THE respect and popularity which the first elected Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande (fondly called LKJ) still enjoys in the state and beyond was evident on Tuesday, July 23, 2019, when eminent Nigerians gathered to honour him during his 90th birthday celebration.

NIGERIANS sighed with relief when the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, debunked an alleged plan to increase the N145 per litre pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS or petrol.

WE are at a very decisive cross-road with regard to the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN, or the Shi’ites’ strident demands for the release of their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.

The USA and the United Kingdom had, on the eve of the general elections, January 25, 2019, warned that they would impose visa restrictions and other serious sanctions on election riggers and those promoting violence and impunity.

AS the frenzy over the delay, the rigmarole and the eventual assent to the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, AfCTA, dies down, we draw attention to the task ahead given its implications to Nigeria’s economy.

ON Wednesday, July 17, 2019, a humble Nigerian Muslim cleric, Imam Abubakar Abdullahi, stood tall and flew Nigeria’s flag high in America as he was among those the State Department conferred with the 2019 US International Religious Freedom Award.

ANOTHER major disaster in the Nigerian aviation industry seemed imminent as a strange man climbed onto an Azman Airwing at the Ikeja Airport, Lagos on Friday, July 19, 2019.

IN the past three years, 127 Nigerians have been murdered in South Africa. Mrs. Elizabeth Ndubisi-Chukwu, Deputy Director-General of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, CIIN, who was strangled in her hotel room on June 13, 2019 at Kempton Park while attending a conference, is the latest and the most prominent victim thus far.

Expectedly, a grieving Pa Fasoranti has been host to condolence visitors, including former President Goodluck Jonathan and an All Progressives Congress, APC, chieftain, Chief Bola Tinubu, among a host of others. Afenifere and Oódua People’s Congress, OPC, leader, Aare Gani Adams, strongly accused “Fulani herdsmen” of culpability in the crime and threatened dire consequences.

“THE labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain”. How much importance do we, the government and people of Nigeria, really attach to this line in our national anthem? Shouldn’t the inspiring words of our national anthem which we recite at the beginning of formal and public events be so deeply etched in our hearts and consciousness as to reflect in our routine behaviours and attitudes, especially towards one another?

ON Tuesday, July 9, 2019, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN (the Shi’ites), reportedly crossed the “red line” even by their own usually peaceful and orderly manner of protesting when they invaded the National Assembly Complex in Abuja and attacked security men on duty.

WHILE the Federal Government had adopted the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo-led National Livestock Transformation Plan, NLTP, in order to solve the insecurity problems posed by marauding armed nomadic herders, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, FMARD, suddenly issued a memo for the establishment of what it termed “RUGA Settlements” in the 36 states of the Federation a few weeks ago.

According to Musa, his home with members of his family present, was invaded by a team of officers led by a Deputy Commissioner of Police with the Kogi State Police Command, DCP, Polycarp Dibia, without a search warrant or indication of any offence he or any member of his family might have committed.

IT must have come as a shock to many Nigerians when the Kano State Command of the Nigeria Police revealed, weekend, that it combed the city and arrested no less than 87 suspects, including three Boko Haram commanders and others paraded for armed robbery, kidnapping, theft and banditry.

A LITTLE over a fortnight ago, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom High Commission in Nigeria issued a travel advisory to its nationals to desist from visiting 21 states of the Federation over security threats.