WHEN Bayelsa State was created 16 years ago, carved out of the previous Rivers State, it became obvious from inception that the fledgling state will face great challenges on the path of attaining the growth and development that autonomy had bestowed on her.

The declaration of a state of emergency by the President in the three states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa is a welcome development. Although, in actual fact, it is overdue, but it is never too late. Considering the number of people who have died in the hands of the Boko Haram insurgents, nothing is too much to bring peace to these affected states, and for that matter, the whole country.

Grace is the kindness that only God bestows. It is a divine blessing or an unmerited favour from the Almighty. It is the extraordinary phenomenon that enshrouds a person, making it possible to surmount various life challenges. Further research indicates that almost all the virtues of life issue from grace

It was reported recently that there has been tension in Anambra State over the attendance of a prominent Anambra personality, Dr. Ifeanyi Uba’s sister’s wedding at the Catholic Church of the Assumption, Falomo, Ikoyi, Lagos, on Saturday, April 20.Traditional rulers, Federal and State legislators and Presidents-General of various communities in Anambra State which the State governor is not happy about.

As a reader of Nigerian dailies,I came across the name,Sufuyan Ojeifo, though I fell in love with him, because of his critical views on national issues and societal ills. Also, one Chief Dan Orbih’s voice has been against his state Governor, Adams Oshiomhole.

There have been requests for the creation Okura out of Kogi; Aba from Abia; Njaba and Orashi out of Imo; Adada from Enugu State; Toru-Ebe from Delta, Edo and Ondo states; Hadejia out of Jigawa and Katagum from Bauchi State.

IN the past, broadcasting was an exclusive central government preserves which means private individuals do not have the right under law to invest in the sector.

I WAS distressed by the reports in some newspapers on May 1, this year, that a group of youth in Benue State attacked, in protest, the Director General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Dr Paul Botwev Orhii and some officials of the agency at the destruction site for counterfeit medicines along the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, UAM, Gbajima Road, on the outskirts of Makurdi, the state capital.

INASMUCH as I’ve told President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to be a true statesman of honour and integrity and avoid the (devilish, dangerous and unpatriotic) lure of going for another term as Nigeria’s President and emulate General Abdulsalami Abubakar who had all the powers and resources available to stay in power for long but honourably and responsibly chose to avoid such lure and its negative consequences and stayed in power as Head of State of the same country Nigeria for only 12 months (June 1998-May 1999),

The lingering violent clashes involving the people of Ibaji in Kogi State and Aguleri-Otu in Anambra State over the ownership of a disputed oil well, which has left several people dead and properties destroyed assumed another dimension penultimate week.