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By HENRY UMORU, DEMOLA AKINYEMI & JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU ABUJA — The crisis rocking the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, took another turn yesterday as the party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur vowed to declare vacant the seats of senators, House of Representatives members and other elected officers who identified with the seven governors that formed a parallel executive of the party. Some of the affected lawmakers and other stakeholders of the party have, however, dismissed Tukur’s threat as an empty boast that has no legal basis and advised him to go and read the Electoral Act on the issue and be properly guided. This came as the Kwara State chapter of the party aligned itself with the Baraje-led faction, saying the Tukur-led executive no longer exists. Also yesterday, the Tukur-led PDP approached an Abuja High Court, asking it to commit new PDP Chairman, Baraje and other officilas of the nPDP to one year in prison, even as it emerged yesterday that Tukur's confid...

By Godfrey Bivbere Apapa Area1 Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, and the Management of the APM Terminals Apapa Limited are presently engaged in war of words over the health condition of the physical examination bay at Apapa port. The Command’s Customs Area Controller, CAC, Charles Edike, had taken some journalists to port to inspect the facility following claims by APM Terminal that they have provided the Service with new examination bay. Edike showed the journalists the current site being used by the Customs which is said to be a temporary site. He said that despite the visit of the Minister of National Planning, Shamsuddeen  Usman, and directive that a stop gap measure be put in place, the site is still as it was when the minister visited weeks back. The Customs boss reaction followed a claim by APM Terminals that it has handed over a multi-million naira facility to Customs for physical examination. However, Managing Director of APM Terminals Apapa Limited, Mr. Andrew Dawe...

Strong passwords help protect your accounts and information on the web. But forgetting your password is like losing your keys—you can end up locked out of your own home.  It gets worse if your password gets compromised or stolen. Sometimes the thief will change your password so you can't get back into your own account—kind of like someone stealing your keys and then changing the lock. If you've lost your Google password, you need a way to get back into your Google Account -- and back to all of your stuff in Gmail, Maps, Google+ and YouTube. To help you, Google needs to be able to tell that you’re the rightful account owner even if you don't have the right password.  There are a few easy steps you can take right now to make it easy for you—and no one else—to get into your Google Account if you forget or don’t know the password. 1. Add a recovery email address. By registering an alternate email address with your Google Account settings, you’re giving Google another way to rea...

By JIMOH BABATUNDE & FRANKLIN ALLI As a way of checking incessant building collapses in the country, the Federal Government has ordered certification of blocks and concrete sector of the economy by Standards Organisation of Nigeria under its Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme, MANCAP, for local manufacturers. Government gave the order through the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment during a sensitisation workshop organised by SON, for manufacturers of sandcrete and allied products. Dr. Samuel Ortom, Minister of State in the ministry said the Federal Government was worried over the high incidence of building collapse despite technological development, especially in a situation where most collapsed buildings were recently built or under construction. He said it is for the same reasons that the SON launched its campaign of Zero Tolerance to Substandard Products, and also put in place its Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP), saying all sandcrete blo...

By JONAH NWOKPOKU with agency report The naira has weakened further on Wednesday on the back of strong demand for the dollar even as the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN pledged that it had no plans to devalue the local currency. The naira fell to N163.6 to the dollar on the interbank compared with N162.95 a dollar on Tuesday. The Reuters news agency reported some dealers saying that limited dollar supply from oil companies had weakened the naira along with the central bank’s decision, so far, not to sell dollars directly to lenders. “Many customers who could not win their bids at the official forex auction resorted to the interbank market to cover their positions, putting the naira under pressure,” one dealer said. “We expect that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC will sell dollars before Friday or at latest next week, while possible direct dollar sales by the central bank could help support the naira in the near term,” another dealer said. The central bank said on Tuesday ...

A   Calabar - bound aircraft  yesterday avoided disaster when it diverted to Port Harcourt after it failed to land in Calabar after two attempts. [caption id="attachment_357982" align="alignright" width="150"] Echiejile[/caption] Among the passengers were Super Eagles duo of Elderson Echiejile who plays in Portugal and Newcaslte’s Shola Ameobi who will be playing his second match for the Eagles when Nigeria play Malawi in a World Cup qualifier on Saturday. Ameobi’s first cap for Nigeria was in a friendly match agasinst Venezuela in Florida. He impressed the coaches in that outing. Both stars had to embark on a four hour journey to Calabar by  road. .  

By Ebele Orakpo ‘There is a saying in Igbo that a well-travelled man is wiser than a grey-haired man. You don’t just sit in the comfort of your zone or state and believe all the trash about others. These guys are just playing politics, using us to make themselves relevant. Nigerians should be wise. The ordinary Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Efik or Ijaw man on the street does not give a hoot where his neighbor comes from because the two are going through the same deprivations,” said Ada. Narrated James: “An Igbo guy who lives in Kaduna told me that all the talk about religion and ethnicity is just politics. He said the traders in their market are so close that most times, they forget they are of different religions and tribes. He said if his Hausa neighbour wants to go to the mosque, he leaves his keys with him and whatever he sells, when he returns, he hands over the money and the keys and that is what happens when he goes to church or travels.” Living in hometown Said Ada: “There is this Haus...