On the 17th of January, some 37 members of the PDP went to court to seek an injunction against the clear provision of Section 68 (G) of the 1999 Constitution, which says that a member should vacate his seat if he crosses over to another party if there is no crisis in the party. But because these members are aware of this provision of the law, they went to court to seek an injunction over an action they have not taken.

Igarra is a sleepy community in Akoko Edo Local Government Council of Edo State, but the peace in the community was punctured, Wednesday, January 15, during an alleged attempt by some youths to celebrate the annual Ekuochi masquerade festival which, according to the Otaru of Igarra, Oba Adeche Saiki, was banned since 1989. Igarra lies at the foot of Igarra hills popularly known as Kukuruku Hills. About five persons received gunshot injuries during the attempt to stop the festival .

Protocol was broken for a few minutes at the recently concluded Nigeria Media Merit Award (NMMA) that took place at the redeveloped Ikogosi Warm Springs Resort, Ikogosi-Ekiti when the organisers announced a special presentation to Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi. To the curious crowd of journalists, media executives, businessmen and government officials at the resort’s main auditorium, venue of the award ceremony, the question was what could be the special presentation other than the traditional award usually reserved for the host governor.

Last week we published the first part of the media roundtable with the new US Ambassador, Mr. James Entwistle, in this concluding exerpt, the envoy clarifies his country’s position on Nigeria’s same sex Prohibition Act.

Friday, January 17, 2014 was two days after this year’s edition of the Armed Forces Remembrance Day. That was the day Sunday Vanguard made its second visit to the palace of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III.

The First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan got a set of spanners as gifts from a 40-man delegation of Lady Mechanics Initiative led by the founder, Mrs. Sandra Aguebor-Ekperuoh, at the conference hall of the First Lady and she remarkably demanded for a crash hands-on programme for her and the states First Ladies across the country so that, “I can fix the car of my sister, the wife of the Vice President.” Abayomi Adeshida of our Abuja Bureau captured the event.

The Most Beautiful Girl in the Niger Delta, popularly known as Face of Niger Delta, Miss Gwendolyn Okutele, says she will use her time and resources as the Queen and Ambassador of the Niger Delta to work for the collective interest of the region and promote values that could encourage the education of the girl-child.

LAST Thursday, the Federal Government released modalities for the proposed National Conference, which immediately set the polity astir on account of the timeline, number of delegates, how issues will be resolved at the conference and what to do with the outcome.

The modalities have some similarities with former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s National Political Reform Conference (NPRC) held in 2005. In the Obasanjo conference, the Council of State approved a conference size of 400 delegates all to be nominated with Obasanjo nominating 50 including the Chairman. The time-frame was three months but could be extended if necessary. The unity of the country was a no-go area.

The Lagos State House of Assembly recently passed a bill seeking to make smoking in public places illegal in the state, with first offenders having options of paying a fine of N10,000, three months in jail or both. The bill which is awaiting the approval of Gov. Fashola, in order for it to be signed into law, prohibits residents from smoking in places such as libraries, museum, public toilets, schools, hospital, day-care centres, public transportation, restaurants among others.

Amid mixed reactions springing up from the prohibition of smoking in public places, passed by the Lagos House of Assembly recently, Saturday Vanguard sought the views of Lanre Suraj, a public affairs analyst who spoke on the yet-to-be-signed bill. He commended the lawmakers for taking such a bold step in saving lives.