Femi Fani-Kayode was drafted from the Ministry of Culture to the Ministry of Aviation in late 2006. As expected, he got there and stormed. Usefully, Fani-Kayode’s tenure experienced what has been described as a turn around because just within a year preceding his posting, five air disasters had occurred. And once he left the ministry, either by a mix of ill-fate or coincidence or negligence, things began another turn around for the worse. Last Sunday’s Dana Air crash in Lagos forced Sunday Vanguard to seek Fani-Kayode out.
In this revealing session, he insists that government should demonstrate more willingness to safe-guard the skies. And whereas he says the current aviation minister is trying her best, things could still be better.

… Avoid 2015 debate now, he says
JIGAWA State Governor, Sule Lamido, in this interview, argues that the current debate over who becomes Nigeria’s president in 2015 is a misplaced priority. He adds that no part of Nigeria can singularly lay claim to the 2015 presidency. Lamido also defends his anger over the comments made by the National Security Adviser on the alleged role of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the current insecurity plaguing Nigeria, among other issues of national significance.

Dr Olu Agunloye has intimidating credentials. He was a lecturer at the Department of Physics, University of Ibadan, the chief executive of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), member of the Constitution Review Committee, chairman of the ICT Thematic Area of the National Technical Committee for the Vision 20:2020, Minister of Power and Steel as well as Minister of State for Defence (Navy). Beyond these, he was a close associate of the late Chief Bola Ige, the Minister of Justice who was assassinated in 2001. Now, Agunloye is aspiring to be governor of Ondo State via the October 20 poll. In this interview, he speaks on Bola Ige’s murder and issues surrounding his gubernatorial aspiration.

Brig-Gen. Nnamdi Okore-Affia is indeed an army officer who says it the way he sees it. When he spoke with journalists in Abuja on Thursday, he was blunt on the contentious issue of posting corps members to volatile areas where several of them were killed by insurgents last year. According to him, female corps members now receive marshal arts training and members will no longer be posted to areas where their lives could be threatened. Excerpts:

Councillor Adedamola Aminu, a Labour Party member in the UK, is the Deputy Cabinet Member for Children and Young People for London Borough of Lambeth. He is also the chairman of British-Nigerian Councillors in the UK and President of Association of Nigerian Academics.