“We will be discussing ways we can partner to make Nigeria’s upcoming 2015 elections the most peaceful, free, fair and credible in its history. We will also exchange ideas on how we can arrest the malignancy of financial corruption that eats away at Nigeria’s democracy and economy”.

For 14 days beginning from February 11, the people of Borno, particularly those residing around the bushy Sambisa Forest, have seen what could be described as ‘hell on earth’ following deadly attacks, bombings, killings and destruction of property. No fewer than 500 people were reportedly killed, 15,000 residents displaced/sacked, 200 still missing, while property worth billions of Naira including houses, shops and vehicles were destroyed all in the name of insurgency.

MIXED reactions from aviation stakeholders and others have greeted the removal of Princess Stella Oduah as the Minister of Aviation. She was sworn in on July 2, 2011 and deployed as Minister of Aviation on July 4. She was last Wednesday relieved of her post alongside the Minister of the Niger Delta, Godsday Orubebe, Minister of Police Affairs, Chris Olubolade and the Minister of State for Finance, Yerima Ngama.

THE Obuzor of Ibuzor, Oshimili North Local Council, Delta State, Obi (Prof.) Louis Chelunor Nwoboshi, spoke to Sunday Vanguard against the backdrop of his alleged dethronement. He described the allegations against him as the handiwork of his opponents. The monarch also spoke on other issues

“Nigeria has invested so much in me than for me to misbehave or mess up with the nation’s image. I will forever be grateful to Nigeria for the kind of military discipline that I have,” said the retired commodore.
“I need to talk about the whole experience just for generations coming behind to have the true picture of what actually happened. And I am saying it now so that it should never happen to anybody again. People who have the opportunity to be in positions of power should never use it to persecute. These are wicked people, who thought that they could do what they did to us and get away with it.”

AS the customs prepared to take full control of destination inspection in Nigeria, it put in place the following as the pillars that will hold the NCS destination inspection:

It is not in the character of Nigerians to have confidence in government. The reason is not far-fetched. Successive governments – at all tiers – over the years failed them. Lack of infrastructure and poor service delivery were the order of the day. So, when at the outset of the 3i’s initiative, designed by the Mimiko government of Ondo State to get the people to participate in the process of deciding the project that was close to their heart for implementation, Community Change Agents were sent to Oyin in Akoko North West LGA, the people simply sent them away.

To those who knew her at close quarters, the visage of ALAERE AUGUSTINA TIMI-ALAIBE keeps hitting them in the face as if she is standing next to them – including this writer. Her facial expression, always alluring, can be very infectious. But all that disappeared five years ago when she passed on. Today, a special thanksgiving service holds in honour of this late gem.

BEYOND “the feel good factor” being expressed in government circles about plans to celebrate 100 years of amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates to form a country called Nigeria, there is a widespread discontent on the perceived mistakes of the amalgamation. But more importantly, there is a determined push to dialogue on the future relations between and among ethnic nationalities that make up the world’s most populous black nation on earth.

Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III, Iku Baba Yeye, on Wednesday, January 14, 2014, clocked 43 years on the throne of the Alaafin of Oyo. How time flies! Time has moved at such a fast pace that one of the Yoruba most revered traditional rulers, during an interaction with Sunday Vanguard, could not understand how the feat of two scores and three that he has been on the throne was achieved. He, however, was certain that, “It is God Almighty; not by my power or effort. I give glory to Him.”

That the Executive and the National Assembly should cooperate as partners to put in place an enabling law that should lead to a successful and hitch-free National Conference. In that context the Committee recommends that the President should send an Executive Bill for the purpose of the National Conference to the National Assembly, which shall enact it into the enabling law. The Committee is convinced that, on balance of probability, it is safer to have such an enabling law, than to assume it is not needed.

In our Friday edition, we published the strategies adopted by the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue in the execution of its assignment. Today we publish the fourth installment.

THE leadership of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, in the South-west has accepted a challenge of mobilizing the Church to put an end to Islamic intolerance in the nation.
Chairman of CAN South-west also declared a 31-day fasting and prayers programme for the persecuted Church in Nigeria with effect from January 14.

Barely four weeks after university lecturers under the auspices of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) called-off their five months strike, lecturers of the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, have threatened a showdown with the university Management over issues bordering on welfare, facilities and tuition fees.

* Conference to be managed by 13-member secretariat under Executive secretary with two members from each geo-political zone

* Majority of delegates to be elected directly on the principles of universal adult suffrage