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Contrary to speculations in the media that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was set to prosecute former Vice-President of United States, Dick Cheney, over the multi-million dollar Halliburton bribe scandal, the Commission has said that it is unlikely that Cheney will be charged.

The Commission’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, on Monday told THE PUNCH that though the Commission was investigating the Halliburton scandal, it had not found any evidence that might warrant charging Cheney for any corruption offence.

“Yes, we are investigating the Halliburton bribery scandal and I told some foreign media so. But so far we have not uncovered any evidence of Dick Cheney’s complicity to warrant bringing charges. In fact, there is a remote chance that we will charge him,” Babafemi said...

He said whatever the Commission uncovered in its investigations would be made public.

Local and international media had been awashed with reports that the EFCC was planning to charge Cheney for alleged involvement in the $180m scandal.

The EFCC last week raided Halliburton’s office in Nigeria and invited several of its senior employees for questioning. One senior employee each from Saipem Contracting Nigeria Ltd and Technip Offshore Nigeria Ltd were also questioned by the EFCC along with the 10 Halliburton staff arrested during the last week’s raid...

Halliburton is being investigated for allegedly bribing prominent Nigerian officials with over N27b to facilitate winning of the contract to build the Nigerian Liquefied Gas plant in Bonny Island, Rivers State by its consortium, TSKJ. The bribery saga was said to have spanned over 20 years and allegedly involved even some heads of states and their cronies.

But Halliburton said last year that it had “reason to believe” payments may have been made to Nigerian officials by agents of its TSKJ consortium, which built the Bonny Island facility.

Albert “Jack” Stanley, a former KBR [Kellog, Brown and Roots] chief executive officer who had worked under Cheney when he headed Halliburton, pleaded guilty in 2008 to charges stemming from a scheme to bribe Nigerian officials for work on the Bonny Island plant.

Barely 24 hours after his public brawl with a trenchant opponent, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, yesterday sacked the chairmen and deputy chairmen of some standing committees in the House and reassigned others.

Mr Bankole had on Wednesday been involved in a scuffle with his colleague, Independence Ogunewe, and it took the intervention of other members to stop the duo from coming to blows. Mr Ogunewe is said to have consistently opposed the Speaker since 2009 when Mr Bankole removed him from the chairmanship of the Aviation committee.

Those sacked include Gbenga Oduwaiye (chairman, Inter/Intra Party Affairs); Kayode Amusan (deputy chairman, Housing and Habitat); Gbenga Onigbogi (deputy chairman, Ministry of Niger Delta) and Asita Honourable (deputy chairman, Poverty Alleviation).

Both Messrs Oduwaiye and Amusan, like the Speaker, come from Ogun State but they are said to be strong supporters of the state governor,

Gbenga Daniel with whom the Speaker has had a running political battle. Mr Oduwaiye was removed as chairman of Committee on Foreign Affairs in 2008.

The new chairmen include Khadijat Bukar Abba Ibrahim (Privatisation and Commercialization); Chinedu Eluemonor (Cooperation and Integration); Patrick Ikhariale (Power); Umar Jubrin (Capital Market) and Onyema Chukwuka (Works). Others are Rufus Omeire (Inter/Intra Party Affairs) and Mohammed Tahir (Army).

Those redeployed are Mohammed Al'Makura, who moved from House Services to Urban Development; Abdullahi Umar Farouk from Urban Development to Customs and Excise; Aliyu Wadada from Capital Market to Information and National Orientation; and Yakubu Dogara from Customs and Excise to House Services.

Mr Bankole said the reconstitution of the committees will continue at a later date.

A surprise move

The exercise came only a day after Mr Bankole held a two hour closed-door meeting with the chairmen and deputy chairmen of the 84 standing committees. He reportedly assured them that although the leadership of some committees deserved to be overhauled for efficiency, he was not committed to carrying out the exercise.

Members were therefore shocked when he announced the new changes at the end of the plenary yesterday.

However, on March 31 this year, the leadership of the House had announced that it will appoint new heads for some committees.

The deputy speaker, Usman Nafada said at the end of that day's plenary that the Selection Committee, which includes all principal officers, would be called back during the recess to consider those to be appointed chairmen and deputy chairmen of the vacant committees.

"Let me inform members of the Selection Committee that their attention may be needed during the break for the reconstitution of the committees lying vacant. The leadership and membership of the committees may be reconstituted during the break. So, they (members of the Selection Committee) may be asked to come back for this purpose," the deputy speaker had said.

Although he did not name the committees, those without chairmen then were Information and National Orientation, Power, Privatisation and Commercialization, Lake Chad, Women in Parliament, Cooperation and Integration in Africa and Works. Their chairmen had either resigned, died or were removed.

Yesterday's exercise was the second time Mr Bankole would reconstitute standing committees since he assumed office in November 2007. He had, on October 9, 2008, reconstituted the 72 committees he inherited from his predecessor, Patricia Etteh. He had dissolved them on July 31, 2008.

During the 2008 exercise, he raised the number of the committees to 84 - apparently to compensate members of the Integrity Group who played a major role in his emergence as Speaker.

The composition, among the parties, showed that out of the 84 committees, PDP got 74 chairmanship slots; ANPP 7 and PPA 1. The Labour Party (LP) is the only party that did not secure any committee chair. Nine percent of the former chairmen and deputy chairmen were dropped, while 27 per cent were new chairmen and deputies and 60 percent were redeployed from the different committees to others. Six percent of them retained their seats as chairmen but not necessarily of the committees they headed before.

The Super Eagles team that would come face to face against the Argentinian side this afternoon includes Enyeama, Odiah, Taiwo, Shittu, Yobo, Kaita, Etuhu, Obasi, Lukman, Aiyegbeni and Nsofor.

The match which is scheduled for 3:00pm today (Nigerian time)would take place at the Ellis Park in Johannesburg.

Ooops! What an eye-catching scene over there in South Africa, venue of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off in less than 24 hours.
If you aren’t feeling the World Cup excitement yet, then the body language of thousands of South African ladies across the country readily puts you in great competition mood.
The babes are baring everything they have; their beauty, curves and poise all to make the visitors feel at home during the mundial.
While many say posing unclothed is a normal way of life amongst young South African ladies, some believe that the trend is restricted to the grossly under-developed areas of the former apartheid enclave. Whatever the insinuations, South Africans are already in a joyous celebration of their country’s readiness to host the world and they are not hiding it.



South African dancers cheer Chile's national football team before their friendly international against New Zealand at the Kanyamazane Stadium near Nelspruit yesterday, two days ahead of the start of the 2010 World Cup football tournament. AFP PHOTO



Only yesterday during the pre-World Cup friendly match between Chile and New Zealand, thousands of South Africans, including their ladies, stripped themselves unclothed and filed out to cheer the teams at the Kanyamazane Stadium, near Nelspruit.
The pretty damsels appeared happy to showoff their bodies as they danced around in Sandton, north of Johannesburg city centre, where a big party was held in anticipation of the beginning of the world showpiece.


Many of the ladies who spoke to international journalists say whatever they do is ‘for the good of the game’ and an honour for their nation. Reports say the presence of the ladies is not only felt on the streets of South Africa, some unsuspecting players are getting distracted, especially when the babes come around their training grounds and near their hotels. It was gathered that security personnel have been up and doing to ensure that the 32 teams, including the host, Bafana Bafana, are focused on the mundial, the first to be staged on Africa’s soil.