Their homes were raided by hundreds of fully armed DSS commandos between 1.00 and 2.00 a.m. this morning. Their streets were surrounded and sealed up. Their gates and front doors were smashed open and they were forcefully and violently arrested and detained. Their families and loved ones were traumatised and terrorised.

Professor John Paden, President Muhammadu Buhari's official biographer, is a man that is very comfortable with distorting the truth and telling lies. He is also a man that has been doing so for virtually all his adult life. Anyone that doubts that should read his biography on the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, which was written in 1986 and titled "Ahmadu Bello, Saurdana of Sokoto: Values and Leadership In Nigeria", and which is essentially a self-serving and comprehensive compilation of Bello's numerous virtues with little or no mention of his many vices.

There are two events that are of major significance this week. The first is the birthday of a man of immense integrity and a great son of the Yoruba by the name of Olusegun Rahman Mimiko who was 62 years old on October 3rd. Much has been said about him over the last few years and encomiums have been deservedly showered on him from all quarters for his birthday. I will only add this: ever since I have known Mimiko when he was a senior colleague in President Obasanjo's cabinet he has been kind, forthright, courageous, honest, consistent, clear-thinking, hard-working and God-fearing.

Nigeria is 56 years old today. Consequently it is time to speak some home-truths and look at where we are in the scheme of things. It is time to consider how well our governnent has fared since coming to power and to compare their record of service to previous governments that were in the saddle before them. Sadly the score sheet does not look too good.

One of the greatest souls that ever bestrode the earth, a champion and founding father of the Jewish State of Israel, a former freedom fighter, a former soldier, an internationally-acclaimed statesman, a Nobel Laureate, a former Minister, a former Member of the Israeli Parliament for 50 years, a three-time Prime Minister of Israel, a President of the Jewish state, a diplomat, a peacemaker, an institution in the politics of Israel and the Middle East and the most experienced leader and politician that the State of Israel was ever blessed with, President Shimon Peres, has passed on at the ripe old age of 93. How, indeed, are the mighty fallen! I had the singular honor and distinct privilage of meeting Shimon Peres on at least two occasions. The first was when I was a student at Cambridge University in 1984 where he came to deliver a lecture on the State of Israel and the complicted politics of the Middle East.

I do not like to delve into matters touching and concerning the APC because I am not a member. However what is happening in the ruling party today transcends partisan politics and should be a concern to us all. At the very least we can learn some very hard lessons from it. The truth is that the behaviour of Chief John Odige-Oyegun towards the man that single-handedly made him the National Chairman of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is reprehensible. And neither does this matter begin or end with the way and manner in which the Ondo state governorship primaries were conducted or its final outcome.

On 19th September 2016 after the latest bombing in New York, Mr. Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, said "In the 20th century the United States of America defeated fascism, nazism and communism. Today the United States of America must destroy (radical) Islamism". Mr. Trump is absolutely right! Yet it is not just in America that the scourge of jihadi violence and Islamist terror must be destroyed. It must be uprooted, defeated and destroyed throughout the entire world, including Nigeria.

Permit me to indulge in a quick aside and take you into a brief journey of discovery into the deep and devious mind of Lugard. On September 8th 2015, in an essay titled 'Lord Lugard's Magic and Flora Shaw's Spell' (New Telegraph, Daily Post, Naij. com, Premium Times, Pointblanknews) I wrote the following:

Each time I hear from you I look back on both our lives and consider how far we have come. Against all odds God kept and preserved us: how faithful He is. Remember the Bourdillon days? Remember those evil dark alleys and dirty streets? Remember our inglorious descent into the portals of hell and the citadels of shame and darkness?

Tomorrow, 18th September 2014, the people of Scotland will decide whether they wish to stay within the United Kingdom or not. 4 million registered people are set to vote. The campaign has been fast and furious and the polls are neck and neck. My own views are as follows. Permit me to share them here.

AA PRESIDENT WITH NO RECOLLECTION OF HISTORY AND NO MEMORY There are two statements that President Buhari made in the last few days that I find curious and misleading. I have read them over and over again and I am left with no other conclusion than the fact that we have a President that has no recollection of history and that has no memory. Firstly he said that the PDP governments that were in power for 16 years before him had achieved nothing and had "left nothing" for him in terms of development. Secondly he said that the Igbo people of south eastern Nigeria that are agitating for the sovereign state of Biafra should "forget it".

(Being a speech delivered to the Christian Information Network Forum by Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, Jos, 10th September 2016) Blessed be the name of the Most High God, the God whose I am and the God whom I serve, blessed be His holy name forever. Mr. Chairman, our Royal fathers, my Lords spiritual and temporal, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, all protocols observed.