Let me begin with two clarifications. Aso Villa is not my home, I am just passing through. Even this world is nobody’s home, we are just birds of passage. So, let nobody turn up his nose in derision, and say; “he’s writing like the landlord of Aso Villa, defending a place where’s he’s just a tenant.” Yes, nobody is landlord in the Villa, not even rational presidents. They can only live there for maximum of eight years, if Nigerians so decide. And for me, my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels only need to beckon me from Heaven’s open door, and I wouldn’t feel at home in this world anymore.

The second clarification. Let nobody, particularly on social media, begin to insinuate that Femi Adesina is at war with Reuben Abati, his immediate predecessor as presidential spokesman. This piece you are beginning to read is not about Abati as a person, it is about his spiritual ideas and convictions, which I think need some appraisal, as they are rather unspiritual. Abati and myself have been professional colleagues for almost 30 years, we have a lot of mutual friends, and know how to reach each other when necessary. So, this is not a case of Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman being at war with Goodluck Jonathan’s spokesman. What for?
In his piece in The Guardian of October 14, 2016, Abati wrote under the headline, ‘The spiritual side of Aso Villa.’ What were his conclusions? For the benefit of those who did not read the highly entertaining piece (in fact, there were moments I had my two legs in the air, laughing, as I read), let me do a brief summary. Call it ‘gospel’ according to Abati, and you would be right: There is some form of witchcraft, which causes occupants of Aso Villa to take weird decisions. Working in the Villa makes you susceptible to some sort of evil influences, because there is something supernatural about power and closeness to it. Some of those who lived or worked in the Villa had something dying under their waists (for the men), while some of the women became merchants of Love Machine, because they had suffered a special kind of deaths in their homes. “The ones who did not have such misfortune had one ailment or the other that they had to nurse. From cancer to brain and prostate surgery and whatever, the Villa was a hospital full of agonizing patients,” Abati posited.
Reading the piece through, you would think Aso Villa was nothing but what Godfrey Chaucer called “a thoroughfare of woes.” In fact, Abati submitted that the Villa “should be converted into a spiritual museum,and abandoned.” Holy Moses! Jumping Jehoshaphat!
If Aso Villa was such a haunted house, why then do most occupants like to stay put, right from the first tenant, Ibrahim Babangida, who was virtually forced to step aside in August 1993? And why did Goodluck Jonathan, Abati’s principal, spend money in trillions (in different currencies of the world), just to perpetuate himself in a house that consumes its occupants? Being a literary scholar, Abati would remember the doctor in Macbeth, that work of William Shakespeare, who was detailed to cure Lady Macbeth of the neurosis that afflicted her, after she had been party to the deaths of King Duncan and Banquo, so that her husband would be the king of Scotland. A spiritually troubled Lady Macbeth sleepwalked every night, trying to wash her hands of the innocent blood that had been shed. The doctor was so fed up with the terrifying atmosphere, that he said to himself:”Were I from Dunsinane away and clear, profit should hardly again draw me here.” Did Abati ever say the same of the Villa, a place where men became women “after something died below their waists?” We do not have it on record that Abati showed a clean pair of heels, or that he would not have stayed if Dr Jonathan had won reelection, and had asked him to continue in his position as adviser on media. Or was it the case of eternal fascination for the thing that repelled and terrified you? Mysterium tremendum et fascinas, as it is called in Latin.
For me, what Abati did in the October 14 piece was simply a glorification and deification of superstition, something that attempted to elevate works of darkness above the powers of God. The writer merely fed the cravings and propensity of people for the supernatural, in a way that stoked and kindled the kiln of fear, rather than that of faith.
Let’s take the issues one after the other, and look at them against true spiritual principles. Christianity is the one I am most familiar with, and that would be my benchmark.
In Aso Villa, houses were haunted, people were oppressed into taking curious decisions, they fell ill, died, or suffered the losses of loved ones, so Abati claimed. Are such peculiar only to the presidential villa? Should all those who live or work there automatically enjoy immunity from the vicissitudes of life, simply because they walked the corridors of power? Wasn’t President Umaru Yar’Adua right inside the presidential villa, when he told us on national television: “I am a human being. I can fall sick. I can recover. And I can die.” That was a practical man for you. Abati unwittingly wants his readers to believe that once you operated in or around Aso Villa, you became a superman. No. You are as mortal as can be. The Holy Bible does not even give us such leeway. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man…”(1 Cor 10:13). There are certain things common to man, and they can happen to you wherever you are. At the White House. At 10, Downing Street. Buckingham Palace, Aso Villa. Wherever. “But such as is common to man…” Let no man feed us with the bogey that such things happen because of where you live or operate from. There are some things that are just common to man, and which may happen to you as long as you are on this side of eternity.
I lost my sister in a road crash last year. She was a professor of Dramatic Arts at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife. Abati knew her well, as they both did post-graduate studies at University of Ibadan in the 1980s. Abati was among those who called to condole with me. My sister never visited the Villa in her lifetime. Even if she did, that could never have had anything to do with her death on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. To believe and teach otherwise is to carry superstition to ridiculous level, and venerate the Devil, granting him omnipotence, an attribute that belongs to God only. For the Devil, doing evil is full-time business, and whether you had anything to do with Aso Villa or not, he continued with his pernicious acts. Does that then suggest that mankind is helpless before evil? No. God still has ultimate powers. He can spare you “as a father spares the son that serves him.” (Malachi 3:17). If you are under the pavilion of God, sleep, wake and operate daily in Aso Villa, you are covered, no matter the evil that lurks around, if any. There is a better covenant established on greater promises, and that is the canopy under which you should function. God can spare you from all evils, and if He permits any other thing, it is “such as is common to man,” and not because of Aso Villa.
If houses catch fire in the Villa, how many conflagrations occur in other parts of the city? If some men in the Villa suffered erectile dysfunction in Abati’s time, doesn’t the Journal of Sexual Medicine tell us that about 20 million American men have something that has died under their waists? It is one thing that became prevalent in the last two to three decades, due to modern lifestyle. Causes range from age, to stress, depression, anxiety, alcohol, medication, and several others. Even, a study showed that watching too much television kills something under the waist. So why does Abati make it seem as if it is a copyright of Aso Villa?
Now, another clarification. Don’t I believe in demonic infestation and manifestation? I sure do. I wouldn’t be a student of the Holy Bible if I don’t. Jesus talked of the man who got delivered from demonic possession, and because that man did not yield himself to a better influence, the evil spirit that inhabited him came back with seven more powerful spirits, and the end of the man was worse than his beginning. Abati wrote of persons in the Villa, “walking upside down, head to the ground.” Let me share this story I heard over 20 years ago. There was this young Christian who gave scant regards to demons and what they could do. In fact, he almost didn’t believe demons existed. One day, as he walked along the ever busy Broad Street in Lagos, God opened his spiritual eyes. Some people were walking on their heads! And not only that, as they passed by other people, they slapped them with the soles of their feet. If you got so slapped, you developed an affliction, which you would nurse for the rest of your life. Yet, you never knew where it came from.
As the young man saw that vision and got its spiritual explanation, he began to s-c-r-e-a-m. Was that in Aso Villa? “Such as is common to man…” Evil exists everywhere. Trying to source and locate it in Aso Villa is disingenuous. You need God everywhere. In Europe, Asia, America, Oceania, Aso Villa. There is evil everywhere, and we need not make fetish of any place as being more evil infested than other places. Since Satan got thrown out of Heaven due to his inordinate ambition, evil had resided in the world. “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!” (Isaiah 14:12). The Devil lives in the world, but God is never helpless before evil. He will never be. Let the Devil commit suicide if he is not happy about that fact. God rules!
If every principal officer including the President and his wife suffered series of tragedies as Abati claimed, and he himself had breathing problems, and walked with the aid of crutches for months, it was ” such as is common to man” and not necessarily because they were in Aso Villa. But of course, if such people put their hands in evil, possibly to gain some things in power or perpetuate themselves beyond the time heaven granted, then “he who rolls a stone, a stone shall be rolled back to him. He that digs a pit, shall fall into it.” That is what the Good Book says. You can then hardly blame Aso Villa for such payback time, can you?
To avoid getting sucked into what Abati calls “the cloud of evil” that hangs around power, what to do is to hold ephemeral things loosely. Know that they are temporal, and will truly end. Power is one of such things. Will anybody be a permanent landlord at Aso Villa? It would be foolhardy to have such mindset. A couple of times I’d had some private discussions with President Buhari, and he had lamented the state of the nation, he invariably ended with the statement, “while we are here, we will do our best.” It shows a man who knows that he’s not a permanent landlord at Aso Villa, and can never be. He would use the opportunity he has to do his best for Nigeria, and then move on. That is a good mindset, and a safety valve from getting sucked into “the cloud of evil.” Daily, I tell myself that I am just passing through Aso Villa. And while there, just like my principal, I will do my best. It could be long, it could be short, depending on God and the man who appointed me, but one day, it would be over, and some other people would come in to do their bit. It is inexorable. The real treasures are laid somewhere beyond the blue.
Abati says we should pray before people pack their things into Aso Villa. I say not just Aso Villa, but everywhere. Pray before you pack into any place, because there are some things “such as is common to man.” It is only God that keeps from such. And He is sovereign in terms of what He prevents, and in what He allows. Ours is to pray, and believe. Prayer works.
“Aso Villa is in urgent need of redemption. I never slept in the apartment they gave me in that Villa for an hour,” wrote Abati. Well, different strokes for different folks. Hear what the Good Book says: “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so he giveth his beloved sleep.” Here am I. For over one year, I have lived in the house allocated to me at the Villa. I sleep so soundly, I even snore. In fact, I snore so loud that at times, I wake myself up with the sound.

.Adesina is Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari


http://www.saharaweeklyng.com/the-unspiritual-side-of-aso-villa-femi-adeshina-replies-reuben-abati/

...Oga, he knows that shits happen everywhere, but Reuben thinks that your present home is in real shit! QED.


I'm not understanding the need for all the long stories and your late sister's profile. Abi the spirits that troubled Reuben are now troubling you.

I lost my sister in a road crash last year.

this quote alone has justified all that reuben said!

you went to aso villa last year and that same year u lost your sister and it never occurred to you that something is wrong somewhere!

dog wey death wan kill no dey hear shit smell! wait until u lost you own life first before u go learn!

Abati say some people dey waka upside down for aso villa whilst some always bathed in blood you still dey yarn dust abi instead of you to start covering yaself/family with the blood of Jesus....?

And did you say ya sister died last year? Ok o it's coincidence even Buboo and wife indirectly took themselves to the cleaners in public glare and it's a first for a sitting president.

Seriously Africans when are we gonna stop glorifying diabolism

nwaanambra1:


this quote alone has justified all that reuben said!

you went to aso villa last year and that same year u lost your sister and it never occurred to you that something is wrong somewhere!

dog wey death wan kill no dey hear shit smell! wait until u lost you own life first before u go learn!

Something tells me this man might be a casualty of the demons of Aso rock if he is not careful

This guy is not doing his work_ he is too silent for a media adviser.

Oh_ I remember why, he is a reputable journalist_he doesn't want to look stupid like Garba Shehu.

Long.

nwaanambra1:


this quote alone has justified all that reuben said!

you went to aso villa last year and that same year u lost your sister and it never occurred to you that something is wrong somewhere!

dog wey death wan kill no dey hear shit smell! wait until u lost you own life first before u go learn!

Nothing in the quote justifies the nonsense that Abati wrote about. People die everyday and it's not a big deal. In 2010, my elder brother lost his 4 days old baby. He has never smelled Aso Rock before.

One of the reasons why Africa is backward is because of the kind of superstitious beliefs that people like you and Abati still hold on to. The current vice president of US, Joe Biden lost his son last year to brain cancer, he did not attribute his misfortune to any evil lurking around the white house or his official residence. We should always look for practical solutions to our problems and stop attributing everything to some unseen evil hands.

Make I take seat. It's been long I heard from Femi. Femi hope you're fine.

Adeshina with his wide bucal cavity

seunmsg:


Nothing in the quote justifies the nonsense that Abati wrote about. People die everyday and it's not a big deal. In 2010, my elder brother lost his 4 days old baby. He has never smelled Aso Rock before.

One of the reasons why Africa is backward is because of the kind of superstitious beliefs that people like you and Abati still hold on to. The current vice president of US, Joe Biden lost his son last year to brain cancer, he did not attribute his misfortune to any evil lurking around the white house or his official residence. We should always look for practical solutions to our problems and stop attributing everything to some unseen evil hands.

bro.

sometimes do stop forming Americanism. we are Africans and there are some certain things we believe in that happens to be real. you may call it superstition but that doesn change the fact that they are real and un-explainable.

i hope u r aware that oyinbos are even more superstitious than Africans - do take out time to read wide and explore! onyibos are far more diabolical and practices spirit-ism more than we Africans!

oh! and for bidden, even him believes that he is jinxed with bad luck - go figure!

Scream:
...Oga, he knows that shits happen everywhere, but Reuben thinks that your present home is in real shit! QED.


I'm not understanding the need for all the long stories and your late sister's profile. Abi the spirits that troubled Reuben are now troubling you.

you kids don't read.

this rebuttal makes sense.

that abati's article was one senseless piece. like adeshina said, if Aso Rock was all that you mentioned, how come the former president wanted to stay put.

Nice Write-up Adeshina


Anyone who believes Reuben Abati's article must be the biggest fool on earth... Is it not the same Aso rock OBJ wanted a third term? Is it not the same Aso Rock Yardua's wife tried as much as possible to hold onto power? was it not the same Aso Rock Jonathan struggled to be re-elected?


Abeg Next News pls Ah no wan vex this morning

nwaanambra1:


bro.

sometimes do stop forming Americanism. we are Africans and there are some certain things we believe in that happens to be real. you may call it superstition but that doesn change the fact that they are real and un-explainable.

i hope u r aware that oyinbos are even more superstitious than Africans - do take out time to read wide and explore! onyibos are far more diabolical and practices spirit-ism more than we Africans!

oh! and for bidden, even him believes that he is jinxed with bad luck - go figure!

I am not forming Americanism in any way. Bad things happen to people irrespective of where you live. Attributing negative things that happened to some people who lived in Aso Rock to the evil around the villa makes no sense because people who live outside the villa also experience the same negative things.

And about Joe Biden and his bad luck, yeah, he's indeed unlucky. After serving as a US senator for 36 years and then capping it up with another 8 years as vice president of the most powerful country in the world, he surely needs some bad luck. I wouldn't mind his kind of luck (except for losing a son) if you ask me. Fact is, we all get lucky and unlucky at different times in our lives. It is a natural design and not the handy work of any evil hands lurking around the corner.

Dr Ruben Abati went Low with that piece of his. Bad things happen to people irrespective of whether he's in government or out of it. I can't believe that after serving for 4 years, and campaigning to remain in the villa for another 4 years (with his principal), he would come back to tell us some conspiracy theories and tales about the Villa. SMH.

Pastor Femi Adesina, being conscious of all you wrote should have cautioned you against blind support for Buhari and cooking up lies to defend him.

Stop lying for Buhari and pray for forgiveness. Stop telling him what will make him feel good - 'like it is only those who hate him that are complaining of hardship'. His wife is now complaining up and down, and people like Dr Junaid Mohammed who threatened to make Nigeria 'ungovernable' for Jonathan are complaining too.

Pray for courage and advise him to resign without delay, that is also part of what people do in everyday life. He has really messed Nigeria up in less than 2 years.

Aso Rock, the hurnted citadel.....coming soon.


Marketers Obisco films Ltd, no. 3 kpokpola str, idumota lagos.

Daniel1990:
This guy is not doing his work_ he is too silent for a media adviser.

Oh_ I remember why, he is a reputable journalist_he doesn't want to look stupid like Garbage Shehu.

He actually looked more stupid than Shehu to the embarrassment of his employers previously. That's probably why he was asked to lay low for sometime; same with Lai Mohammed.

He was so carried away by the 'job' (or can we say it was Abati's demons) that it was not wise for them to put him forward again. You would wonder if he was in his right mind then.

This piece is an attempt, perhaps, to redeem his battered image. If there was any evidence of Abati's demonic claims, Femi Adesina's case would likely be one. It has to be an 'unseen demonic force(s)' that would turn an erstwhile reputable professional to a chronic unashamedly unconscientious liar 'overnight'.

Highly superstitious men occupy the highest offices in the and, no wonder the nation suffers so much. Mr Adeshina your write up gave more credence to Abati's position rather than debunk it.

If your family members are dying while in power and yet, u still wanna remain in power

Is it the same powers that are binding them to always long for more powers?

SamuelAnyawu:
Nice Write-up Adeshina


Anyone who believes Reuben Abati's article must be the biggest cool in earth... Is it not the same Aso rock OBJ wanted a third term? Is it not the same Aso Rock Yardua's wife tried as much as possible to hold onto power? was it not the same Aso Rock Jonathan struggled to be re-elected?


Abeg Next News pls Ah no wan vex this morning

Bro,all those people you mentioned that wanted to perpetuate themselves in power,do you know what gave them the morale? Do you know what they did that they were willing to remain in power against all odds? You shouldn't just dismiss things like this with a mere wave of your hand just because you don't believe in them? The world is full of mysteries and there are many things science is yet to unravel... These things happen - even down to the smallest political power. Once it comes to power,anything can happen,and people can be willing to go to extremes for it. Mr Femi didn't actually dispute what Abati said; he only opined that it happens elsewhere as well.

I read Abati's and Adesina's, as someone who sucked his mama's breast about two years or more, I think points were made.

Hmmm....evil happened anywhere anytime, I lost my brother 2003 while he was in school, yesterday a PhD graduate died on his convocation day there in uniilorin not in Aso villa. I believe many things will have bn attributed for death as African.

I think Adesina was been fair...i just pray may the lord not make us a victim of circumstances.

The tragedy of the whole Abati trash is that majority of our people believed him, people walking upside down! chaii such rubbish.He should go and join Nollywood abeg.