₦airaland Forum

Presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, (Winners’ Chapel), Bishop David Oyedepo, has insisted that he never received bribe from any politician.

Oyedepo said this during his Sunday sermon titled: “Convenant day of open doors”.

The fiery cleric, who was last week criticized for attending the reconciliation meeting between PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and former president Olusegun Obasanjo, maintained that he belonged to no political party.

He, however, stated that he was a peace mediator.

Oyedepo said, “I have never belonged to any political party and will never belong to one, wherever parties you are in that is where I am in.

”There is no party without winners in it, if you get to any party and you dno’t see any winner in it you better check out of there, even the one that have not being formed winners are there.

”Our goal is to secure the glorious destiny of our nation by paying whatever price it require.

“I have never taken any dime from any political candidate in my life, I am a mediator.

‘’The price of peace is far cheaper than the cost of war so what we are saying is let us talk this over don’t let us exchange blows.

“Let us be mature and be sincere, lets give chance to reason and let the wicked turn from their wicked ways. We have to do it by appealing to people reasoning.

”Does anybody here want to see war? The 30 months war we fought, the effect keeps lingering, you won’t see war again in the name of Jesus.”

Chelsea and Arsenal have reacted to Super Eagles’ 4-0 victory over Libya in the 2019 African Cup of Nations, AFCON, qualifying encounter played on Saturday evening.

Three goals from Changchun Yatai star, Odion Ighalo, and a goal from Kalu Uche, ensured that the Super Eagles took all three points in Uyo.

The two Premier League clubs, monitored the game due to their respective players, Ola Aina and Alex Iwobi, who were in action for Gernot Rohr’s side.

In their match review, Chelsea stated through their official website, that: ”Ola Aina also started on the bench for Nigeria’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier but he was introduced into the action much sooner.

”An injury led to our 22-year-old defender, who is currently on-loan in Italy at Torino, coming on after just 18 minutes of a home game against Libya. Nigeria were 1-0 up at that stage and Aina was able to play his part in a clean-sheet performance, with the Super Eagles running out 4-0 winners despite being without our former midfielder and their current captain John Mikel Obi due to injury. Kenneth Omeruo was an unused sub.”

On their part, Arsenal also stated through their official website that: ”Alex Iwobi claimed an assist in Nigeria’s 4-0 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying win over Libya….

”Iwobi then set up Ighalo’s second with an inch-perfect through ball, with the former Watford striker claiming his hat-trick soon after. ”

Meanwhile, Nigeria will travel to Tunisia to take on Libya in the return leg on Tuesday.

Oluwaseun David, a 28-year-old resident of Babs Ladipo Street, New Oko-Oba, Lagos State, was the ideal child any family would desire – passionate, intelligent, hard-working and admirable.

Sadly, the graduate of Yaba College of Technology left behind those sterling qualities last Sunday when some armed robbers attacked his mother’s shop in front of their residence and shot him dead.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that the three-man robbery gang on a motorcycle stormed the street around 9pm that evening during a downpour, which kept most people indoors.

It was gathered that David’s mother, who sells confectionery, was packing loaves of bread into the shop when two of the robbers came down from the bike and confronted her.

They were said to have dispossessed her of all she had made from her sales for the day.

During the incident, a relative of the woman who was around the shop reportedly rushed into the compound to alert the residents.

David, popularly known as Theogas, was said to have rushed out to know if her mother was safe when one of the assailants shot him in the neck and fled the scene.

He gave up the ghost while being taken to Agege-Orile General Hospital, Lagos.

The grief that trailed the tragic incident was still intense during our correspondent’s visit to the deceased’s family on Wednesday.

A banner with the inscription, “We celebrate your life, Oluwaseun Theophilus David (Theogas),” hung in front of the shop in memory of the late engineer.

David’s younger sister, Blessing, who spoke on behalf of her distraught parents, said the incident had dealt a devastating blow to the family.

She said David might have survived if he had been given prompt medical attention, noting that he was rejected in the first private hospital he was taken to because the doctor was not around.

She said, “Around 9pm last Sunday, some robbers attacked my mother in her shop and took away all she had made from her sales at gunpoint. She sells bread, recharge cards and drinks. It was raining heavily and she was packing bread into the shop when the robbers came.

“They were three in number and they came on a motorcycle. Two of them followed my mum into the shop. They checked different spots she kept her money within the shop and emptied everything. It was like they already knew where she kept her money.

“There was no resistance. One of my cousins with her at the shop ran into the compound, shouting ‘thief, thief!’ My brother (David) rushed downstairs. As he was about to go out of the gate, one of the robbers shot him in the neck.

“We took him to two private hospitals which rejected him. We were told in one of the hospitals that doctor was not around. We then took him to Ahmadiyya General Hospital which referred him to the Orile-Agege General hospital. He died on the way there.”

Blessing described Seun as a promising and intelligent youth, noting that his death was a huge loss to the family.

“He was a graduate of electrical engineering. People contracted him for electrical installations and he ran a gas station called Theogas,” she added.

David’s neighbour, Mrs. Omobolanle Oladeji, spoke in tears while sharing the fond memories she had with him, lamenting how she would sorely miss him.

She said, “He was a nice person. He was ready to go the extra mile to make people happy. I’ve lost count of the number of times he rendered help to me. When I wasn’t around, he would pick my children from school. And that was how he was generous to everybody. Maybe the robbers thought he knew them.”

A resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the street had become notorious for robberies lately, thereby creating panic in the minds of residents.

He said, “Recently, during the governorship primary, hoodlums with guns paraded the street in the afternoon. People had to run to safety. One woman was receiving a call; they pointed a gun at her and collected the phone.

“For three weeks now, there have been cases of phone snatching in this area. We are now living in fear both day and night. I can no longer walk on the street with my phones.”

A community leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said the street had become vulnerable to attacks, urging the police to come to their rescue.

He said, “Thugs have been terrorising people day and night, moving around with guns. We are not safe. The police should come to our rescue. We can’t bear this anymore.”

The troubled area is under the jurisdiction of the Oko-Oba Police Station.

A businessman, who lives on Sam Fakayode Close, New Oko-Oba, said his house had been attacked four times adding that the robbers succeeded in three of the operations.

The victim, who identified himself simply as Bidemi, said the bandits usually gained entry through an abandoned building on Akinsegun Street, which adjoins the close.

“The close has a gate manned by a guard, so the robbers don’t come in through the gate. The first time they came was last year. They removed all the light bulbs in the surroundings. It was when I woke up the following day that I discovered they had torn my window net. They stole my wife’s wristwatch and the jewellery she kept close to the window.

“In January 2018, they came to our compound again; tore my window net and stole my wife’s bag. They also removed all the shoes outside the compound and went away with my generator. While we were searching everywhere the following morning, we found the generator close to the abandoned building.

“A few months after, I was watching news on TV around 2am, when I heard the sound of footsteps at the back of the window. When I shouted thief, thief, the persons jumped back into the compound. We have been complaining to the owner of the building, but he did not do anything about it. I learnt he had sold the building to a Yahoo boy (Internet fraudster).”

Bidemi said on September 20, the robbers again raided houses, including his, and carted away property worth millions of naira.

He explained that the hoodlums went away with cash, 10 expensive phones belonging to him, his wife and their visitors, gold jewellery, two laptops, a play station (gaming gadget), among other valuables.

Another resident, Adeniyi, said some people had temporarily relocated following the incessant attacks, noting that there was a need for regular patrol of the area by the police.

Adeniyi, who called our correspondent on the telephone on Thursday, said a private hospital in the community was also attacked on Wednesday night.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Chike Oti, promised to get back to our correspondent with comments on the incident.

The spokesman for the Coalition for Nigeria Movement, Mr. Akin Osuntokun, has identified the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, as an instrument chosen by God to rescue Nigeria from the “dark and dangerous” route President Muhammadu Buhari has taken the country.

Osuntokun, the CNM’s Director of Strategic Communications, in a statement on Friday, described former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s endorsement of Atiku for President as a move to save the country.

He said Obasanjo’s move was premised on the need to put personal differences aside for the greater good, adding that such considerations underlie the reconciliation between the former President and his deputy.

He said, “To put it mildly, these are desperate times in Nigeria and desperate problems readily provoke desperate measures.

“Confronted with the present danger and calamity that the presidency of Buhari poses to Nigeria, the choice and course of action open to any responsible Nigerian statesman is clear – and that is the subordination of all personal differences to the task of rescuing Nigeria from the fast pace of downward spiral towards the political abyss.

“And God, in his inimitable ways, has seen fit to choose Atiku Abubakar as the instrument of rescuing Nigeria from the dark and dangerous turn that the incumbent driver has taken the country.

“It is perhaps for the task of the unprecedented challenge of this moment that God has been preparing Atiku – who like all mortals, is not without his share of human imperfections. To err is human; to forgive, divine.”

Osuntokun also identified the need to put personal differences aside for the greater good as the reason why Afenifere, a pan-Yoruba socio-political group, was now on the same page with Obasanjo.

“The political differences between Afenifere and Obasanjo are an open secret but in deference to the same logic, it has not been difficult for the two parties to subsume their differences, close ranks and find equal purpose in halting and reversing the Buhari trend that endangers all,” he said.

Describing the choice between Buhari and Atiku as easy for Nigerians to make, the spokesperson for the 2003 presidential ticket of Obasanjo and Atiku, noted that comparing the two was like “comparing sleep to death or lifelessness – apologies to Donald Trump”.