This was to be the fourth meeting between the man Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and this writer.
However, last Sunday’s meeting with the man who is now President brought home some truth. From the preparation for the live broadcast of the PRESIDENTIAL MEDIA CHAT, to the post-event dinner at the President’s residence, one point remained very critical: Nigeria’s President needs help.

Now that the operational leadership and visible face of Boko Haram, in the person of the filth called Mr. Abubakar Shekau (aka Darul Tawheed), has finally admitted that they were responsible for the abduction of hundreds of our school girls and that they intend to ‘’sell them in the market like slaves’’, it is pertinent and necessary for us to consider some of the emerging, though uncomfortable, facts.

He is the face of terror. A ruthless leader with a twisted ideology. And the sadistic architect of a campaign of mayhem and misery.

And yet, very little is known about Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram.

The simple answer to that is yes. There is a truce, an accord as a result of the peace initiative of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigerian through the offices of the Chief of Naval Staff and the Inspector General of Police. I can say that the effort of the Federal Government Peace Committee which started since January this year has finally yielded positive results. All the grievances by the two sides have been addressed and everybody I can say has now sheathed his swords. Both sides have resolved to work together.

IT took the intervention of the Federal Government before the warring factions in the leadership crisis that engulfed the oil-rich Itsekiri community of Ugborodo in Warri South-West Local Government agreed to sheath their swords. Former Commissioner for Health in Delta State, Dr. Alex Ideh and Itsekiri youth leader, Mr. Alex Eyengho, who are leaders in both factions, spoke to Vanguard on the new-found peace.

The abduction of Mackson Macaulay, son of Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Delta State, Mr. Ovuozorie Macaulay, in 2012, was allegedly organized by his (SSG) relation. This information came to light after the killing, March 27, of two kidnap suspects by gunmen, who attacked a police patrol team conveying them to court, along Oboh-Ogwashi-Uku Road. Two defence counsel in the main case were also killed on the same day.

WHEN President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States in May 2013 he rejected the illegal advice of some power mongers to remove the elected governors and dissolve other democratic structures in the affected states.

April 15, 2014 will ever remain fresh in the minds of the people of Chibok in Chibok Local Government Area of Borno State as a result of Boko Haram insurgents invasion of the Government Girls Secondary School in the town in the process of which scores of school girls writing their Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (SSCE) were abducted. Borno State Governor put the number of the abducted at about 50.

Alhaji Idris Abass, Director-General of the Federal Capital Territory Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, is not a novice in risk management having been an astute insurer and a broker. Abass, in this interview, speaks on managing disasters in the FCT and the need for residents and indigenes to avoid disaster in the best possible ways in the wake of last week’s Nyanya’s bomb blast.

Child-bride, Wasila Umar, accused of killing her husband and three of his friends while injuring many others after she served them poisoned food, in Kano, says she regrets her action.