DESPITE the controversies generated over the fiscal regime, in terms of tax and royalty being proposed in the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, currently undergoing legislative scrutiny at the National Assembly, the technical team that prepared the bill insists that proposals are still very highly competitive.

*Why exclusive interviews with suspects can not be published…
We are unable to publish the interviews with the suspects in the murder of Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, aide to Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, as earlier publicised because of some legal implications which have since been brought to our attention. And because of the need for balanced, fair and objective reporting, we present extracts from the presentation of the Police to the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions held on 13 February. The presentation was made by Chris Ezike, a deputy commissioner of police, Federal Anti-Robbery Squad, Force CID, Abuja.

President Goodluck Jonathan is facing scathing criticism from a cross section of the Nigerian people which seemed unabated, over a presidential pardon granted to impeached former governor of BayelsaState, Chief Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha, convicted for money laundering and corrupt enrichment.

The last is yet to be heard of the presidential pardon granted some Nigerians for sins committed in the past years.

Many have seen the recent Presidential pardon granted to former governor Alamieyeseigha and a few others as one of the contradictions in the country’s fight against corruption.

Dr. Austin Nweze is a lecturer in LagosBusinessSchool. On the state pardon granted to former Bayelsa state Governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, Dr. Nweze has this to say:

I HAVE taken up much of the time and yet there is more to say, so I must move on to ask whether the militarization of the campuses from without aside, the confraternities are in any way complicit in the rise of this deadly culture of violence.

Probe! Probe deeper!Investigate! Investigate thoroughly!These are words Nigeria’s intelligence and security agencies are very familiar with.

It was meant to inflict maximum embarrassment and damage.And had it succeeded, the nation would still have been reeling under the effect of a tragedy of monumental proportions.

As the clock ticks for the exit of Governor Peter Obi of Anambra state from office, the issues in the politics of Anambra state of South-East Nigeria are becoming more intriguing by the day. Since the dawn of democracy in 1999 , the case of Anambra state has remained confounding.

EXACTLY 367 days to the expiration of Governor Peter Obi’s second term, the Anambra political firmament is astir.

THE harvest of this deliberate policy of militarizing the campuses was bountiful. But the policy, it should be noted, predated Babangida; it took form with the military invasion of the University of Lagos in 1978 to put down a protest by the students of an arbitrary increase in school fees imposed by the regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo.

THEY have been known to be as deadly as their male counterparts in gruelling (perhaps even pleasurable? rumours suggest forced sex with designated men or other girls) initiation rites and dare-devil or reprisal attacks on perceived enemies.

…Grant amnesty to sect— Sultan
…Ghosts don’t need pardon—Jonathan
Last Thursday, President Goodluck Jonathan responded to the request of Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar pleading for amnesty for members of Boko Haram. The President insisted during a State Visit to Borno State that people who need amnesty must come to the open. However, the Sultan’s request was within the context of the insinuation that the leadership of the North was not doing enough to stem the tide of violence occasioned by the violence perpetrated by Boko Haram.

AS Catholic cardinals begin the process to elect a new Pope who will succeed Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, a sex abuse victims’ network has named a “Dirty Dozen” of cardinals who are contenders for the role of next pope.