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The names of those being mentioned in the Halliburton Scandal, the greatest one since Nigeria’s Independence IN 1960 involves the “who is who” of the Nigerian political powerhouse. Presiendent Buhari has chosen to look into this scandal and hopefully he would do something about it. Though, I am very skeptical that he would be able to follow through with prosecution, jailing of the guilty and recouping of all the money involved, because a lot of his friends are roped in, I am willing to give him a benefit of the doubt. I am willing to wait and see. With the pressure from the Western powers, especially the United States of America, it is one’s hope that President Buhari would be able to develop the necessary backbone to go through with this. This is a task that calls for courage and fearlessness on his part. This is a case that would make and confirm his reputation as a genuine anti-corruption crusader, who truly wants to save Nigeria from the fangs of corruption. Or it may turn ou...

  The Peoples Democratic Party has debunked claims that the ruling All Progressives Congress and one of its national leaders, Bola Tinubu, were behind the ongoing investigation of the wife of the President of the Senate, Toyin Saraki, for corruption. PREMIUM TIMES had on Wednesday exclusively reported the invitation, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, of Mrs. Saraki, who was the first lady of Kwara between 2003 and 2011, in relation to alleged questionable inflow of funds into companies in which she has interest. But shortly after that news broke, a group of senators loyal to Senate President Bukola Saraki, under the aegis of ‘Like Minds,’ questioned the investigation, expressing concerns that the probe might be politically-motivated and suggesting that the leadership of the APC might be hounding Mrs. Saraki as a way of getting at her husband. Mr. Saraki has been locked in battle with the leadership of the ruling party over his emergence as senate president on J...

When Tambuwal emerged as speaker then ACN, now APC said it was democracy. It is still democracy now. They should swallow their pride and move on. A  leader of the Yoruba group, Afenifere and a top member of the defunct Action Group, led by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in the first republic, Chief Ayo Adebanjo in this encounter takes on the APC government, where they got it wrong and the mistake Tinubu made. He also talks about why Buhari is not the right person to amend the constitution and the need to implement the recommendations of the constitutional conference of the Jonathan administration. Excerpts: What’s your take on the way things are going in this new government? I have been very careful about commenting because it’s just about less than two months since they took over and it’s too early to judge them. If they were like 100 days in office or even one year, you can now begin to take stock but just over 30 days is not enough. Some people are late starters who...

US President Barack Obama is a man of many musical talents –- proven with previous public performances –- but rapping, he admits, just isn’t one of them. Speaking at the Beating the Odds youth summit in Washington Thursday, Obama said his hip-hop rhyming skills are not among his greatest musical assets. “My rapping skills are terrible. That’s one thing I can’t do is rap. I like rap, but I cannot rap,” he said to a laughing crowd of high school graduates. Meal out: Obama said his plastic problems occurred at a restaurant during the U.N. General Assembly last month, which is the same time he visited Estela. But despite the shortcoming, he still managed to snag his wife Michelle, he said, calling her the “true star of the Obama household.” “I have enough of a rap that I got Michelle to marry me, though,” the president quipped. Obama has proven his melodious chops more than once during his time in office, with an apparent preference for soulful tunes. At a fundraising e...

 remember sleeping on the mat and waking up to find larva and ants on your body and you battled to pick them out. I remember going to pick bones from the slaughter slab with which we made soup to eat. I remember the difficulties of going to the farm to make heaps for people in order to make money, carry heavy load on the head to make money in order to live. I remember when school uniforms were our Christmas wears Guided by biblical principles and injunctions  I was very faithful as a motor park tout in Gboko D r. Samuel Ioraer Ortom is the Governor of Benue state. On Wednesday, 6th July, 2011, during his screening on the floor of the Senate as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he told Senators a moving story of his life which compelled them to ask him to take a bow and go. Senators were stirred by an account of his background as a school dropout, a motor park tout and one who struggled to attain education through very difficult means. After running thr...