Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, and teeming Lagosians yesterday converged on the Police College, Ikeja, to celebrate the nation’s 51st Independence anniversary despite threats by the Islamic Boko Haram sect and MEND to disrupt the celebration.

Amid heavy downpour, the celebration was marked with tight security to curtail the threats posed by Boko Haram, MEND and other aggrieved groups that threatened to detonate explosives during the anniversary.

As early as 7 a.m. the anti-bomb squad of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) cordoned off entrances to the Nigeria Police College, Ikeja, with their vehicle, forcing holiday makers to squeeze through the sole exit gate.

Although officers of the nation’s security outfits were well-represented, the rumoured threat to detonate explosives forced many parents and school proprietors to withdraw pupils from the usually overcrowded parade.

Speaking on the occasion, Fashola said there were many challenges confronting the country’s advancement towards progress and prosperity.
He said, “There was an election we had to deal with and about which the overwhelming majority of us were united in our desire to ensure it was free and fair. There was a shuttering economy we had to revive to make it more responsive to the needs and aspirations of the greatest number of our people.”

The governor affirmed that in spite of the challenges his belief remains unshaken that better days are ahead for country.“But it is important to also say we must earn it by working hard, probably more than we have ever done before. We must aspire to those better days ahead of us by exercising the greatest restraint we can muster when things are not going the way we expect,” he said. According to him, poverty, unemployment and hunger were intolerable way of life in a country like Nigeria that is so richly endowed.