I’m cautiously optimistic about Buhari, says Soyinka

        Prof. Wole Soyinka

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, says he believes that the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, cannot be worse than past presidents because he will be guided by a sense of history.

He, however, said he “is cautiously optimistic” about Buhari’s performance.

Soyinka said this while delivering a lecture titled, ‘Predicting Nigeria, Electoral Ironies’ at the Harvard University Hutchins Centre for African and African American Research in the United States, according to a gazette by the institution.

A former US Ambassador to Nigeria, Walter Carrington, had asked Soyinka if Buhari could reform Nigeria like the late Singaporean leader, Lee Kuan Yew.

Dangote insists on buying Arsenal

                                                      President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has said he is still working towards buying Arsenal Football Club, despite the fact that his bid to acquire a stake in the club was rebuffed by the owners in 2010.

In an interview with Bloomberg, while on a journey from Addis Ababa to Lagos last Friday, Dangote expressed hope that his new strategy would enable him buy the north London club at a price the owners won’t want to resist.

He said, “I still hope, one day at the right price, that I’ll buy the team. I might buy it, not at a ridiculous price but a price that the owners won’t want to resist. I know my strategy,” Dangote, a known fan of the north London club, said.

‘Missing’ $20bn: Reps panel wants PwC probed

                                                                            Hon. Solomon Olamilekan

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts on Sunday asked the Federal Government and its agencies to stop further dealings with Pricewater House Cooper,   the firm that investigated the alleged $20bn missing oil money.

The committee said considering the controversy generated by the firm’s report on the missing money,   the International Federation of Accounting and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria should   probe   past audits carried out on behalf of the Federal Government the PwC.

A former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor and now the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi had last year   raised the alarm that   the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation did not remit the said sum to the federation account.

If winning is a crime, Chelsea and Floyd Mayweather are both guilty as sin

Within hours of Floyd Mayweather reducing boxing’s most eagerly-anticipated showdown in ages to another one-man supershow of tireless dedication and meticulous accuracy, Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea did the exact same thing on the football pitch to the most-watched league in the world.

It matters not at all to everyone but the most ardent supporters of the Blues or of ‘The Money Team’ just how good you have to be to make it look so simple against the money of a Manchester United or City, or against the legendary skills of a certain Hall-of-Famer like Manny Pacquiao.

Akume, Tinubu meet in Lagos over Senate presidency

                                                                   Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Senator George Akume

One of the top contenders for the Senate presidency, Senator George Akume, and the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday met at the Lagos home of Tinubu.

Our correspondent learnt that at the meeting which took place around 3pm, Tinubu told Akume to shelve his ambition and support Senator Ahmed Lawan, who represents Yobe-North senatorial district in the 8th Senate.

The battle for the Senate presidency was between the North-East and the North-Central. Akume, who is currently the Senate Minority Leader, represents Benue-North senatorial district in the Senate.