₦airaland Forum

redsun:
Some nigerians are confused,instead of celebrating the death of the animals they tend to wish them RIP in hell.

Too harsh

More revelations have surfaced as to how the four clerics enlisted in Turai’s latest propaganda about her husband’s health were recruited and used.  The four men reportedly met ailing president, Umaru Yar’Adua, on Thursday.  They are: Ustaz Musa Mohammed, the Chief Imam of the Abuja National Mosque; Sheik Yakubu Musa, leader of the Izala Muslim sect in Katsina State; Sheik Ibrahim Datti Ahmed, the President of the Supreme Council of Sharia in Nigeria (SCSN); and Sheik Isa Pantami. According to Saharareporters sources, Mrs. Yar’Adua began secretly recruiting the four Imams three weeks ago. The choice of their states of origin: Katsina (Yar’Adua’s home state), Bauchi (where his son-in-law Isa Yuguda is governor); and Kano (where Yar’Adua has a lot of spiritual supporters) underscores the importance of using the Imams in the latest project.

The sources said the plot to use the clerics to cause a national uproar was hatched after it became clear that the courts are unwilling to step into the fray after the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court burnt his fingers in aiding Michael Aondoakaa, during his time as Attorney General of the Federation, to stifle a just resolution of Yar’Adua’s absence.

Saharareporters learnt that Hon. Shehu Imam, a member of the House of Representatives and Governor Isa Yuguda were instrumental to the plot and its subsequent sponsorship. As we revealed in our latest article, the plot between Mrs. Yar’Adua and Ustaz Musa Mohammed, the chief Imam of the National Mosque in Abuja, was principally to bring a body-double of Yar’Adua to the National Mosque last Friday.  The body double reportedly rode and practiced in the presidential convoy for hours on Tuesday and Wednesday last week. That plan had to be canceled when a Lagos-based daily newspaper revealed the plan.

Our sources said that the cabal decided to bring Datti Ahmad into the picture because Mr. Ahmed, a medical doctor, has a huge following in the north and he is regarded as an Islamic radical. The plot was aimed at further appealing to the northern parts of the country to see Yar’Adua as a victim of a Christian-South conspiracy.

Dr. Ahmad’s statement to the Nation, one of the newspapers recruited into the farce was ominous, as he “warned that Yar’Adua’s presidential authority must not be taken away from him.”

Dr. Ahmad also told the newspaper that Yar’Adua did not speak throughout their encounter with him, yet he reportedly threatened, “If any person attempts to seize that presidential authority now, the consequences will remain with the country for a long time.”

Our sources said that the four Imams, contrary to the impression created that they sought to meet Yar’Adua  on their own, were actively recruited and camped at the  Sheraton Hotel for two days before they were fetched by Yar’Adua’s Chief Security Officer, Yusuf Tilde.  It was Tilde who personally drove the clerics to Yar’Adua’s residence at the Presidential Villa where the purported meeting took place. As usual, Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan and the National Security Adviser, Gusau, were kept in the dark.

Since returning from the visit, the Imams have told different versions of their visit to Yar’Adua with glee, but a new dimension is brewing as Islamic faithfuls across the North are accusing the Imams of receiving bribes to orchestrate a lie, which is antithetical to the Islamic faith.  For example the earlier story told by Daily Trust newspapers claimed that the Imams spent over two hours with Yar’Adua, but in interviews with the BBC they said they spent less than five minutes with him and that he had difficulties speaking.

Another account said that Yar’Adua spoke, but that he was barely audible. These varying accounts have put the Imams under intense scrutiny and pressure from across Nigeria. One of them, Sheikh Pantami, now claims he doesn’t want his name in print regarding what transpired with Yar’Adua.

In all, there is no evidence that Yar’Adua met with the clerics at all, apart from what they have told the public.  From all indications, the choice of clerics chosen to engage in the latest plot portrays the visit as an orchestrated attempt by Mrs. Yar’Adua to fan the embers of religious hatred against Jonathan.  An Islamic scholar told Saharareporters that the choice made by Mrs. Yar’Adua and that the rhetoric in the Nation newspaper by Dr. Datti was a “holy call for war” amongst faithfuls of the radical clerics.

IT is that time of the year again, when Christians celebrate the death and resurrection of the projinator of the Christian faith, Jesus Christ. The annual event is known as Easter all over the world but lately there have been controversies surrounding its origin. While some Christians say it originated from a pagan feast, others are of the opinion that the celebration has no Satanic origin. We present two opinions on the essence of Easter…


The meaning and saving significance of Easter

By Very Rev. Msgr. Gabriel Osu

EASTER is the festival of the Christian Church that commemorates the Resurrection of Christ. Easter designates the annual Christian celebration of the Resurrection of Christ. During Lent there is intense fasting, meditation and prayers, with all its observances, gives way to Easter when the Church jubilates in the resurrection of Christ.

In John 20:19-23 we see the account of the risen Lord’s appearance to the apostolic community. It shows Jesus not only in divine glory but also in human solidarity, offering peace to his disciples and sending them forth to give peace.
He breathed on them, thus the gift of the Spirit received by the apostles seems to be identical to the gifts of tongues at Pentecost.

The Holy Spirit is the life of the risen Lord. Salvation to us human beings created in the image of God is sharing in that resurrection through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry ‘Abba, Father’.

The Resurrection is the raising from death, of Jesus with a new, transformed body (Matthew 28; Mark. 16; Luke 24; John 20-24). In the New Testament, Jesus spoke of future resurrection (John 5:25, 28-9) for all as well as his own specific resurrection after three days (Mark 8:31). After the actual resurrection of Jesus, the fact of his resurrection and the future resurrection unto eternal life with God in the kingdom of heaven were basic elements in Christian teaching (Acts 2:31; 4:2; 33; Philippians 3:10-11).

The Resurrection—-A work of the Holy Trinity
Christ’s Resurrection is an object of faith in that it is a transcendent intervention of God himself in creation and history. In it the three divine persons acted together as one, and manifest their own proper characteristics.

The meaning and saving significance of the Resurrection
“If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in van” (I Corinthians 15:14). The Resurrection above all, constitutes the confirmation of all Christ’s works and teachings. Christ’s Resurrection is the fulfillment of the promises both in the Old Testament and of Jesus himself during his earthly life. The truth of Jesus’ divinity is confirmed by his resurrection. He had said: “When you have lifted up the Son of man, you will know that I am He” (John 8:28).
The Resurrection of the crucified one shows that he was truly “I AM”, the Son of God and God himself. The Paschal mystery has two parts—-justification and filial adoption…so that Man become Christ’s brethren. Finally, Christ’s Resurrection—-and the risen Christ himself—is the principle and source of our future resurrection: “Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep…” (I Corinthians 15:20-22).

Today, we celebrate Christ’s twofold giving of himself: (1.) To his enemies, he died on the Cross for the life of the world. He is the paschal victim, whose blood saves his people. (2.) To his friends and disciples, his Church—-that is, to us—-it is the sacrament of his body and blood. If we want to follow Christ, we must follow his example of self-giving and of service—‘washing one another’s feet’.

This Mass is our Alleluia; our song of praise to the risen Lord who is our life and whose triumph over death we proclaim to all the world. Today, as we hail Christ as our Lord and God we are filled with the joy of the disciples in seeing the risen Lord. In this season of renewal we are like those early Christians who were ‘filled with a joy so glorious that it cannot be described’.

The Resurrection is the pivotal point of the Gospel. The Church is a witness that the Lord has risen and has given her the power to rise. By His death, Christ paid a debt He didn’t owe, to cancel a debt we couldn’t pay. Many give their lives for their country, but Jesus gave his Life for the whole world.

The cross reveals God’s heart for the lost. By His Resurrection, Christ paid for our greatest freedom, freedom from sin. The symbol of our Christian faith is a cross. The Lord has risen today, Alleluia!

All truths, even those most inaccessible to human reason, find their justification if Christ by His resurrection has given the definitive proof of his divine authority, which he had promised. The phrase “in accordance with the Scriptures” – cf. I Corinthians 15:3-4; cf. the Nicene Creed, God indicates that Christ’s Resurrection fulfilled these predictions. The truth of Jesus’ divinity is confirmed by his Resurrection. He had said: “When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he” (John 8:28).

This new life is above all justification that reinstates us in God’s grace, “so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4; cf. 4:25). Justification consists in both victory over the death caused by sin and a new participation in grace – cf. Ephesians 2:4-5; I Peter 1:3. It brings about filial adoption so that men become Christ’s brethren, as Jesus himself called his disciples after his Resurrection: “Go and tell my brethren” (Matthew 28:10; John 20:17). We are brethren not by nature, but by the gift of grace, because that adoptive filiation gains us a real share in the life of the only Son which was fully revealed in his Resurrection.

Finally, Christ’s Resurrection—and the risen Christ himself—is the principle and source of our future resurrection. Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep … For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (I Corinthians 15:20-22). The risen Christ lives in the hearts of his faithful while they await that fulfillment. In Christ, Christians “have tested…the powers of the age to come and their lives are swept up by Christ into the heart of divine life, so that they may live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

In Brief

Faith in the Resurrection has as its object an event which is historically attested to by the disciples, who really encountered the Risen One. At the same time, this event is mysteriously transcendent insofar as it is the entry of Christ’s humanity into the glory of God.

The empty tomb and the linen cloths lying there signify in themselves that by God’s power Christ’s body had escaped the bonds of death and corruption. They prepared the disciples to encounter the Risen Lord.

Christ, “the first born from the dead (Col. 1:18), is the principle of our own resurrection, even now by the justification of our souls (cf. Rom. 6:4), and one day by the new life he will impart to our bodies (cf. Rom. 8:11). These lies the meaning and significance of the Resurrection as captured by The Catechism of The Catholic Church”.

RICHIE BOI:
obviously you didnt read the post. he was 52 ok! may his gentle soul rest RIP.

Dukku, 52, was a member of the Senate Committees on Aviation, Sports, States and Local Governments among others.

Dr Abel Damina is the national chairman, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) Youth Wing. He speaks on the on-going electoral reforms and the Jos crises, saying the PFN will be mobilizing some 50 million Christian youths from across the country to register ahead of the 2011 elections and also stop politicians from rigging the polls.

By Anthonia  Onwuka

On the on-going electoral reforms in the country?
I think if the federal government takes the issue of electoral reforms seriously, it would be a good  development and would help change the face of our electoral system and by extension the way our political leaders discharge the functions of their offices.

How do you see what has happened so far?
For us in the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, we have made up our mind to go into aggressive campaign to let every Nigerian youth realize that his vote is his birthright; that he has the right to vote for whoever he wants into public office and also making them realize that we are important because under normal circumstance, nobody becomes president or governor without our votes. So, our votes count. That is the awareness we want to create nationwide, so that all the youths from all parts of the country can go and revalidate their voter’s cards and then those who had registered before can go and get registered. We want every youth, that is every Christian youth to get registered. So, we are launching a massive campaign to get all our young people to go and register. We cannot fold our hands and keep blaming the government and our fathers and we do nothing about it.

How are you going to drive this?
We are going to drive the project with everything we have. The PFN has representation everywhere. Maybe I should even say that we have more spread than the political parties. We are in the villages where the politicians do not get to, even during their campaigns. Where there are no functional ward offices for political parties, we are there. We are in every ward and in every local government. we are in all hamlets. Call the churches everywhere and we are there. We have our pastors and churches everywhere.

Over the years, the church had made this mistake of not getting involved in the processes of getting the leaders through elections. But you see, the more we abandon politics for those we call the politicians, then we should be able to take whatever kind of governance we are getting. Now, we have said we want to have a clear shift from the norm. We have heard of INEC’s calendar for the next elections and registration is supposed to start sometime in April. We have also drawn our own calendar and we are going to massively mobilize all our leaders nationwide.

We are going to start from our headquarters in Warri, where our leader, Papa Ayo Oritsejafor is. We will all move to Warri, revalidate our voters’ card and then we will move from state to state, local government to local government, ward to ward, to all the six geo-political zones in this country and we will invade everywhere. We will confirm the number of Christians that are registered to vote and then we will go into the field and take our destiny in our hands.

On the mobilization as a solution to rigging?
Our ultimate goal is to ensure that our votes count. So, we will stop them from rigging themselves into office. We have the number. Assuming we have 50 million youths who are eligible to vote and all of them have registered and have their cards. You only need about 20 million votes to become president. These our youths will be at the various polling units and will be involved in the monitoring all over the country.

They will follow the ballot boxes to wherever. We have an online website and every 30 minutes, there will be an update on that website on what is going on nationwide. Our youths will be sending every information including pictures to the site. Reports will be flowing into the site and there is nowhere you can rig when everybody is watching you and monitoring every activity. Before, we used to fold our hands and say let them do what they like, then will rig with impunity. Now, we have arisen and we are saying enough of the rigging.

On what the PFN hopes to achieve from this project?
We want to get involved in nation building. We are part of the builders of this nation and this nation is ours. We want to be deeply involved in what is going on. It is about shinning the light to the world; it is about making sure that people do not pass through the back door into any political office in this country any longer. The Bible says we are the light of the world and once we shine, darkness can no longer have a place and must find its way out. So, once we take our right of place, those who are used to passing through the back door will know that the game is up. We are going to shine our eyes this time around.

On the Jos crisis?
I feel disturbed everyday when I remember how innocent people were killed and churches and other houses destroyed. The most painful is the alleged involvement of the army who were supposed to protect the people.

Senator Kawu Peto Dukku representing Gombe North Senatorial District is dead. He died on Friday in Kaduna, Senate spokesman, Senator Ayogu Eze, announced in a terse press statement yesterday.

Dukku, who was a speaker of the Gombe State House of Assembly died exactly two days after his colleague, also from Gombe State, Senator Tawar Wada, died at the National Hospital, Abuja.

Dukku was largely a quiet senator who rarely spoke at Senate plenary. He was last in the Senate on Wednesday during the screening of the ministerial nominees during which he asked a question.

Dukku, 52, was a member of the Senate Committees on Aviation, Sports, States and Local Governments among others.

He was buried in Gombe yesterday according to Islamic rites.

With the death of the two senators from Gombe State, Senator Idris Umar (PDP, Gombe Central) is the only senator representing the state in the Senate.

ABUJA—A Bill to prohibit the overseas basic and undergraduate education of children and wards of public officers and other matters, awaits second reading in the House of Representatives.

The Bill sponsored by Rep. Emmanuel Bello (PDP/Hong/Adamawa) seeks punishment for public office holders who send their children for education abroad without a “waiver” from the Education Minister.

According to the bill, “Subject to a written waiver granted under the hand of the Minister for Education, every child and or wards of public servant shall henceforth undergo basic and undergraduate education in the country.

“The Minister for Education shall in consideration of an application for waiver pursuant to Section I be guided by the nature of the proposed course of study for an undergraduate applicant, medical condition and the general national interest

“Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of this Act, any public officer whose children and or wards are undergoing basic and undergraduate education overseas immediately before the date when this Act comes into force shall be deemed to be doing so pursuant to a waiver granted by the Minister  for Education”.
The bill added that “Save as otherwise prescribed, any public officer who seeks, applies and procures overseas education and or scholarship for his children or wards for basic or undergraduate education shall be guilty of an offence”.

But one of the colleagues of the sponsor of the Bill, Rep. Friday Itulah(PDP/Edo State), said the piece of legislation was unnecessary and undemocratic.

“That is rubbish talk you can send your children anywhere you like. This is democracy, if you have money you can send your children in space. Issues like that are better taken as motions instead of Bills”, he said.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/04/02/reps-to-ban-oversea-education-for-public-office-holders-wards/

sirblondy:
please if u know any sporting site,just let me,

nairabetdot.com

ABUJA— INTENSE lobbying for positions, yesterday, characterised the placement of ministers into various portfolios as various political and interest groups lobbied for their candidates to be given what they consider ‘juicy ministries.’

Though the nominees who were all cleared by the Senate, Wednesday afternoon, will be sworn-in today, none of them was sure of which portfolio he/she would be assigned to by the President.

However, some nominees were being strongly associated with certain ministries in view of their perceived strength and bias. For instance, while the former Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili was being strongly considered for the Health Ministry portfolio alongside Dr. Isa Hong as the Minister of State, Vanguard learnt that Senator Mohammed was being considered for the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory or Environment.

Ministers : Mr Nuhu Somo Way (left) chatting with Akinlabi Olasunkanmi (right) and Fidelia Njeze (middle) during the Ministerial screening at the National Assembly.

Although the immediate past Attorney General, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode was said to be favoured to retain the portfolio, sources in Abuja have revealed that Bello Adokie, also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, was virtually assured of the position. Since his nomination, Adokie was said to have embarked on an expensive and aggressive media campaign to clinch the job of AGF.

However, the name of Alhaji Maina Waziri who was the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF, was also being tipped for the post of the FCT Minister.

It was authoritatively gathered that lobbists which included senators, major stakeholders in the petroleum sector and northern interest group besieged Aso Rock to prevail on Acting President Goodluck Jonathan on who  to hand the portfolio to.

Senators who met with the Acting President over the issue, it was learnt, were well disposed to Engr. Chris Ogiewonyi, who recently retired as Executive Director of  the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, after 34 years of service, while others were pushing the case of   former Minister of State in the ministry, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia, SAN, and former Steel Minister, Dieziani Allison-Madueke

While Ajumogobia and Allison-Madueke, it was learnt, were being pushed by two separate interests, a group that is lobbying the Acting President for Ogiewonyi who is representing Edo State, was said to have recommended him because of his technical knowledge of the petroleum  industry. According to a source,  “Those pushing for the nomination of a technocrat in the oil sector are looking for the achievement of so many things in one piece because oil industry is not only important but it is linked with the attainment of stable power supply and sustainable economy.”

Power blocks behind nominees

A source in the Presidency told Vanguard, yesterday, evening that close aides of the Acting President have come under intense lobby from supporters and power blocs behind the ministerial nominees to ensure that their preferred candidates did not get less prominent positions.

The source said: “This is the last cabinet before the next elections, so nobody wants to be left out. The position one occupies would, to a large extent, determine his or her  relevance in the next elections so all the power blocs are keen on having their ways.”

For the Ministry of Finance, it was gathered that the consideration was between Mr. Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga and the former Minister of State for Finance, Remi Babalola.  Navy Captain Olubolade was expected to go to the Ministry of Works of Housing.

The source added: “However, the consideration is that since Remi Babalola was part of the team that was sacked by the Acting President, it is not likely that he would go to the Finance ministry but he may be pushed to either the National Economic Planning or to the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory as the Minister since he was seen to have done well as supervisor of the Ministry when President Yar’Adua dissolved the cabinet.”

One portfolio that appears to have been settled seem to be that of Information and Communication which appear to have been left for the former Deputy Governor of Nasarawa, Labaran Maku. He has the credibility and at this time, Nigeria needs somebody who will effectively and efficiently sell her. We have that in Maku” the source told Vanguard, yesterday.

John Odey was being tipped for either the Interior Ministry or Aviation.

ABUJA—APPARENTLY remorseful over his misguided comments on Nigeria, Libyan dictator, Colonel Mamman Ghadaffi yesterday began an apologetic moves aimed at healing wounds inflicted on Nigeria, following the diplomatic row that resulted from his call for the splitting of Nigeria along religious lines.

This is coming on the heels of the Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan’s warning that African leaders should exercise restraint while making statements that affect the psychology of the people and governments of other countries of the continent, insisting that leaders must be very diplomatic in their comments and utterances.

Ghadaffi’s move was announced at a meeting between Jonathan and the Liberian President, Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson who led a high power delegation of the Libyan government headed by that country’s special envoy and the Secretary General of World Islamic Call Society based in Tripoli, Muhammed A. Sherif.

Another member of the Libyan peace mission to Nigeria is Mr. Rafa Al-Madani, the Executive Secretary Forum for Arab-African, a Non Governmental Organisation, NGO, also based in Tripoli and three embassy staff in Nigeria.

Briefing newsmen at the end of the diplomatic talks, the Senior Special Assistant to the Acting President on Media and Publicity, Mr Ima Niboro, said the move “is actually an initiative on her (Liberian president) part to broker rapprochement between Nigeria and Libya.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/04/01/ghadaffi-apologises-to-nigeria-over-comments/

Yenagoa— Governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of political vendetta.

The governor also raised alarm over an alleged plot by some political elements to destabilize the state.

Governor Sylva spoke Tuesday evening shortly after visiting the Medium Security Prison, Kuje, Abuja, to share in the difficult moments of the detained state government treasury officials currently standing trial for alleged financial misconduct.

The governor in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Doifie Ola, condemned the EFCC for trying desperately to compromise the laws of the land which state that an accused must be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Accountant General, Mr. Francis Okokuro, Director of Treasury, Mr. Abott Clinton, and his predecessor, Mr. Anthony Ikhoboh, were taken into custody by the EFCC on 16 March 2010.

They were charged to court after over a week in EFCC detention, despite securing a court order from the Federal High Court, Yenagoa, directing their release.

The Federal High Court trying them for alleged corruption subsequently ordered that they be kept at Kuje Prisons until the case comes up on 13 April 2010.

They have, however, filed an application for bail, which will be ruled upon today.

The statement quoted Chief Sylva as saying that  “The EFCC has continued to treat these officers as if they are already guilty when the allegations against them have not been tested in a court of competent jurisdiction.

“The allegations against the Bayelsa State officials are steeped in politics. As far as our laws go, the EFCC is not a political party. This is a commission that was established for the purpose of fighting corruption. Regrettably, it has chosen to dabble into politics.”

The governor, according to the statement, revealed that the state government has uncovered a plot by a few political elements, supported by highly placed individuals, to stage protests in the state capital  in the same way same agents of destabilizations moved against ex-Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.

He warned political leaders in the state and beyond not to set in motion a chain of events, the end of  which they were not in a position to determine.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/04/01/sylva-accuses-efcc-of-political-vendetta/