For over two weeks now, the two neighbouring communities of Nkputu in Owerri Ezukala and Awuka in Ogbunka in Orumba South local government area of Anambra State have been on each other’ s neck. Before this time, they were known to be living in peace until the recent communal clash that led to the killing of two persons and destruction of property worth millions of naira.

TRAVELERS on the Ninth Mile-Nsukka highway wept uncontrollably in the afternoon of Monday, June 20, 2011 on sighting the mangled bodies trapped in two commuter buses that were involved in a fatal accident in which 28 persons perished. Four of the casualties were members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) who were returning to their homes after the national service in one of the northern states.

A fresh wave of kerosene scarcity has engulfed the nation and consumers are not smiling. Long queues are visible at filling stations and the product sells between N150-N300 per litre.

Some female undergraduates are gradually turning to prostitution in their bid to meet up with the lifestyle they have carved out for themselves on campus. Ordinarily, the higher institution is a place where the young adult finds herself alone for the first time in his or her life. He or she is forced to take decisions for good or bad and if not properly guided, could make grave mistakes.

When the news filtered into Yenagoa penultimate Thursday that septuagenarian Pa Erasmus Oko and his wife Mrs. Idemokumo Oko, the parents of former chairman of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) central zone and ex Bayelsa State Commissioner for Energy, Comrade Maxwell Oko had been kidnapped by unknown gun wielding youths, many were horror-struck.

In the last edition of our Saturday Vanguard, we reported a case of one Mr and Mrs Augustine Akpan, an indigene
of Akwa Ibom State who searched for the fruit of the womb for about twelve years of marriage. However, God answered their prayers and gave them a set of twins.

Twelve years after marriage, Augustine Akpan and his wife could not have a child. Akpan who hails from Akwa Ibom State, is a Benin based commercial motorcycle operator (Okada rider).

Fulfillment to me is how far you’ve been able to meet your ambition or realise your goals. Some people would reach their fulfillment if they are able to achieve what they had set out to achieve. To some, it could be the size of their bank accounts but to me, it is about service to humanity. It is a matter of individual idea.

Early on Wednesday, May 11, three little kids who could have been leaders of tomorrow bided their parents farewell as they boarded a school-bus to their school, but they neither saw their parents again nor got to their destination. It was tragic.

ON Wednesday, May 25, while a large cache of arms and ammunition, including 1,798 rifles, one 1981 assorted guns and 70 rocket propelled grenades, recovered from militants in Delta, Bayelsa and Ondo states were being destroyed at the Headquarters of the 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Enugu, men of the Joint Task Force, JTF, on the Niger_Delta embarked on an off the cuff and dangerous operation.

TUESDAY May 24, 2011 would forever remain indelible in the memory of the people of Oko Ovwore-Amukpe Okpe community in Delta State following an early morning NNPC pipeline fire explosion reminiscent of the Atigwo-Jesse explosion of October 17, 1998 incident that claimed thousands of lives and visited unimaginable suffering and hardship to many families till date.

Two years ago, the Joint Task Force, JTF in the Niger Delta invaded the oil rich Gbaramatu Kingdom of Warri South West Local Government Council of Delta state, hometown of repentant militant leader, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, a.k.a Tompolo, after a fracas between members of JTF and some of the then militants in the area, leaving a scare that lives in the minds of the inhabitants.

A fresh scarcity of kerosene is here and consumers are not smiling, already under pressure from an economy that seems to be in a free fall.

Fadahunsi, a retired Chief Executive Officer of the defunct Lagos Executive Development Board, LEDB, loves spaces; a fondness he developed as a kid in his native Ila, Ilesa (present day Osun State).

Residents of Ikorodu, who commute to and from Lagos for their daily bread are not finding the trips funny these days.
Although a mere 20 kilometre or twenty minute journey, getting out of or getting into the town from Ketu is full of stress. Traffic gridlock has become a routine, endless man hours are lost, and business appointment blown away.