanced themselves from Lawan Farouk, chairman of the House committee that probed fuel subisdy, over alleged $3 million bribe scam and are asking him to bear his cross alone.

* BA, Lufthansa, Air France, Arik planes diverted to Lagos
* Incident blamed on repairs; * FG moves to audit airlines
Barely one week after Nigeria was thrown into mourning following the crash of a Dana aircraft in Lagos, lives of passengers and crew on board at least four aircraft were put at risk, on Friday, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, the nation’s capital.

A twin-bomb blast yesterday rocked Maiduguri, the Borno State capital killing eight persons including two policemen, four civilians and two bombers, even as 24 others sustained various degrees of injuries. One of the devastating explosions occurred at the police headquarters in the city.