THE petitioners’ witnesses on the other hand had testified that the respondents did not resign their appointments at all or as prescribed by law. Orji (the governor) having not appeared at the tribunal at all nor called any witness to testify on this point was held to have failed to deny the allegation which the Tribunal then had no difficulty to find and hold to have been proved by the petitioners. In holding that the governor and his deputy did not resign their appointments in the public service of Abia State as required, the tribunal did not lose sight of the documents

FEW people gave it much of a chance. At best, Yar’Adua’s amnesty plan for Niger Delta militants appeared like one of those gimmicks successive Nigerian governments dish out at regular intervals to bamboozle or hoodwink Nigerians while governments do everything but govern. The Niger Delta war had raged for years.

The practice of appointing spokesmen for the Senate can be traced back to the very first Senate of the fourth republic. In appointing spokesmen the various leaderships have with the notable exception of the Adolphus Wabara Senate picked from among their kitchen cabinets.

THE National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported last week a decline in the inflation and interest rates, which analysts attributed to the current banking reforms and the relative stability in the prices of crude oil which they believed may have returned Nigeria to the path of economic stability.

THE war of the primaries of the 2010 gubernatorial elections in Anambra State has been fought and won and lost. The intrigues that came with it were as interesting as they were remarkable.

IF you were at the Palexpo Hall in the beautiful city of Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday, October 8, 2009, you would feel three times a Nigerian. You would feel in a sense that you tower over the rest of humanity. In fact, you would feel proudly Nigerian.

IT is always good that information passed on to the public by top government officials should be factual, sincere and with the right motives, since the masses rely on government pronouncements. Many utterances, reeking of truths, half-truths, and outright falsehoods (borne out of politics), have been made about the issue of how the struggle for the abrogation of the obnoxious onshore-offshore oil-dichotomy was carried out and the ‘war’ eventually won. Crude oil drilled in the waters is referred to as “offshore” and the one on land as “onshore”.

THE first thing that struck me as I perused the interview with the Hon. Justice Francis Shoremi of the Court of Appeal in Vanguard Newspapers of Sunday October 4, 2009 was the absolute lack of conviction clearly apparent in his own words when the Honourable Justice took it upon himself to explain to the public the perverse decision of February 11, 2009 in which the Court of Appeal reversed the judgment of the Governorship and Legislative Houses Election Tribunal, Umuahia which had upheld the petitions of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and their candidates over the April 2007 elections.

FOR Edo State, the crippled Heart Beat of the Nation, these are indeed interesting times. A civil government is in place trying within its limits and limitations to undermine the essence of good governance and resuscitate a failing state as represented by a ruling cabal which has monopolized power for the past ten years of our democratic setting.

A RECENT masterpiece of an article was vintage Dr. Mike Omolayole. It was titled “ASUU Strike: Doing the right things the right way.” If you have never heard of Dr. Mike Omolayole or met him, or read his many writings and immense contributions to the development of home-grown management in Nigeria, or worse still, never listened to any of his lectures, walai, I sympathise with you! He is one of the select few that God