Nigerian Times

Chevron is trying to wriggle out of paying for damages for decades of oil pollution in Ecuador. Photo Credit: The Minority Report Statement on Chevron's appeal today of the $18 billion judgment in Ecuador: Karen Hinton, U.S. spokesperson for the Ecuadorians, said: "For almost two decades, Chevron has stood in the way of a comprehensive cleanup of billions of gallons of crude oil and toxic waste water it deliberately dumped into the pristine rainforest. Thousands of people have died or have suffered from illnesses as the oil giant and its legions of lawyers fought to distract attention from the overwhelming evidence against the company. Chevron has always believed that Ecuador's many laws prohibiting environmental contamination should not apply to the company's misconduct. "In its latest notice of appeal, Chevron again seeks special treatment not afforded any other litigant under Ecuadorian law. Chevron's request that a bond requirement be waived would force ...

The causes and consequences of the recent post election violence in Nigeria The incessant ethnic, religious and political attacks on lives and properties in many states in Nigeria are caused by the appalling intellectual and political ignorance among majority of Nigerians. If the terrorists unleashing their grievances on both their perceived enemies and innocent people have been educated and informed on the sanctity of human life, the values and virtues of peace and stability for mutual benefit of all the citizens, they would not have committed the terrifying and horrifying atrocities in their own regions and other places they have attacked. The ruling political class is guilty of exploiting the ignorance of the poor majority in their power struggle and once they have secured their own families and properties, they no longer care about the fate of the victims of their political battles. • They have misappropriated the public funds for health care and abandoned the broken down public he...

In all contests, there will be winners and losers, no matter whose ox is gored. What makes any leader great is not only the feat of a victory, but the courage to overcome the agony of defeat. Those who ignore an ill wind should be ready for the whirlwind. I said the issues of these elections are corruption, security and energy, but the political aspirants thought their ego was all that matters. Where is the joy of victory in the house of anarchy? I said these primitive natives are not ready for democracy. How can you practice Democracy, when you violate her virtues? Goodbye to all that, but I know that without President Goodluck Jonathan and his kith and kin across the Niger, the People's Democratic Party(PDP) would have lost woefully. And after him, who is next? There cannot be trust where there is no truth and there cannot be peace where there is no justice. Those who do not want peace will end up in pieces. When all have been said and done, we would be gone, but the echoes of...

Amnesty or Travesty? I have decided not to approve the so called Amnesty the Federal Government has given to the so called militants in the Niger Delta region, because the celebrated Nigerian Nobel Laureate in Literature, Prof. Wole Soyinka already spoken my mind in his critical analysis of the anomie in Between Amnesty and Amnesia . The recourse to Amnesty after the punitive campaign of the Joint Task Force (JTF) failed woefully is begging the question of the Niger Delta crisis and not a solution. The solution to the Niger Delta crisis is not a Herculean task if the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) wants to be truly honest and transparent. The bloody battle in the Niger Delta over resource control is actually a power struggle between mercenaries of the oligarchy in Nigeria fighting over illegal oil bunkering in the oil rich states of the Niger Delta. Both the serving and retired top military officers are actively engaged in the criminal operation of illegal oil bunkering and th...