₦airaland Forum

@ MollyJolly: I agree you have a right to express your view. However, it would appear that you have some allegiance to this Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, the so-called man of God.  Considering your first posting on this site relates to this theme: you've simply been on this site to defend Chris Oyakhilome, which, in my humble opinion, you have grossly failed to accomplish. Instead, you've resorted to preaching, which is absurd. So, to come on here to presumably to defend this guy without assembling and marshalling your points in a very convicting manner, but to think you have the credibility to start preaching is one of the most appalling things I've ever encountered. Only a fool would want to take your preaching seriously. Why not? You lack the credibility and integrity, which is what this whole posting is about: the credibility, integrity, uprightness, respectability and morality of the so called Pastor Chris Oyakhilome is—in the light of these and other allegations—continuously at stake. Assuming you belong to his ministry, what you guys need to do is to set up a panel of enquiry; thoroughly investigate this matter and bring the culprits to justice: discipline and redeem them because I don’t believe in condemnation. Mark you! This is not how to do Evangelism.

Today, the punch reported (http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201001284233884) that Akingbola‘s asset in the UK had been frozen. These assets, amongst others, include properties at: Milverton Road, Ikoyi, Lagos; Amazing Grace Plaza, Ligali Ayorinde Street, Victoria Island, Lagos; No. 2, Bedwell Road, Ikoyi; No. 26 Chester Terrace, London, England, NW1 4ND; No. 65 Gove-End Road, London NW8 9NH, England, No. 8 Connaught Street, London W2 2AH, England (You needed to have won lottery to have properties at these UK addresses: the wages of an astronaut, a neuro surgeon and other top notch professions won't secure one person simultaneous ownership of houses at these UK addresses)

What does this say about PASTORS, considering the fact that Erastus Akingbola is a Pastor? How is THE REDEEM CHURCH, where Akingbola continues to serve as a PASTOR, portrayed through this? Given that Akingbola has not been defrocked, in spite of his multitude of financial misdemeanours, how does this depict the Redeem Church? Is the REDEEM CHURCH itself not in need of REDEMPTION? Can you really trust anyone these days, even the so called Servants of God? Given, Akingbola‘s connectedness with the AEROPLANE purchased by THE REDEEM CHURCH (http://allafrica.com/stories/200903100131.html), what does this say about other assets of this church, and how can one rationally adjudge other assets of the Redeem Church? What's the implication of this for other church ministers (http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/opinion/2009/mar/17/opinion-17-03-2009-001.htm) flying around in jets?

Which professions and professionals can youngsters look up to as role models, these days? Growing up, one looked up to lawyers (these days many, though not all, are charge and bail experts: period); one looked up to bankers (today, they’re, in the main, no different from armed robbers); youngsters looked up to Politicians—the likes of Bisi Onabanjo, Adekunle Ajasin, et al who selflessly served this country—(today, they’re all looters who deserved to be eliminated: the Jerry Rawlings style). This connection raises a million questions which sociologists of religion ought to be concerned with.

In terms of LEGALITY, there is no difference between court wedding and church wedding held in the Anglican and Methodist churches, and possibly other similar churches. Why? before any weddings could take place in these denominations, you would have to file marriage notice for specified amount of time, and the 'bans of marriage' must be annouced 3 weeks before the wedding day. At the wedding service, you follow a religious rite, and sign, in triplicate, the same marriage certificate you would have in the Court: the church retains a copy and you're given two copies  - 1 for the couple and the other to be handed over by the couple to the local registry. In these respects, the legality of marriages in these churches is at par with those held in the court.  THIS MAY NOT BE THE CASE WITH CHURCHES MUSHROOMING ALL OVER NAIJA. Saying that, it's a criminal offence (which attracts a jail term) to conduct wedding(s) in a church that has not be so licensed.

I think this question has to be 'qualified' and 'reframed' before any meaningful answers can be rationally expresed! This is becuase the question itself raises other questions as follows: Is the lady formerly or actively a call girl? Is the man wittingly or unwittingly marrying the Call Girl? To reframe this question in order to elicit thoughtful answers, I'll pose the question thus: Will you, wittingly or unwittingly, marry a former or active call girl for any reason?

Amongst other things, this proves that we're still very, very barbaric as a nation. Imagine the comments made by the FRSC Boss. In the developed world, plate numbers of those cars would be taken, car owners traced (and if they weren't driving when filmed, they would have to produce the drivers) and the drivers prosecuted for dangerous driving. This cannot, simply be taken for car racing. In fact, if the car that ran into the crowd of onlookers/pedestrians, injured or killed anyone, the driver, in the developed world would have to cool his/her feet in jail. But Nigeria is a Banana republic. What happened to those drivers? Nothing, I guess!

This is pure madness! The teaching is lacking in biblical, theological, moral, and indeed, rational justifications. If the 'pervert preacher' equates your "first fruits" to your “first salary”, requesting that this should go to your pastor, what, in philosophy is called "clear thought and logic" necessarily implies that your “first son”, “first house”, “first car”, “first wife”, indeed anything you qualify with the word "first" should go to your pastor otherwise you’ll be breaking the rule of not handing over your first fruits to this “twisted preacher” who needs his head (or those of his flock) examined. It’s a free world. So, choose this day who ye will serve. Good luck if you choose to go down the lane of giving your first everything to the guy.

@ adeniyi334 “Nigerian students should give themselves some brain!!!“  I’m more persuaded that Nigerian leaders should give themselves some brain. UNN’s VC studied from undergrad to PhD level, the latter at Strathclyde in Glasgow through federal scholarships, now he chairs a meeting that increased fees which most parents cannot afford to pay – a situation that has led many Nigerian youths into shady lifestyles, for example prostitution, etc. Don’t misunderstand me, you don’t have to embark on shady lifestyle due to this sort of thing, and it’s no justification for such a lifestyle, but the reality is hardship has forced many students into lifestyles which they themselves aren’t proud of: lifestyles I personally abhor. Universities should device more creative ways of independently raising funds rather than make life more difficult for poor students.

@ Ogetogeo (m) “When THISDAY contacted Okolo [UNN’s Registrar] on phone, he denied any increment in school fees, But THISDAY gathered that the details of the new fees’ regime, showed that school fees was increased from N25,000 to N70,000, acceptance fees from  N6,000 to N25,000 and convocation fees from N6,000 to N35,000.”

The question which continuously puzzles me is this: Why do we have liars and dishonest people at the helms of affairs in Nigeria’s public institutions? The Registrar should simply have declined comments rather than tell lies. He is unfit to occupy that position. Because, if he could lied about this type of case, he cannot honestly discharge his duties particularly when it comes to matters relating to admissions and students’ grades, to mention just two important roles attached to his office. This is a shame. In the developed world, this is enough to sack him. It’s just another example of barbaric leadership in another facet of the Nigerian society.

Now, assuming UNN, in the face of poor governmental funding, needed to increase fees so it could provide better education for its students, what's the rationale for increasing Acceptance Fees from  N6,000 to N25,000; and, Convocation Fees from N6,000 to N35,000, would the latter make graduating students collect their certificates on graduation day? This country is in serious trouble in all its facets, and until we take the bull by its horns, Nigeria will never change for good. In any case, it hasn't in the last 25 years when things have been perpetually degenerating by the second.

@ Katsumoto: I've repeatedly emphasised on NL that it's high time Northern and Southern Nigeria split. Let the Gworo mouthed and teeethed Northerners go it alone. If this had happened, the rest of us Southerners wouldn't be tarred with the same brush of being "fundamental Muslim terrorist." The problem is that our 'so-called' leaders in Southern Nigeria have sold our birth-rights to the Northerners. The day would, however, come when all these leaders (Northerners and Southerners alike) would, without exemption, have to face the wrath of gunmen, and in Jerry Rawling's mutiny style, be unsparingly eliminated.

The question we should be asking ourselves on this forum is this: how many previous projects have been satisfactorily completed by Akala's administration which guarantees the electorate that this is not an 'elephant' project aimed at siphoning 4.6billion naria? It would make sense if Akala's administration picked one hospital, say, Ado Oyo in Ibadan, bring it to the 'state of art' that it should be, to exemplify how the remaining hospitals billed to be revamped would look like. Nigerian leaders are, by and large, very, very corrupt and should all, in the Jerry Rawling's Ghanaian Style, be  eliminated.

@ mama-gee: Paedophilia is a term which applies to an adult having sexual relationship(s) with a child. International human rights law, particularly the UNCRC, defines a child as anyone under the age of 18. So, the 18 year old is no longer a child. In fact the age of criminal liability is sometimes as low as 13. Besides, although the age of consent vary from one countyry to the other, in the British legal system--a system which gave birth to the Nigerian legal system, being a former British Colony--the age of consent is 16. I think the accusation of the 27 year old teacher being a paedophile seems misguided, except you're 100% sure the relationship started when the boy was both a minor (under 18) and under the legal age (16) of consent. It would be nice if we, as posters on NL, would always, critically consider both sides of the coin, and constructively respond to postings on this site. I'm fed up of people who have turned this site to gabbage hipping ground/site. For some of us, it's one of the ways of exchanging views on happenings back home in Naija.

As a Nigerian, teaching in a UK school, my first reaction is legal, raising a set of interrelated legal questions as follows. Is this 18 year old boy still in school? Is the female teacher teaching in the boy's school? Was the boy under 16 when the sexual relationship started? If there is one or more YES answer/answers to these questions, then the teacher, acting in 'locum parentis' has not only broken the law, but also betrayed the 'TRUST' placed on her by the public/state. Here in the UK, this attracts a JAIL sentence, whether or not a pregnancy is involved. Conversely, however, if the answer to each of these questions is a straight 'NO,' then the 27 year old female teacher has no legal issues to face. It's simply the issue of sex between two consenting adults, the female teacher need not be ashamed of the affair, they should get on with their lives--the 18 year old, obviously, should find something worthwhile to do (embark on further education or pursue a vocational training), allow the child to live ('am a pro-life person), and bring up the child, and even have more, if they wish. GOOD LUCK TO THE TWO.

Dear Ujujoan,

My initial posting was borne out of the Nigeria and Nigerians I saw during my recent visit back home. Quite clearly, Nigeria is degenerating by the minute. And, the people who are bent on ruining Nigeria don’t even have their children within its shores. They are studying in top notch universities in the UK, USA, Canada, etc, and living on proceeds of chronic embezzlement in the choicest cul-de-sacs of the world’s major cities: London, New York, Toronto, etc, while the children of the poor masses who should be benefitting from the country’s wealth are decaying in Nigerian universities where they are awarded degrees that’s not worth the paper they written on. Ujujoan, please be informed that this is a free world, where, within reason, people have the right to freedom of expression. What I've expressed is perfectly within the ramifications of my rational thinking and my head needs no examining. You’re however, welcome to put on your thinking cap, and respond constructively to my initial posting.


While I agree with Gold-mind that ‘Many sees it as an opportunity to take their share of the national cake, while other sees it as their birthright,’ I cannot agree with his/her claim that ‘Our problem is not the mismanagement of the current leaders.’ In fact that is the first problem that must be tackled. If we have a Jerry Rawlings replica, who after wiping out the leaders would then adopts the Idiagbon style, those who think Nigeria’s wealth is a national cake or birthright must be prepared to face the music with drummers and singers from hell. I was in school when Idiagbon ruled Nigeria. There was absolute Law and Order. Cheat in exams and you bag 20 years jail term. Push drugs and you face firing squad. Fail to use the overhead foot-bridge in Nigeria’s major cities and you regret it. Drop banana skins on the streets and bear the brunt. Decorum and discipline was the order of the day in those few months before Babangida came to derail the process over the alleged involvement of Maraim Babangida in Gloria Okon’s drug peddling. Babangida’s rule finally hammered the death knell and today Nigeria needs drastic measures: desperate times requires desperate measures. No amount of Holy Ghost night prayers would solve Nigeria’s problems. It would only perpetually enrich Adeboye’s church and increase his financial kingdom. To conquer, God’s people, Israel fought and fought and fought until they overcame. Nigeria must fight those who're bent on its destruction, destroy them before this nation becomes irreversibly destroyed.

The state in which Nigeria is, today, requires a repeat of what Flight Lieutenant (Rtd) Jerry Rawlings did in Ghana, returning it from doom and gloom that it was to the vibrant state that it has become today. This is, therefore, a clarion call to any Nigerian Jerry Rawlings, currently serving in the Nigerian Army to take up arms and massacre all Nigeria's former and current leaders, including current governors, senators, members of the house of representatives, the likes of Mrs Oceanic, et al. Nigeria simply can't continue as it is.

Since Nov 27th, the President has been hospitalised in Saudi Arabia. Media reports show that Nigerians are simply in the dark as to, and left to purely speculate on, Yar Adua's health status; no concrete plans are in place to keep the country properly governed; Jonathan Goodluck is simply a lame duck, a weakling, a holdover, and benchwarmer, marauding in his stupid hat - an apparent relic of colonialism.

People are talking about prayers and praying for Yar Adua's recovery when they should be praying that God eliminates him as he did Abacha. I pray, not for  Yar Adua's recovery, but for the day when a Nigerian Jerry Rawlings would take up arms and terminate all 'terminate-able for the younger generation of Nigerians to witness, in Nigeria, the regeneration which younger generations of Ghanaians are witnessing in Ghana, today. Nigeria's situation, cannot, simply continue as it is.

Also, if Nigeria had broken up and the Northerners are on their own the listing Nigeria as a terrorist state (a situation which Umar Abdulmutallab has brought upon us), would not have happened. Besides, if Yar Adua chooses to rule Northern Nigeria from Saudi (or even Afghanistan) for a decade, if anyone would care, it would be the Hausa-Fulani, but i doubt, they would given that they support he continues to rule Nigeria, even on his sick bed from Saudi: they know not better!

x

My response to this question is informed by someone's educational history that I have first hand experience of. Some ten years ago, he completed his BA degree in Music. Whilst studying for his music degree people scornfully questioned the rationale for pursuing a degree in music, asking whether or not he needed to spend 4 years in the university to become a musician. Afterall, Michael Jackson (to the best of my knowledge) didn't gain a degree in Music. Neither did many of the globally renowned musicians (Sunny Ade, Bob Marley, Charlotte Church, Paul McCartney, Elvis Presley, Britney Spears, etc). He simply told them he was following his mind: He enjoyed listening to, and performing, western classical music -- a music genre which sections of the Nigerian population doesn't identify with. Within one year of graduating this lad had an offer of admission and full scholarship each in UK, USA and Canada.  He considered, on balance, to proceed to the UK and completed his masters degree. He further gained a PGCE, a qualification requisite for teaching in UK schools. He has since been legally and permanently residing in the UK, teaching/lecturing music.

Here in the UK (and possibly in USA, Canada, and other parts of the world where it is happening) what is important is, in many respects, not the subject of your degree qualification but the class of your degree. With your BA in Religion, or BA/BSc in any subject, even Igbo, you can, for example, pursue one of several one-year “conversion courses” designed to enable graduates in subjects other than computer science or business studies to complete MSc in Computing/Business Managament and become experts in IT/Business. If you choose to teach, Religious Education is a compulsory subject in UK publicly funded schools, and, in deed, there is an acute shortage of qualified Religious Education teachers. Your BA in Religion perfectly prepares you (upon obtaining a PGCE) to teach this subject in the UK.

If you think you're destined to live and die in Nigeria, think locally! If you think the sky is even not the  limit, in this time and age of space exploration/expedition, click these webliknks (http://www.hds.harvard.edu/faculty/olupona.cfm; http://www.wfu.edu/religion/Faculty&Staff/Ilesanmi.html; http://www.div.ed.ac.uk/aadogame.html; ). These guys started, decades ago, and were, in different Nigerian Universities, at the same academic level you are today, studying Religion. What stops you from reaching where they are today? Studying Religion doesn't mean you should become ordained or self-acclaimed pastor and founder if you don't have the calling. You can branch out to cognate field (sociology and anthropology, possibly of religion), and you can remain within the field, and realise your potentials to the fullest.

DVIRGIN, FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS, IF YOU HAVE ANY! THANK YOU.