WHEN, in 1987, an Italian allegedly shipped in 1,079,000 metric tonnes of toxic waste, which he claimed were residual chemicals and raw materials, to Koko in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State, he said it was for a proposed fertilizer manufacturing company in Nigeria, but, as the people found out later, the items were killer materials

SOME years ago, when the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, started its gas master plan in 2007, Delta State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, took an interest in it, knowing that the state has a lot of gas. He got in contact with officials of the NNPC and was invited by the corporation to join a team that went round the United Kingdom, Singapore and other parts of the world on a road show for the Nigerian gas master plan.

Just as it was in the early days of the contest for the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, concerning zoning, the talk about a proposed amendment to the 1999 Constitution, (even as amended) regarding tenure of office for the president and governors, is again being denied as a presidential initiative. This story investigates the ambivalence in the Presidency on the matter and discovers that the reason for the tongue-in-cheek posture is a function of the insincerity of the agenda because Nigerian leaders are so used to failing themselves and the nation that even in the face of a glaring opportunity to excel and succeed, they fail to see it

Some of the Senators who shared their perspectives on the proposal for a six-year single term of office have shown the trend the debate on the amendment will follow in the Senate.

Saddled with challenges in his bid to transform the country, President Goodluck Jonathan has come to the realisation that with a renewed anti-corruption war, a sense of discipline may be instilled in public servants with the ultimate goal of blocking leakages within the system.

Principally, but for the Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, and Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, Rivers State Governor, the three-day warning strike called by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, would have held! This is a report of how Governor Oshiomhole’s deftness contributed in very large measure to the compromise positions of state governors, the Federal Government and even NLC, thereby averting a strike that would have been too burdensome for Nigeria’s ailing economy. It is a story of intrigues and sophistry of gargantuan proportions. It is exclusive.

TOMORROW is judgment day at the Delta governorship re-run election petition tribunal sitting in Asaba in the case filed by Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru, questioning the victory of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in the January 6, 2011 poll in the state.

TOMORROW is judgment day at the Delta governorship re-run election petition tribunal sitting in Asaba in the case filed by Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru, questioning the victory of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in the January 6, 2011 poll in the state.

It is an elementary maxim in law that ‘He who goes to equity must do so with clean hands’! It is equally trite law that ‘he who allege, should not only be able to prove his allegation beyond every reasonable doubt, but should equally establish a prima-facie nexus between the accused person and the alleged offence committed.

SUCH an enterprise will engage our public administrators throughout the continent as they are the repository of our development history and experience. It will require that they revisit and resume their strategic and intellectual preoccupation which was their greatest asset at independence when they and they only were in a position to guide our political leaders through the labyrinth of our colonial administration.

PRELATE of Methodist Church Nigeria, Archbishop Sunday Ola Makinde, is a household name even before he mounted the saddle at the Wesley House, Marina, Lagos after the expiration of the tenure of Archbishop Sunday Mbang. Last Thursday, he played host to some journalists in his office where he bared his mind on the state of the nation, admonishing that the nation must tread softly and tackle the festering menace of Boko Haram with dispatch.

Former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, says a national conference to address Nigeria’s structural problems may be the best way to tackle the Boko Haram challenge.

This is an exclusive report on the hunt for members of the now dreaded Ahlan Sunnah Lid Da’waati wal Jihad Yaanaa (brothers), popularly known as the Boko Haram sect and how security agencies are going about their job. The report also reveals the engagement between former Governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, and the Directorate of State Security, SSS, and the meeting between the former and President Goodluck Jonathan, last week. It is revealing and explosive.

After over five weeks since he was sworn-in as President and Commander-in-Chief, President Goodluck Jonathan finally constitutes the Executive Council of the Federation, EXCOF, signaling the commencement of real governance. The question is, will this team deliver for Jonathan and Nigerians?

THE power and efficacy of a popular engagement by a people in strategic self-development, though quite challenging and requiring enormous resources and sacrifice, is not as dependent on material capital as we Africans have constantly been told and have come to believe.