On Saturday, voters across Nigeria will go to the poll to elect the president, 109 senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives. The 2019 general elections are the fifth since that of 1999 gave birth to the Fourth Republic. This is the longest series of regular elections since…

A review of old U.S. diplomatic cables by PREMIUM TIMES has shed fresh light on the circumstances under which Justice Taslim Elias was controversially sacked as Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) in August 1975 and how the military government made amends by promoting his election to the International Court of…

A former Chief of Army Staff, Theophilus Danjuma, said former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, manipulated former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his vice, Atiku Abubakar, “to drive a wedge” between the two in the first term of their administration between 1999 and 2003. Mr Danjuma said this at a meeting on…

Sadiq Umar is the Kwara North senatorial candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) for the 2019 general elections. A pharmacist, he has worked for many years in the health development sector under DFID and USAID. In this interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Umar explains why he is leaving his…

Kola Shittu did not match the picture the reporter expected to see. It was the second day of the new year and the Kwara State chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was calm and all smiles as he ushered party officials into and out of his office in his…

A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) state governor has warned that his party might lose the 2019 presidential election if it fails to address the concerns of party leaders over a plethora of issues he said were drawing back its campaign for the election. According to the governor, who asked not…

With Nigeria still struggling to address its dependence on food imports, a declassified American diplomatic file has revealed how former President Shehu Shagari 39 years ago deftly fended off pressure by his United States’ counterpart, Jimmy Carter, to open up the Nigerian market to American rice. Acceding to the pressure…

About six weeks to the 2019 presidential election, most Nigerians are probably unaware of the circumstances under which one of the frontrunners, Atiku Abubakar, left his first public service career 30 years ago. Mr Abubakar is the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on which platform he served as…

The governorship candidate of YES Party in Ogun State, Sina Kawonise, has picked Ganiyat Agboola as his running mate in the 2019 election. A press statement by Acting Director, SK Media Office, Doyin Owobamirin, said Mr Kawonise came to the choice after wide consultations with party leaders and key stakeholders…

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has appointed Lanre Issa-Onilu as its new national spokesperson. The appointment was made Friday evening by the National Working Committee of the APC in Abuja. Although a formal announcement is yet to be made, Mr Issa-Onilu confirmed his appointment to PREMIUM TIMES. An aide to…

Ogori community in Kogi State will on Saturday hold a special memorial service in honour of Emmanuel Abisoye, a former Nigerian Army general and civil war hero, who died March 17 last year. Mr Abisoye, who was the Federal Commissioner for Health under the military government of Olusegun Obasanjo, between…

A new book has given an insight into how money was raised for the spirited campaign to keep former President Olusegun Obasanjo in office beyond his second term in 2007. It also reveals how the campaign began and the individuals who conducted it. The so-called Third Term Agenda collapsed May…

Anxiety is growing at the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) following the rejection of the 2018 budget of the agency by its Governing Council over alleged improprieties. The scheme’s Governing Council is empowered by law to review and approve the budget of the NHIS. The budget was delayed by the…

The storm at the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is showing no sign of abating as the reinstated Executive Secretary, Usman Yusuf, and other top officials have accused each other of fraud. Mr Yusuf returned from a seven-month suspension in February after President Muhammadu Buhari turned aside the recommendations of…

An acting Director-General has been inaugurated for Nigeria's secret police, the State Security Service (SSS) in Abuja. He is Matthew Benabafa Seiyefa, who until his appointment was the director in charge of the Institute of Security Studies (ISS), an institution established in 2005 as the cardinal training institution for the…

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has warned the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that it is only by enthroning justice and equity that it will be able to silence voices of dissent and opposition within the party. According to a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES by…

Less than four months after his controversial reinstatement, the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Usman Yusuf, is again in trouble over a N25 billion investment scam. The newly inaugurated Governing Council of the agency has accused Mr Yusuf of misleading it to act against the policy directive…

Nancy Lindborg, president of the United States Institute of Peace visited the corporate headquarters of PREMIUM TIMES in Abuja while on a working tour of Nigeria. During the visit, Ms. Lindborg and members of her entourage – Chris Kwaja and Oge Onubogu - fielded questions from Bisi Abidoye, Festus Owete and Lois…

Paulin Basinga is the Country Director of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Nigeria, a major international donor supporting development in several sectors in the country. As the head of the operations of the Foundation in Nigeria, Mr. Basinga works in close collaboration with government at the federal and state…

Faisal Shuaib was appointed Director-General of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, in January. In this interview with Bisi Abidoye, Ayodamola Awoseye and Nike Adebowale of PREMIUM IMES, he speaks on the strategic ways the agency is trying to address the fundamental issues in primary healthcare in Nigeria.…

The office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, has begun processing lists of all high-profile corruption cases in Nigeria following the submission of the lists by the heads of federal courts and state chief judges. A source at the office of the CJN told PREMIUM TIMES on Friday that all…

Fugitive former chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, projected himself as very powerful and untouchable under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan that the Senate had to issue a threat before the president consented to his dismissal from the federal civil service. A former…

The bedlam on Tuesday in Rivers State, in which parents in Port Harcourt and other towns in the state rushed to withdraw their children and wards from schools, was incited by the state government, a review of the development by Premium Times has revealed. The parents were reacting to a…

A man has been arrested in Abuja for setting a nine-room apartment on fire after his brother committed suicide. The brother committed suicide after allegedly losing N7,000 he staked on sport betting.  Babatunde Bello, a 31-year old generator repairer, committed the arson at about 8.40 a.m on Saturday at the…

Neymar's move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain has entered legal limbo as La Liga has rejected the €222 million payment deposited by his lawyer. The 25-year-old was expected to complete the move on Friday so as to play a part in PSG's Ligue 1 opener on Saturday against Amiens. However,…