GOLDEN SCEPTRE

Former Ogun State governor, Mr. Gbenga Daniel, has accused his former political associate and Senator representing Ogun East Senatorial District, Mr. Buruji Kashamu, of sending gunmen to kill him. The allegation was contained in a petition addressed to the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim K. Idris.                               According to the former governor, at about 9.13pm on Thursday, five hefty men visited his residence located at Abuja's Maitama District. Mr. Daniel said he was told that two of the men wore military fatigues, while the other three were dressed in black.                       On arrival, narrated Mr. Daniel, they hooted until the gate man went to peep through the pedestrian gate to ask for their identities and mission. However, Mr. Daniel said he was told that they refused to wind down the windows of the Toyota Camry...

   The secessionist group, Indigenous Peoples Of Biafra (IPOB), has dared the Federal Government of Nigeria to attempt to re-arrest its leader, Nnamdi Kanu. IPOB’s challenge came as a response to an appeal by Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, asking for the revocation of a court order that granted bail to Mr. Kanu. The minister also advocated the re-arrest and detention of the IPOB leader pending the determination of the charges against him. The Attorney General cited Mr. Kanu’s violation of his bail conditions as one of the major reasons the secessionist agitator should be arrested. Reacting to the minister’s position, IPOB accused the Federal Government of playing politics, adding that Mr. Kanu could never be rearrested. The group also vowed that many tragic events would happen if Nigerian authorities ever rearrested the IPOB leader. “IPOB is not doing anything about the order of [the Federal Government] through the Attorney...

                     Paul Unongo “In the absence of a cat, the house becomes a playfield for rats”, so goes a Yoruba saying. Another like it notes that “The return of a cat from a long sojourn always restores sanity and ends the free run of rodents and their destructive activities in a house”. President Muhammadu Buhari may not be a cat, but he has proved that his being symbolically likened to the wild specie and king of the jungle, the lion, by his wife, Aisha, is no fluke at all. While away on his prolonged medical vacation in London, Nigeria’s corporate existence floundered and tottered on the brink, as all manner of groups took the opportunity to intensify hate rhetoric, agitations and agenda believed to be inimical to the corporate existence of the nation. Although his deputy, Yemi Osinbajo, who acted for Buhari in his absence, tried to douse the tension, his pacifist methods and dialogue with leaders of ethnic nationali...

Prof. Ben Nwabueze The Group of Southern Leaders of Thought, an association of elder statesmen, have said a negotiated restructuring, implemented through a new Constitution, is the best assurance for the realisation of one Nigeria.    At a press conference in Lagos, Thursday, the group, led by Professor of Law, Ben Nwabueze, said although a majority of Nigerians are committed to the indivisibility of the country, they need to be given an opportunity to negotiate the conditions.    “In our circumstances as a country, with a vast expanse of territory, comprising a great diversity of ethnic nationalities, with divergent interests and outlooks, it seems generally agreed that a federal system, truly so-called, is the system appropriate to our situation,” the group said in a joint statement at the end of their meeting.    “We therefore conceive restructuring as requiring, modified as necessary, the restoration or re-establishment of the kind of federalism ...

 Jose Mourinho Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho expects Zlatan Ibrahimovic to challenge Romelu Lukaku for a starting berth when the Swedish striker returns to action. Ibrahimovic, 35, signed a one-year contract with United this week, having been sidelined since sustaining a serious knee ligament injury four months ago. Manchester United’s Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho reacts after the UEFA Europa League final football match Ajax Amsterdam v Manchester United on May 24, 2017 at the Friends Arena in Solna outside Stockholm. / AFP PHOTO Lukaku has made an impressive start to his Old Trafford career, but Mourinho says that when Ibrahimovic returns to fitness, he will be given a chance to take the Belgian’s place. “Zlatan knows me,” Mourinho told reporters on Friday. “And he knows that I play the players that I think are the best for the team. I always did it. “I always did that in my life, so if he comes here and he proves that he is the best, he plays. If...

Nigerian police force The officer under whose watch a suspected rapist and murderer escaped from the police custody in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has been dismissed and subsequently arraigned in court by the Nigerian police. Johnbosco Okoroeze, a sergeant, was in handcuffs when he was brought before a Chief Magistrate in Port Harcourt, Sokari Andrew-Jaja, on Thursday. Mr. Okoroeze was accused of obstruction of justice and conspiracy. He was noticed crying profusely in the courtroom. The chief magistrate ordered that he should be remanded in the prison custody, while the case was adjourned to September 14. Mr. Okoroeze was the officer investigating Ifeanyi Dike for the alleged rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl, Chikamso Victory, in Port Harcourt. The suspect escaped from the police custody on Saturday night at the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, few hours after he was arrested. The girl’s body had its vagina, fingers, breasts, and tongue cut off, apparentl...