It has been a rewarding 29-day spiritual activity: a period of recompense, a period of closeness to Allah, a period of illumination by the Glorious Qur’an, a period of re-direction of destinies and possibilities, of charity, of divine blessings. It is indeed a memorable period.

When I wrote on the high expectations over 2017 Hajj, I was just trying to prophesy from experience the nitty-gritty that has over the years controlled the fares paid by Nigerian pilgrims for their holy journeys to Makkah. May be it did not attract the attention of the authorities or the public because that was before the announcement of the 2017 Hajj fare by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) early June this year. It is interesting to note that Hajj management in Nigeria has been turned around and that going to Hajj has become as easy as any other international journeys, except for the stresses from the tedious movements to attain the spiritual upliftment while in the holy sites.

NO fewer than eight buildings, vehicles, motorcycles and household items were among properties swept away on Tuesday, June 20, during a six-hour downpour in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. Several parts of the city were also submerged.Though no lives were reported lost, the flood destroyed valuables worth millions of Naira as the torrential rain which lasted between the hours of 3:00 and 9:00am will go down as one of the worst in recent times.

A CLERIC and Chief Imam of Coker Central mosque, Mushin, Lagos State, Sheikh Shakuru Lawal Olawale (Asbukallahu), has tasked Islamic scholars across the country to always harp on developmental Khutbah (Sermons) that will bail out the Muslim Ummah from poverty.

An Ogba magistrate’s court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, has sentenced two men, John Bitto and Chibuzor Obilo, to one year imprisonment without option of fine.