Lagos - The story of hostage taking until recently held sway only in the Niger Delta areas of the country as militants who operate in different names thrived in the abduction of oil workers in the area resulting in the demand of ransom for their possible release. However, the situation is gradually spreading to non-coastal areas of the country, the latest being in some parts of Abia and Ebonyi states in the south-east geo-political zone of the country.
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This Time Tomorrow, the Eight-Year Nightmare That is the Obasanjo Presidency Would Have Come to an End after an elaborate ceremony at the Eagle Square, Abuja to swear in a successor. But will the nightmare end, or will it persist for years into the new president's tenure? Before his unwilling departure from the scene, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has planted at least 12 booby traps in recent months and weeks alone that are pre-programmed to explode, Iraqi insurgent-style, in the course of Alhaji Umaru Yar'adua's tenure.
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Lagos - THERE is no doubt that the Igbo are today faced, with a most challenging time in their modern history. There has never been a time when the survival of the Igbo - its people, its material culture, its coherence as an organic nation and its political and economic capacity - has come under such intense threat and pressure as now, especially with the pursuit of the policy of attrition, the final solution, embarked upon by the outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo and his collaborators.
Lagos - The spate of abduction of expatriate workers in the Niger Delta region has escalated as six oil workers; three American nationals, two Britons and a South African were yesterday kidnapped from a vessel off the coast of Bayelsa, near the Brass crude oil export terminal. This brings to about 22, the number of foreign workers currently held by the dreaded militants.
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Lagos - THE commander of the Niger-Delta Freedom Fighters (NDFF), aka Egbema One, which kidnapped the four American oil workers of Global Industries, an oil servicing company to the Chevron Nigeria Limited on May 8 in Delta state spoke to Saturday Vanguard in the encampment, where the workers are being held hostage in the creek.
Abakaliki - Ebonyi state government says the abductors of the two Chinese Nationals, suspected to be members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign state of Biafra (MASSOB) are currently demanding a ransom of twenty million naira before their hostages could be released. The two Chinese nationals reportedly abducted from a factory in Nnewi, Anambra state by suspected members of MASSOB were traced to mountainous boundary towns of Okagbue and Ekoli-Edda in Ohafia and Afikpo South local government areas of Abia and Ebonyi States .
Lagos - The Peoples National Conference (PNC) yesterday formally presented a draft constitution to the public.
Making the presentation in Lagos, chairman of the body, Chief Anthony Enahoro said the provisions of the document are the expression of Nigerians who believe that multi-ethnic nation can only be stable and peaceful when the federating units have the right to self governance and determination.
Abakaliki - Following reported cases of rape and sporadic shootings arising from the invasion of the boarder towns of Okagbue in Abia State and Ekoli community in Ebonyi State by people suspected to be members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, (MASSOB) and combined team of security personnel currently flexing muscles over the two Chinese nationals that were abducted from Anambra State last week, the people of the area have fled enmasse.
Osogbo - National Coordinator of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) Otunba Gani Adams has charged the Federal Government to facilitate the release of the leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra {MASSOB}, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike without further delay.
Owerri - Govement for the Actualization of sovereign state of Biafra MASSOB has cancelled its planned celebration for the 7th anniversary of Biafra struggle as a result of the death of Ezinne Monica Uwazuruike, mother of its detained leader, Chief Raph Uwazuruike.
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