stardust

Bernadette Idalu receiving the Media Apostle Award from Archbishop Augustine Obiora Akubeze during the 60th World Day of Social Communications which held at St. Anthony Catholic Church, Evbuotubu. With them is the Chairman, CAMPAN, Mr. Ruben-Mario Brodrick  By Bernadette Idalu  As the universal Catholic Church marked the 60th World Day of Social Communications and end of COMWEEK , 2026, His Grace, Most Rev. Augustine Obiora Akubeze, Catholic Archbishop of Benin City, on Sunday, May 17, presented " Media Apostle Awards " to three members of the Catholic Media Practitioners Association of Nigeria (CAMPAN), Benin Chapter, based on their ability to proclaim Jesus Christ through the media space. The Archbishop was the Chief celebrant at Mass during this event which held at St. Anthony Catholic Church, Evbuotubu, Benin City. It was also a platform for special recognition and bestowing of awards on a couple whom the media association opined had distinguished themselves ...

Television viewers across the globe, mainly Nigerians, must have been jolted that what promised to be an exciting and ‘no-holds-barred’ interview between the Nigerian Arise TV News, and Mr. Michael Freeman, Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, was ruined and escalated. Nigerian viewers had anticipated adequate exposure from the Israeli envoy, on the ranging war between Israel (backed by the United States) and Iran, and its spillover in Nigeria. The high-profile interface was also expected to expose fresh vistas on the internecine insurgency, allegedly by Muslim extremism, against the Nigerian state, culminating in killings, maiming, arson and sacking of local communities. Alas, the interview exercise was burgled and inclined to ‘false bravado’, a guise where individuals hide their true feelings and emotions behind premeditated cover-up actions.    The traditional media - television, radio and the tabloid had been very noisy, particularly the ‘Vuvuzela’ Social Media genre...

    Deputy Governor, Hon. Dennis Idahosa  By Bernadette Idalu  2026 promises to be a fast paced year going by the strength of public declarations by the Edo State Deputy Governor, (DG), Hon. Dennis Idahosa. Buoyed by the need to monitor public accountability and social responsibility of public servants, based on their public declarations, this write-up is a modest attempt to match words with action in the mind's eye of people in the new year, 2026. It aims to enlighten the masses by making them visualize and evaluate campaign and other promises to the people. Being informed about projects, for instance, hones their monitoring roles, thus, empowering them, to make informed analysis at the "People's court/parliament" or "Townhall meetings" where open commentaries and debates are held in order to garland the Governor Monday Okpebholo led administration with due praise based on achieved milestones from the SHINE Agenda or pinpoint yet to be fulfilled...

EIRS Chairman, Hon. Oladele Bankole-Balogun (Middle), Chairman, Edo State Lottery Regulatory Commission, Rt. Hon. Frank Okiye (5th Right) flanked by management staff of both establishments. By Bernadette Idalu Executive Chairman, Edo State Internal Revenue Service, (EIRS), Otunba (Hon.) Oladele Bankole-Balogun on Monday, December 8, 2025, promised an administrative and knowledge based transfer of expertise to the Edo State Lottery Regulatory Commission, during the latter's courtesy visit to his office. The EIRS Chairman who played host to the Edo State Lottery Regulatory Commission Chairman, Rt. Hon. Frank Abumere Okiye and his team, said the courtesy visit was an opportunity to cement relationship between  both establishments such that "The lottery commission should  be able to meet its mandate." Harping  on the need to work with caution against the backdrop of happenstances in the gaming sector, he harped on natural bills being passed which are at variance ...

 BY TONY ERHA  'Okuo imose", "no fight is attractive" - all fight is ugly, according to the Edo people. If a fight doesn’t pluck the teeth it would drip the noise of red blood. That is why pundits were apprehensive and had to caution Dangote Refinery and the Petrol and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) to a sound reasoning, over the sack of 800 of its workers by Dangote, which was followed by a strike action that was later called-off. The fisticuff was intensified as the National Union of Petroleum and Gas Workers of Nigeria (NUPENG), joined the spat by supporting PENGASSAN. Like the American freestyle wrestling, where partakers fight with anything they lay their hands upon, a melee, a-free-for-all in which no one seems to know the real opponents. The fallout of the Dangote and PENGASSAN fight has unsettled Nigerians. The Benins would say "ama re fi ekpa arie gb' ihue"; "the fisticuffs hadn't started when t...

BY TONY ERHA  Everywhere in the world, guns and guns run and ruin the affairs of men. It’s such unenviable era, where sacred human lives have become worthless. An anomie void of human feelings. Man's inhumanity to man is an escalating order, where warfare, dangerous partisan politics, religious crises, militancy, robbery, kidnapping, economic sabotage and other criminality breed excessive human killings, maiming, arson etc. Nigeria, African’s thrust, is so ‘lucky’ to have more than a fair share of the attendant insecurity, as she 'competes’ for the gold-medal spoil in Africa. Suffice that the most populous black African nation, is a runner-up to the Democratic Republic Congo (DRC), in the insecurity rating, according to the Africa Organised Crime Index of 2023. In Nigeria, prided African giant and engine-room of the continent, gun and its debilitating components are a blight which puts the country and her people on the heat. Although 'light arms' are officia...