THE need to stimulate the socio-economic growth and development of Gombe State has been the cardinal objective of Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo right from the day he declared interest in the governorship of the state. Accordingly, all the projects embarked upon since assumption of office on May 29,2011 have been tailored in that direction.

THE self-employed and private businesses have continued to buckle under a draconian tax regime. Will they embrace an administration whose policies are bereft of human face?

THE stage is set for the July 14 governorship election in Edo State with the emergence of General Charles Airhiavbere (retd) as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The endorsement of Governor Adams Oshiomhole as the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in the election is a fait accompli.

HAKEEM Baba-Ahmed reviewed the meeting of Eminent National Leaders of Thought arranged by the National Summit Group. The title of his piece in his “on the one hand” Vanguard, February 22, 2012 Wednesday column conveys his opinion of the status and relevance of the National Leaders of Thought.

NIGERIA is a country with diverse but abundant natural resources. The landmass of Nigeria is about one million square kilometres. There are numerous mineral resources scattered all over the nation. Nigeria’s land is so fertile that farmers do not require fertilizer before reaping bumper harvest in some areas.

IN a recent interview Senator Joseph Waku, Vice Chairman of the Arewa Consultaive Forum, ACF, granted to a national newspaper (not the Vanguard), he exhibited his usual mercenary style with all its lies and inconsistencies. One of his outlandish claims was that the Boko Haram insurgency was the making of President Goodluck Jonathan so that he and his people could ‘blackmail’ the ‘North’ in order to have a legitimate excuse to secede from Nigeria.

EVERY beginning anticipates an end. Even the holy book underlines extensively that there is time for everything. And so the reality has dawned on all of us that Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu has bowed out as the curtain fell on him in this world which to him has been a massive stage on which he played out his part with an impact unignorable.

EVERYONE, young and old alike felt the impact of the fuel subsidy removal and nationwide strike that accompanied the implementation.

ONE of the notorious quirks bedeviling governance in Nigeria is the tendency for what started out as a firm, decisive and desirable government action to unceremoniously fizzle out into blatant back-tracking or abrupt disinterest and lingering inaction, often witnessing a pathetic return to business as usual.

BORN in 1918 at Okobia to the the Gbinije Royal Family of Okobia in Okpe Local Government Area(Paternal) and the Agbarha/Akpeta Family of Evwreyin-Ugolo in Okpe Local Government Area all of Delta State, Nigeria and consistent with the Achebian dictum that “the chick that will grow old will be known the day it is born”, Chief Patrick A. Gbinije started displaying infantile vibrancy and unusual finesse at very early age.

Nigerians have almost stopped bemoaning the crises that have bedevilled their football, but what is numbing is the cascading from its Olympian heights in a free for all fashion – on the pitch, on the board, and in rankings by FIFA. It is this free fall that has left most pundits and global admirers dazed on what has become the lots of Nigerian football.

With the passage of Chief Van J. Nwoko, JP, Honourable member, defunct Bendel State House of Assembly (1979- 1983), at the age of 77 years, the tribe of distinguished statesmen and selfless politicians have been diminished.

IN the last three months since Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Oddumegwu-Ojukwu died in London events leading up to his funeral today have shown an effusive outpouring of emotion and love from Nigerians from different parts of the country and belonging to different strata of society.

IS there anybody out there who believes Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s allegations about the plan by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Edo State to rig the scheduled July 14, 2012 governorship election in the state? I doubt.

THE recent arraignment of two men, Silas Ihemeremadu and Stanley Nwaobilo before a Magistrate Court in Umuahia, Abia State on a two-count charge of impersonation and Advance Fee Fraud allegedly using the name of Chinedu Orji, the first son of Abia State governor, to dupe one Charles Esonu of the sum of N1 million is another eye opener and a confirmation of the desperation on the part of some people who want to pull him and his father’s government down for selfish and cheap political reasons.