₦airaland Forum

area father, u just kñow.Gej is a mistake and I thank God that we corrected our mistakes.

chai Nigerians no get work

hmm,fayose the clown.

Naija mata don taya me...

Must he post it online, men Nigeria celebrity...next na cloth...oshe....

Oshe poju ni nairaland..abeg nairaland need reform urgently....

Hisses,awon oniranu

The Seven Day Week
The Naming of the Days
Sunday -- Sun's day
Monday -- Moon's day
Tuesday -- Tiu's day
Wednesday -- Woden's day
Thursday -- Thor's day
Friday -- Freya's day
Saturday -- Saturn's day

The Seven-Day WeekThe Babylonians marked time with lunar months. They proscribed some activities during several days of the month, particularly thefirst -- the first visible crecent,seventh -- the waxing half moon,fourteenth -- the full moon,nineteenth -- dedicated to an offended goddess,twenty-first -- the waning half moon,twenty-eigth -- the last visible crecent,twenty-nineth -- the invisible moon, andthirtieth (possibly) -- the invisible moon.The major periods are seven days, 1/4 month, long. This seven-day period was later regularized and disassociated from the lunar month to become our seven-day week.
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The Naming of the Days.

.The Greeks named the days week after the sun, the moon and the five known planets, which were in turn named after the gods Ares, Hermes, Zeus, Aphrodite, and Cronus. The Greeks called the days of the week theTheon hemerai"days of the Gods". The Romans substituted their equivalent gods for the Greek gods, Mars, Mercury, Jove (Jupiter), Venus, and Saturn.(The two pantheons are very similar.) The Germanic peoples generally substituted roughly similar gods for the Roman gods, Tiu (Twia), Woden, Thor, Freya (Fria), but did not substitute Saturn.
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Sunday -- Sun's dayMiddle Englishsone(n)dayorsun(nen)dayOld Englishsunnandæg"day of the sun"Germanicsunnon-dagaz"day of the sun"Latindies solis"day of the sun"Ancient Greekhemera heli(o)u, "day of the sun"
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Monday -- Moon's dayMiddle Englishmondayormone(n)dayOld Englishmon(an)dæg"day of the moon"Latindies lunae"day of the moon"Ancient Greekhemera selenes"day of the moon"
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Tuesday -- Tiu's dayMiddle EnglishtiwesdayortewesdayOld Englishtiwesdæg"Tiw's (Tiu's) day"Latindies Martis"day of Mars"Ancient Greekhemera Areos"day of Ares"Tiu (Twia) is the English/Germanic god of war and the sky. He is identified with the Norse godTyr.Mars is the Roman god of war.Aresis the Greek god of war.
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Wednesday -- Woden's dayMiddle Englishwodnesday,wednesday, orwednesdaiOld Englishwodnesdæg"Woden's day"Latindies Mercurii"day of Mercury"Ancient Greekhemera Hermu"day of Hermes"Woden is the chief Anglo-Saxon/Teutonic god. Woden is the leader of the Wild Hunt. Woden is fromwod"violently insane" + -en"headship". He is identified with the NorseOdin.Mercury is the Roman god of commerce, travel, theivery, eloquence and science. Heis the messenger of the other gods.Hermesis the Greek god of commerce, invention, cunning, and theft. He is the messenger and herald of the other gods. He serves as patron of travelers and rogues, and as the conductor of the dead to Hades.
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Thursday -- Thor's day Middle Englishthur(e)sday Old Englishthursdæg Old Norsethorsdagr"Thor's day"Old Englishthunresdæg"thunder's day"Latindies Jovis"day of Jupiter"Ancient Greekhemera Dios"day of Zeus".Thoris the Norse god of thunder. He is represented as riding a chariot drawn by goats and wielding the hammer Miölnir. Heis the defender of the Aesir, destined to killand be killed by the Midgard Serpent.Jupiter (Jove) is the supreme Roman god and patron of the Roman state. He is noted for creating thunder and lightning.Zeusis Greek god of the heavens and the supreme Greek god.
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Friday -- Freya's day Middle English fridai Old English frigedæg"Freya's day"composed ofFrige(genetive singular ofFreo) +dæg"day" (most likely)or composed ofFrig"Frigg" +dæg"day" (least likely)Germanicfrije-dagaz"Freya's (or Frigg's) day"Latindies Veneris"Venus's day"Ancient Greekhemera Aphrodites"day of Aphrodite"Freois identical withfreo, meaning free. It is from the Germanic frijaz meaning"beloved, belonging to the loved ones, not in bondage, free".Freya (Fria) is the Teutonic goddess of love, beauty, and fecundity (prolific procreation). She is identified with the Norse godFreya. She is leader of the Valkyries and one of the Vanir. She is confused in Germany with Frigg.Frigg (Frigga) is the Teutonic goddess of clouds, the sky, and conjugal (married) love. She is identified withFrigg, the Norsegoddess of love and the heavens and the wife ofOdin. She is one of the Aesir. She is confused in Germany withFreya.Venus is the Roman goddess of love and beauty.Aphrodite(Cytherea) is the Greek goddess of love and beauty.
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Saturday -- Saturn's day Middle EnglishsaterdayOld Englishsæter(nes)dæg"Saturn's day"Latindies Saturni"day of Saturn"Ancient Greekhemera Khronu"day of Cronus"Saturn is the Roman and Italic god of agriculture and the consort of Ops. He is believed to have ruled the earth during an age of happiness and virtue.Cronus(Kronos, Cronos) is the Greek god (Titan) who ruled the universe until dethroned by his son Zeus.

http://www.crowl.org/lawrence/time/days.html

http://www.siliconafrica.com/africans-live-on-a-continent-onwed-by-europeans/

Angered by what is going on, another one rushed his anger out: “These white people who employed Blacks to do their filthy jobs are more racist than the kkk. They’re in Africa. They know exactly what they’re doing and how the system of racism operates.

”Every time, this subject get on our table of discussion, people points out to me many white people who are good people and are really working to help Africa. And, that’s true. During a recent discussion, I’ve to write the following message to an Italian friend who don’t believe all white are “Devil with blue eyes!

”“It’s indeed an uncomfortable subject to talk about for all parties involved. The fact is that after 5 centuries, if Europe really wanted to help Africa, Africa should be in better shape.

As a general statement, Europe is only interested in exploitation of Africa. (again this is a general statement, because there are lot of people who are Europeans butreally interested to build sane relation with Africans). The problem is that these people don’t matter, which means they neither have the power or access to resource to make any structural or substantial change.They are only individuals with good faith and goodwill, while the western power elite and apparatus is against any real Africa emancipation.

They prefer Africa laying down.It’s easier for them to suck it.

The same nations you are calling for help are in no way interested inAfrica recoveryor renaissance. The longer Africa islaying down, they better they cansuck the blood out the continent and its people.

Our point is the following:What would you think if all decision levels in Switzerland will be hell by Chinese, and all major assets of the country in the hand of Russians. That’s is the case in majority of African countries. This why I wrote Africans live ona continent owned by Europeans. It’s not dependence, but colonization, because it’s a situations where European use brutal military force to maintain corrupted leaders who only will help them exploit the continent.

Africans are now only guest on their own continent. In fact, there is more to this debate that an email could carry. In conclusion, Africans like any other people need friends, but trust will be hard to earn back after 5 centuries of European machiavelism.”

You have no friend. Naivete is your curse.
Only the Paranoid survive!Beware, not all people who want to help you are your friends.

The Dream of Europeans is to transform the whole continent into South Africa or Kenya, where a white minority owns and controls the local economy, while Africans are just good like consumers or their servants .

The subject is uncomfortable but we need to talk about it, otherwise we will wake up with more Robert Mugabe who is doing a great job redressing centuries of white minority domination and exploitation of Zimbabwean people.

Let’s take a look at South Africa, a country where the white minority makes less than 10% of the population but owns more than 80% South African lands and economy. They didn’t buy those lands.

In South Africa 64% of top seniormanagement positions are filled by whites. 90% of the board of the Central Bank is made of the white minority. 90% of media is in the hands of Whites, who control content, project whiteness (local South African adverts have a 85% White representation) and marginalize and exploit Africans, with the exception of Africans being 86% represented in alcohol adverts. 97% of mainstream South African films are owned, produced and directed by non-Africans.

Africa without Africans is the dream of the local predatory, supremacist white minority.

A recent report came to challenge the well spread idea that the West is pouring money into Africa through aid without receiving much in return. All in contrary, the report proved that Africa has lost up to $1.4 trillion in illicit financial flows to the West from 1980 to 2009.This amount is 233 times the 60 billions foreign “aid” Africa supposedly receives every year from the West.

The illicit financial flows involve the transfer of money earned through corruption, bribes, tax evasion, criminal activities and transactions involving contraband goods. In the end, the report concluded that those illicit financial flow are fast growing and are far exceeding money coming into the continent, therefore seriously undermining the continent’s development.

Now let’s be clear, those illicit financial flow are organized by the very same foreign people who claim they come to help build Africa,the same people you and me see and meet everyday in Africa.

They might be your employers, your friends or neighbors but that doesn’t change the nature of who they are and what they are doing.Of course the localrich subalternshelping those folks got their big houses and cars, but Africa as a whole has no sustainable future with that model of development.

This is not different from colonial times! but it’s nicely called“Africa is Rising”.

Multinational Corporations arethe New Colonisers in Africa”
wrote Lord Aikins Adusei
60 years after the fictitious independence declarations, Africa is still controlled by European expatriates, oil companies, military forces, Banks, etc. Some Africans think that is good for Africa. They are the rich subalterns. Some others think Africans must free themselves from that European colonialism, and fight for more local ownership.

Now, comes a country like Kenya, which was not under any apartheid system like South Africa, but most corporations in Kenya have whole foreign boards. Most the country economical assets are in the hand of a tiny white minority helped but a horde of local subalterns.

A Kenyan friend shared with me the background tale: “One only needs to read about the origins and activities of the London Rhodesia Group (Lonrho) formerly run byTiny Rowlandto really appreciate the gravity of the situation in Africa. Lonrho perfected the art of acquiring valuable productive assets across the continent by targeting corrupt leaders with gifts and naive locals with confusing agreements and subterfuge.

One of the greatest beneficiariesof this approach was former president Moi of Kenya who pretty much gave up much of the country’s agricultural and hospitality sector crown jewels in exchange for accounts in the Caymans and gifts for his entourage of sycophants. Think about the major economic activities in Africa – Mining, Oil, Agriculture, Banking,Telecoms –Then think of the companies carrying out these activities – DeBeers, Anglo Ashanti, Shell, BP, Exxon, Barclays, Stanchart, Vodacom, Del Monte…. Get the picture?

Huge tracts of land in sub-saharan africa are owned byforeign agricultural companies paying low wages and repatriating the profits back to the western world in the form of dividends and management fees. The one country that is doing things a little different is Nigeria. A good number of Nigerian companies are bidding for oil services work in newly discovered oil fields in East and Central Africa and I am sure we all know about Aliko Dangote and his conglomerate of companies anchored by his cement production behemoth.” Concluded my friend.
Another Kenya friend commented “I am not sure why. Part of it might be a little bit of the colonial mentality–thinking foreigners are better than Kenyans. Part of it might be the foreigners represent the interests of multinationals that have invested in these companies (certainly the case with subsidiaries of multinationals like Safaricom, Barclays, Standard Chartered et al).
”A third Kenya came in“Look at modern Kenya today, sons of colonial chiefs and collaboratorsare now rulers and billionaires maintaining the status quo is genetically coded in them. Their children go to the best schools either in Kenya or abroad all run by the white, how can we redeem ourselves!”Another friend brought to our attention what is called White Code in Africa. He said
“White people stand with the white code. They only praise Black people or go near Blacks who serve their interest.”The latter are in their medias, at theirconferences, receive their Nobel prize and awards. This is how you know those who are workingagainst the continent interest.
Those who refuse to work for them fall under the rule “You are with us or against us”

One of the front-line religious leaders in
Nigeria, Bishop David Oyedepo has defended
the outrageous school fees paid by students of
the Covenant University – a private higher
institution owned by his ministry.
Dr David Oyedepo
Dr David Oyedepo, the Bishop of the Living
Faith Church worldwide, has appealed to those
criticising the school fees charged by
Covenant University to desist to avoid
incurring the wrath of God according to the
Vanguard.
Oyedepo, in a telecast to a pre-Shiloh 2016
Convention gathering of the church monitored
via satellite in Jos on Saturday, said the
critics were acting in ignorance and risked
incurring the wrath of God.
He said one of such critic smitten with a
strange plague of chronic mouth odour over
the act only received spiritual pardon
following his confession and “my intervention
before he was restored to dignity”.
Oyedepo said the issue of school fees paid by
students of the university was a godly agenda
to meet the demands of raising godly children
in an environment conducive for learning.
He said such criticisms were products of
ignorance as what students pay could not be
compared with what is obtained elsewhere
that lacked facilities.
“The school fees has God’s approval and is in
accordance with the quality of facilities
provided by the university in meeting the
educational needs of the nation,” he said.
He said the church in its pioneering role in
pushing the frontiers of education with
excellence had concluded plans to establish
offshore universities.

www.gltrends.ng/2016/11/covenant-university-school-fees-gods-approval-bishop-oyedepo-warn-critics/

The governorship election in Edo state has
been completed with Godwin Obaseki of the
APC declared the winner


– But Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) is resolute on
reclaiming the mandate he says was stolen


– Obaseki has now responded to Ize-Iyamu’s
claim that he sought the face of God and that
he was told to pursue the mandate till he
retrieves it


The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) in the recently concluded governorship
election in Edo state, Osagie Ize-Iyamu,
recently announced that he consulted God
after the result of the exercise was released
in favour of Godwin Obaseki of the All
Progressives Congress (APC).



He also said God categorically told him to
pursue his case till his electoral mandate that
was stolen is returned to him.



But in a reaction by Obaseki, as reported by
the APC TV, Ize-Iyamu may have lied against
God as the mandate never belonged to him in
the first instance.


Obaseki said Ize-Iyamu, a pastor, had
committed blasphemy, but that he is not
surprised the PDP candidate would lie against
God.

“These are signs of the end times as
forewarned by the Holy Bible,’ Obaseki said in
a statement by his principal press secretary,
Mr John Mayaki, in Benin City, the Edo state
capital.



“You never sought the face of God before,
during and after the election let alone hearing
from the Almighty God. I want to call on
unsuspecting public to beware of political
false prophets and pastors who lie in God’s
name and who come to them in sheep’s
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening
wolves.


“We know them in PDP and we know the
Pastor and his antecedents – Edo people
know them by their fruits. Does Pastor Ize-
Iyamu and PDP expect to gather grapes of
thorns, or figs of thistles and reap orange and
cherry? Let me remind them that every good
tree bears good fruit while a corrupt tree bears
evil fruit.


“A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,
neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good
fruit – so also, God cannot speak to Pastor
Osagie Ize-Iyamu and even if, not without
repentance – a contrite heart.



“Edo people cannot be deceived by Pastor Ize-
Iyamu’s importation of God’s name to
hoodwink and whitewash – we know that ‘not
every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that
doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.


“We are also aware that, ‘many will say to me
in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in thy name? and in thy name
have cast out devils? and in thy name done
many wonderful works? And then will I profess
unto them, I never knew you: depart from me,
ye that work iniquity’.



“Besides, Ize-Iyamu’s sacrilegious statement
has been condemned by well-meaning Edo
residents including Mr Elempe Dele.
“According to Elempe, ‘you said your ‘God’
asked you to ‘pursue and recover all without
fail’, I mean ‘your’ purported mandate – was
it the same ‘God’ that also said you should
disburse cash to induce electorates to vote for
you?


“Did you also sought the face of God over
Dasuki’s N700,000 million before you
collected it – has God asked you to return it
or not?


“Should a self-styled man of God, I mean
Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the PDP bribe, and
induce electorates instead of allowing them to
vote their conscience. I think there are people
who must be kept perpetually from the
corridors of power and top on the list is Ize-
Iyamu because of his desperation to become a
governor in a state where the people have a
sense of history.


“We can all see how he paid some youth
(some who actually voted for APC in the just
concluded election) for the protest. These were
youth the government he was a major player
could not provide jobs for throughout the 8
years he was in power with the infamous
Lucky Igbinedion.”


The statement also quoted Elempe as saying:
“I need Ize-Iyamu to tell us, in all honesty,
what he intends to achieve with this charade
called protest he orchestrated with some few
fallen members.


“It is known you are a lawyer, who had never
practised anywhere; are you now going to be
practising in the courts of public opinions as
a ‘protesting lawyer’ when there are courts of
competent jurisdiction or the tribunal to seek
redress if you have enough evidence to your
imaginary claims that you won the election?”
The statement reminded Ize-Iyamu that
“Godwin Obaseki has been declared the winner
and a certificate of return has been issued to
him and his deputy, Philip Shaibu; does Ize-
Iyamu think INEC would upturn their decision
based on his protest?


“There are over 2500 polling units (PUs)
during the election, ideally, you were supposed
to have PDP agents in all PUs, known to you
and PDP and who are expected to submit the
duplicate (pink) results that were given to
them by INEC on the spot where the results
were counted and announced. Are the results
with them different from the ones announced
by INEC?


“If you (Ize-Iyamu) received the results, as
collated and announced at each polling unit,
in the presence of your supporters, particularly
your agents, that means you must have
known the results the night before INEC
announced it, why not publish what you have
let the world see it?”

https://www.naij.com/1000766-exposed-ize-iyamu-really-lie-god.html?source=index_latest

Faith and believe are very addictive ,once you're addicted to it,you cannot let it go easily .All these people you see here. They are not God loving people ,they are God - fearing .sooner or later you will see them in hermitage again...be fearless...




The world"s so beautiful ,why should God live only in temples?





I say have Faith in him,believe in him from your heart and you will find God.
Try to find God in humans and you will find God in humans sticks,stones e.t.c....

Faith and believe are very addictive ,once you're addicted to it,you cannot let it go easily .All these people you see here. They are not God loving people ,they are God - fearing .sooner or later you will see them in hermitage again...be fearless...




The world"s so beautiful ,why should God live only in temples?

maiquel:
Who ask you?

did he mentioned your name.... Prate...prat

Swiss firms have been criticised in a report for
their links to the African trade in diesel with
toxin levels that are illegal in Europe.
Campaign group Public Eye says retailers are
exploiting weak regulatory standards
.


Vitol, Trafigura, Addax & Oryx and Lynx
Energy have been named because they are
shareholders of the fuel retailers.


Trafigura and Vitol say the report is
misconceived and retailers work within legal
limits enforced in the countries.


Three of the distribution companies mentioned
in the report have responded by saying that
they meet the regulatory requirements of the
market and have no vested interest in keeping
sulphur levels higher than they need to be.
Although this is within the limits set by
national governments, the sulphur contained
in the fumes from the diesel fuel could
increase respiratory illnesses like asthma and
bronchitis in affected countries, health experts
say.


Why are regulations so lax?..


The picture is changing but there are still
several African countries which allow diesel to
have a sulphur content of more than 2,000
parts per million (ppm), with some allowing
more than 5,000ppm, whereas the European
standard is less than 10ppm.
Rob de Jong from the UN Environment
Programme (Unep) told the BBC that there
was a lack of awareness among some policy
makers about the significance of the sulphur
content.


For a long time countries relied on colonial-
era standards, which have only been revised in
recent years.


Another issue is that in the countries where
there are refineries, these are unable, for
technical reasons, to reduce the sulphur levels
to the standard acceptable in Europe. This
means that the regulatory standard is kept at
the level that the refineries can operate at.
Some governments are also worried that
cleaner diesel would be more expensive,
therefore pushing up the price of transport.
But Mr De Jong argued that the difference was
minimal and oil price fluctuations were much
more significant in determining the diesel
price.


What's so bad about sulphur?


The sulphur particles emitted by a diesel
engine are considered to be a major
contributor to air pollution, which the World
Health Organization (WHO) ranks as one of
the top global health risks.
It is associated with heart disease, lung
cancer and respiratory problems.
The WHO says that pollution is particularly
bad in low and middle income countries.
Reducing the sulphur content in diesel would
go some way to reducing the risk that air
pollution poses.


What's being done about it?


Unep is at the forefront of trying to persuade
governments to tighten up the sulphur content
regulations and is gradually making progress.
In 2015, the East African Community
introduced new regulations for Kenya, Uganda,
Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Diesel cannot
now have more than 50ppm in those
countries.


It is clear that the situation has improved
since 2005.


Unep's Jane Akumu is currently working with
the West African regional grouping Ecowas
and its Southern African counterpart Sadc to
try and change the regulations there.
She told the BBC that she was optimistic that
governments would bring down the legal
sulphur limits as the arguments in favour are
compelling.
www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-37373414

tiwiex:
I think CBN is being unfair to the economy to make this announcement. The comments I read will be the same reservations by external investors. Can someone point out how releasing the news helps the banks or me and u. As a matter of fact, it puts them in a worseThese guys are still campaigning. They are ready to sabotage the economy to convince us they are working.

sorry bro you make no sense,bro leave sentiment aside....it seems you hate buhari
....

By Chioma Gabriel, Special Features Editor

A woman visiting her daughter for omugwo
from the South East Nigeria had her first
baptism of fire the first night she slept in her
daughter’s home when during the midnight
hour, she overheard somebody in the next
apartment shouting die, die, die.


She listened briefly to be sure of what she was
hearing and the shout of die, die, die
continued and it was too close. Just the next
flat. She checked her time and it was 12:30am
and she began to panic, thinking somebody
was being strangled to death nearby. She
rushed out of the guest room to the room her
daughter shared with her husband and
knocked frantically at the door.



When they opened, she almost jumped on
them in fear. “I think somebody is being killed
in this compound. It must be armed robbers”,
she lamented but her daughter calmed her
down.



“They are praying, Mama”, she explained. But
her mother was disturbed. What kind of person
would be praying for others to die, she
wondered. She listened again and the prayer
was still on. She shook herself in disbelief as
her daughter walked her back to the guest
room. Throughout the night even till about
3am, the shout continued. The woman soon
realised that it was going to be an everyday
ordeal. Her daughter carefully explained to her
that pentecostal churches pray like that and
that nobody was being killed.

‘He who comes to equity must come with
clean hands’


Charles, an engineer in a communication
company narrated how he made a call to a
female friend and obviously the person he
called was supposedly praying in the church.
“What I was hearing at the background was
Die, die, die. Any person who is against me
shall die, any person who is against my
progress shall die. God let my enemy die and
the person told me she was in church.



A male voice would say it (apparently the
pastor) and she would repeat it. A day later, I
got this woman on phone and I told her what I
heard her say in prayer and that God does not
answer such prayers. I told her that it was
better to pray to God to touch her enemy and
change him or her so that the world will
become a better place. She became angry,
telling me not to question her over her
religious beliefs. I have always known this
woman to be dating married men. I simply
said to her: “What if all married women pray
that God should kill all women who sleep with
their husbands? The call went off and the
conversation ended there.


A woman who is having an affair with a
married man and at the same time wearing
the toga of a pentecostal Christian of a
church where she was shouting die, die ,die !
Tell me, what manner of prayer is that,
especially when it was coming from a woman
like that who goes after married men? Even if
she has enemies, shouldn’t she be praying for
their repentance? Who does she want to be
dead?

“I may not know the Bible like they do but I
know the Bible said: Be not deceived; God is
not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to
his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but
he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit
reap life everlasting. Galatians 6:7-9



“He who comes to equity must come with
clean hands. Is she binding herself or someone
else? Because if you ask me, she is a cheat of
a Christian.” Have you ever prayed for
someone’s complete ruin? That God would
destroy them and wipe them off the face of the
earth? It doesn’t seem very Christian, does it?


‘Kill them’ brand of prayer



Nevertheless, these kinds of prayers are first
recorded in the Bible especially in the Book of
Psalms. Prayers that call for the death and
destruction of others are called imprecatory
prayers. You may not have given much
thought to this kind of prayer before. Or have
you? Those who read the Bible seriously can’t
ignore the passionate plea for the violent
destruction of enemies. Check out a few of
them for yourself in the following Psalms: 5,
10, 17, 35, 58, 59, 69, 70, 79, 83, 109, 129,
137, 139, 140.



When asked why his church prays the ‘die’
prayer all the time, a pastor of Mountain of
Fire and Miracles Ministries, MFM, said people
from outside the ministry misconstrue the
concept of MFM prayers and therefore cannot
judge the church.



“Nobody prays for anybody to die. In life,
people do not wrestle against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this age,
against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the
heavenly places. When a sick man comes to
church to pray for healing, it is the contrary
powers that inflicted the sickness that was
being addressed.



“People face all kinds of challenges in their
everyday life and those challenges weigh them
down. They come to church to pray for such
forces to releases them. The concept of death
in these prayers is spiritual because it is the
spiritual that controls the physical.



“But unfortunately, people who copy prayer
styles don’t understand and they inject other
meanings to it. That is their problem, not
MFM’s problems because many people who
don’t understand the prayer points of MFM
pray them without understanding.
Nonetheless, we pray violent prayers because
these are the end times and strange things are
happening in the world everyday. The Bible
tells me that from the days of John the
Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven
suffereth violence, and the violent take it by
force. That is just the truth.”


‘My sister prays die, die every night for hours
on end’


Chinonye, a broadcaster said she actually
wanted to start worshipping in one of the
branches of the church but was shocked by
the reception she got from the branch she
went to.


“I had just finished my NYSC in Calabar and
came to Lagos to live with my sister. We were
Catholic but inclined towards Pentecostalism.
My sister told me that since I’d finished NYSC,
I needed to undergo deliverance before
embarking on the search for work. She also
decided to join me in the deliverance
programme and so, early on a Monday
morning, we set out to the nearest branch of
the church.


My sister and I are both very fair and needed
spiritual intervention because her marriage
was not going well. I just came back with long
braids, fixed nails recently done and we
headed to the church. We were barely at the
entrance when some ‘holy’ people rushed at
us with jars of anointing oil and shouts of
‘Holy Ghost Fire, Holy Ghost Fire.’ They
almost blinded us with the oil as they shouted
‘marine spirit.




Die, die, die.’ We were overwhelmed and
flabbergasted. Then my sister asked them
whether it is the way they welcome new people
to the church. We didn’t understand when we
became marine spirit. They asked us to pull
everything, including jewelry, and almost
barbed my hair.



“I have no qualms if that is their way of doing
things but at least, they should allow a new
member to sit down before explaining their
doctrine and definitely, not the way they did.
They were too aggressive. Somebody who had
no knowledge of God will never go to any
church after that experience. Well, I left the
church and didn’t go back. I joined Redeemed
Christian Church of God and I have no regrets.
It is indeed a loving church because they
accepted and welcomed me with love and
made me feel at home before taking me
through the doctrine of the church. My sister
is still in the die,die,die church and because of
her fair fine looks, they have not accepted her
completely. My sister is one of them but they
still complain about her but she will always
tell them when they complain that God is sees
her heart.


“There are some good ones who encouraged
my sister to keep on when she becomes
completely overwhelmed. She told me there
are many bad people inside the church even
when the Founder is a good man. And she
also prays the ‘die’ prayer. You won’t believe
it, midnight hours are her prayer times. It’s
like she prays die, die, die every night for
hours on end.



“The die prayers work from what I can see in
my sister’s life. We dread her because she’s
very spiritual and prayerful. Now, she sees
visions and knows the thoughts of people and
she said she is not praying for anybody to die
but for her problems to cease.” A leader of the
female evangelism team of a Pentecostal
church said her church also prays the die
prayer. Evangelist Tinuke said she faces her
‘enemies’ squarely because the holy book
says ‘Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.’



‘The soul that sinneth shall die’




. “I was married for fifteen years without any
child. My husband and I separated many
times and reconciled. He is the only son and
you can imagine the predicament of not
having any child. It was as if their generation
was ending with him. That was when I went
Pentecostal. The first deliverance service I
attended did it all. The doctors had said
nothing was wrong with my husband and I.
“So, that night in the church, I prayed with
everything in me. I poured out my heart before
God. I prayed the die prayer in a special way
because I got a seat and sat the enemy on it.
I used clubs and anything I could lay my
hands on in the fight. I didn’t know whether
anybody was responsible for my predicament
or not. I was just praying and fighting whoever
or whatever.



“When I got home in the morning, my husband
and I got a call from the village that his
mother’s sister was seriously sick and
confessing unto death. She equally confessed
she was responsible for my woes because
since I got married to my husband, I was never
paying her attention, that I didn’t greet her on
my wedding day despite all her contributions
to the success of the wedding, that I was
proud. She died after her confession. Did I kill
her? The soul that sinneth shall die. I was
praying for God to take away my problems and
if somebody somewhere is responsible for it,
too bad for him or her.”



‘The best form of defence is attack’
Reminded that such prayers contradict the
teaching that said ‘Love your enemies’,
Evangelist Tinuke shook her head and said the
best form of defence is attack.



“If I pray for my enemies, I would be pouring
hot coals of fire on them. So, its the same
thing. My prayer against the enemy worked.
My enemy died even though I didn’t know she
was an enemy and today, I have three
children. Anybody who has to die for me to
make progress should die. Isaiah said ‘In the
year that king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord
sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and
his train filled the temple. ’


“Dear journalist, Isaiah said King Uzziah had
to die for him to see the glory of God and that
is my prayer. If anybody has to die for me to
see the glory of God, let him die. The enemy
will not destroy my life and later repent. He
will die before he destroys me and so, the die,
die prayer has to stay.”



One of the biggest problems Christians have
with such prayers is that Jesus’ words seem
to contradict the idea of praying for the
destruction of your enemy, like in the
following:



You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall
love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I
say to you, Love your enemies and pray for
those who persecute you, so that you may be
sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he
makes his sun rise on the evil and on the
good, and sends rain on the just and on the
unjust. Mat 5:43-45
.
But Pastor Ayodele of the CAC who claimed
the die, die prayer originated from it said:
“I don’t believe that either of these solutions
work well. Neither Jesus nor any of the other
New Testament writers specifically corrected
the prayers that asked for the punishment of
the enemy. In fact there are some New
Testament texts that also seem to be like that.
For instance, in the Book of Revelation, those
martyred cry out to God: “They cried out with
a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true,
how long before you will judge and avenge our
blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Rev
6:10 )
“No prayer is about personal revenge. When a
man’s soul is troubled and he cries out to God
and He shows mercy on him, He could kill for
the person. Yes, Jesus said we should love
our enemy and pray for those who persecute
us but He made it clear that when we pray for
our enemies, we pour hot coals of fire upon
them.
“Churches like MFM that pray the die prayer in
English and interpret in Yoruba spring from
CAC. Daniel Olukoya was a choir boy in CAC.
He is well read and understands the issue of
prayer and demons very well. But you cannot
vouch for everybody in the church. There are
all comers amongst the pastoral hierarchy just
like Jesus had Judas who betrayed him. You
cannot use the bad behaviour of few bad eggs
who claim they attend a particular church to
judge the rest of the people inside the church.
No.
“But no matter what you say, prayers are for
different purposes. They may be calls to God
for healing, guidance, or even a bit of rain to
drench a drought-ridden field. Some prayers of
petition are meant to kill.”
‘God may respond by choosing to kill
someone’
Pastor Goodluck of Gloryland Assembly said
God can answer prayers by killing someone.
“An acquaintance who suffered abuse from an
alcoholic father once said that, as a child, he
prayed for God to kill his dad. And in some
religious narratives about prayer, specifically
those found among certain kinds of
evangelicals who practise spiritual warfare,
God may respond by choosing to kill someone,
regardless of whether the human who made
the prayer wished such an outcome.
“I first became acquainted with spiritual
warfare several years ago, when a student
came into my office, sat down, and told me
that he was very tired from being out late the
previous night. He told me that he had been
out all night on a “prayer walk”. He was part
of a small group of evangelical students who
had walked the campus and town, using
prayer to discover “demonic strongholds”, and
then praying and reading Bible verses at those
spots in an attempt to banish the pesky
resident demons.
“One tale that the student shared from the
spiritual warfare conference described how a
“witch” died when they prayed persistently. So,
spiritual warfare marks boundaries, divides
pure from impure, distinguishes orthodox from
heretical, and separates godly from satanic.
And, sometimes, within this religious
imaginary, prayers can kill.
“The truth is, answered prayer may have many
more consequences than you have ever
thought about before. You may not even pray
for anybody to die but in the process of
answering someone’s prayer, God can kill.
“Consider this, everything we do has
consequences. Every decision we make
influences our own future and the future of
those whom our lives touch. The same holds
true with answered prayer. If God answers a
prayer and makes something happen that
normally wasn’t going to happen, everything
else is going to change after that answered
prayer. People will live and die that would
have died or lived in a different way.
You can’t change something without changing
everything. That is, unless we can imagine
God keeping track of all the answered prayers
and continually manipulating happenings so
that the answered prayer really doesn’t affect
anything else. This would make answered
prayer infinitely more difficult than just, for
instance, healing someone who was supposed
to die. That person who should have died now
takes up space that he shouldn’t be in. He will
affect other people’s lives just because he is in
that space. Everything is different, infinitely.”
‘The die, die prayer has become part and
parcel of the Pentecostal movement in Nigeria’
The book “Prayer is Good Medicine” by Larry
Dossey, tells a story about a man who was
injured in an automobile accident. According
to him, “Stephen was involved in a near fatal
auto accident and sustained serious injuries.
We immediately marshaled several prayer
chains in our church and the other churches
as well. His surgeons were astonished that he
survived the operations to save his life, calling
his response a miracle. As the man’s
recuperation continued, so did our prayers.
But, although he had been a successful
businessman and ideal father and community
leader, things were not the same. He seemed
to have lost his vitality and zest for life. He
was apathetic, as if he didn’t care. He was
argumentative, grouchy, and hard to tolerate.
This was a complete change from his previous
jovial self. He was indifferent to his wife and
children. Nothing seemed right.
Ten years later, he died of natural causes.
Several days after Stephen’s death, I was
startled in my meditation by his presence. He
stood in front of me laughing his previous
happy demeanor and said, “I finally won out
over all of you.” And then he was gone. As I
pondered this, I could come to only one
conclusion, Stephen hadn’t wanted to live or
perhaps hadn’t been meant to live. But the
power of all those prayers for his recovery had
bought him back.
“In the Pentecostal churches where they pray
die prayer, I know for sure that those who
understand the true doctrines may not
specifically be asking anybody to die.
Nevertheless, the die, die prayer has become
part and parcel of the Pentecostal movement
in Nigeria. In His bid to answer prayers, God
can kill and that is a fact.”


But Pastor Ayodele of th www.vanguardngr.com/2016/08/sister-prays-die-die-every-night-hours-end/

L ast week was quite interesting on Nigeria's
social media space. It started with a video of
Pastor Adeboye telling his followers not to
marry a woman that can neither cook nor pray
for one straight hour. The question that has
been on my mind is: does that mean God is
deaf? What parent makes their child beg (for
one hour) for something they know the child
needs? The truth is that prayers, besides
making the believer to feel good about
themselves, are an absolute waste of time.
They do not grow the economy or an
amputated limb. Youth unemployment is at an
all time high despite our regular night vigils,
prayers and supplications - it is evident that a
God who is interested in human welfare does
not exist. If He did, malaria and cancers will
not kill millions of children whilst He
preoccupies Himself with consensual sex
between homosexual couples.


In our country, pastors are marriage
counsellors, psychotherapists, psychiatrists
and financial advisers all at once even though
they are not appropriately trained for these
roles. They tell women to go back to their
violent husbands because, according to them,
divorce is a sin against God. Many a woman
has lost her life because of this advice. People
like Adeboye are so influential anything they
say is taken as the literal truth. Sadly, his
comments portray a man who is out of touch
with the realities of modern family life. More
and more women are now in employment and
some of them are the main providers for their
families. Marriage is now regarded as a
partnership rather than as a master-servant
relationship. Some of the most celebrated
chefs in western cultures are men - what is
wrong with teaching our boys and young men
to cook for themselves? Adeboye has similarly
instructed his female followers not to marry
men without jobs. But what happens when a
man loses his job - should his wife divorce
him?


I feel sorry for the people who think God
speaks through this man or through any man
at all.


If you want incontrovertible evidence that
religion cannot reform the world, then consider
the degree of theft and corruption in Nigeria.
These problems have become endemic even
though practically every Nigerian is a
practising Muslim or Christian.

Nigerian pastors have acquired a taste for
private jets - ostensibly to reach the parts of
the world that need the gospel of Jesus,
except that they avoid such places as
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia and Iraq.
Charity begins at home - it is senseless to run
off to put out the fire in your neighbour's
house when your own house is up in flames.


Nigerians and their country are in dire need of
salvation from endemic corruption. It is
evident that religion cannot transform our
nation because as our religious devotions
have increased, so have our corrupt ways.
Pastor Adeboye and his other pastopreneur
friends need to sell off their jets, repent of
their lies, stop robbing their church members
through emotional blackmail, and give back
what they have stolen. Their message has
failed.


Adeboye's gaffes were followed by the news
that the Nigerian government is going to
subsidise pilgrimage to Mecca by granting
Muslims concessionary exchange rate.

That is almost N8 billion for an exercise that
does not benefit our economy. Many
businesses are failing, parents are struggling
to send their children to school, our hospitals
are poorly resourced but that is how our
government chooses to spend N8 billion. And
believers wonder why we cannot stop talking
about religion. There would be no use to
criticise religion if it is removed from public
space and kept as a private matter. It is
wrong for the government to use tax payer's
money to subsidise religious rituals.


The week ended with the RCCG convention
where Adeboye makes his usual wild claims
but says nothing of consequence about our
nation. Our Vice President and a professor of
law, Yemi Osibanjo, who also happens to be a
pastor in the Redeemed Church watched on as
Adeboye went to town with his preposterous
claims. For a man who claims to have
resurrected dead people, cured all kinds of
diseases and driven a car without feel, you
would think Adeboye would have told Vice
President Osibanjo by now where to locate the
abducted Chibok girls, right? But no, another
RCCG convention has ended and not a word
about their whereabout. When Adeboye claims
that his car drives without fuel or that he has
resurrected dead people and there's a medical
doctor, engineer, architect, research fellow,
PhD holder or a professor in the congregation
who believes this fantasy then I feel grief and
have great concern for the education system
that has nurtured such people.


Religion has caused more harm than it has
done good to African societies. Without a
doubt, Adeboye and his fellow pastopreneurs
have been responsible for the corruption in the
way a generation of Nigerians think. But
judging by the reactions to his sermon on
social media, I think it is safe to say that the
scales are starting to fall off the eyes of
believers. I believe that pastor Adeboye will
think twice now before re-telling his favourite
story of how his car drives without fuel. I am
thankful for the Internet and how it has placed
knowledge at the fingertips (literally) of
ordinary people. I pay tribute to fellow
secularists for their unrelenting effort to
liberate the minds of our people from the
shackles of religion. Despite my grief, I feel
hopeful about the future.


Ijabla is a medical doctor. He writes from the
UK and can be contacted at: ijabijay@me.com

saharareporters.com/2016/08/09/why-i-am-convinced-god-does-not-speak-pastor-adeboye-dr-ijabla-raymond
http://saharareporters.com/2016/08/09/why-i-am-convinced-god-does-not-speak-pastor-adeboye-dr-ijabla-raymond

The Olympic Games aren’t just a showcase for
athletes, but for each country’s official song.
Alex Marshall selects the ones to listen out
for.


The next two months, during the Rio 2016
Olympics and Paralympics, should be heaven
for music fans. Not because the Games are in
Brazil, home of so much great music, from
Bossa Nova to Tropicalia, but because it’s a
chance to hear the most important songs ever
written: national anthems. A whopping 208 of
them to be exact. Or 209 if you include the
Olympics’ very own, a somewhat wordy song
calling on God to “shine in the momentum of
noble contests”.

National anthems, despite only being a minute
long, have genuinely achieved more than any
other type of music you can name. People
have fought wars singing them, and chanted
them at protests. They’ve helped heal
countries following bitter struggles, like South
Africa’s after apartheid, although they’ve also
been used to stoke ethnic divides.


Some have the most boring music imaginable,
but others are like pop songs – unforgettable
as soon as you’ve heard them. They have
inspired everyone from sportspeople to
schoolchildren, everywhere from Luanda to
Liverpool.


So, which ones should you be praying get an
airing at the Games? I would start with the
following 10.


Russia, National Anthem


If there’s one anthem likely to cause
controversy at the Games, it’s Russia’s. Given
the revelations of state-sponsored doping of
the country’s athletes, there’s a fair chance
the crowd will boo it if any Russian wins gold.
But that’d be a huge shame, and not only for
the athletes. Russia’s anthem is one of the
best there is; a song as powerful as an army
marching across the steppe.


Myanmar, Until the End of the World

South Africans often claim to have the only
anthem that starts in one tune and ends in
another, their anthem being a blend of Nkosi
Sikelel’ iAfrika, the great anti-apartheid song,
and Die Stem van Suid-Afrika, the country’s
anthem during apartheid. But that claim’s not
exactly true. Myanmar’s anthem pulls off the
same trick and in far stranger fashion. When
played in the country, it starts with a
traditional Burmese folk tune, until 30 seconds
in when it suddenly lurches into a military
march. It’s a bit like listening to a DJ who
suddenly gets bored and switches records, but
it’s all the better for it.


Nepal, We Are Hundreds of Flowers
Nepal’s isn’t your usual anthem. It doesn’t try
to sound like a military march or a church
hymn. Instead it sounds like a joyous Nepali
pop song, the sort of music you hear blaring
out of taxis in Kathmandu. It’s the only
anthem normally played on a Casio keyboard,
and it is so happy it’s somewhat unsettling to
learn it was the product of a Maoist
revolution.


Israel, The Hope

If there’s one emotion that anthems normally
steer clear of, it’s sadness. Most composers
seem to think that anthems must sound
boisterous and proud if they are to stir
patriotism. Israel’s proves that’s wrong. It
was written before the country existed and is
filled with longing for a Jewish homeland,
both in its words and its nostalgic music. It’s
so sad, in fact, it seems more appropriate for
a funeral than celebrating a gold medal. But if
any anthem is going to make an athlete cry on
the podium, it’s this, and isn’t that what TV
viewers want?

Kazakhstan, My Kazakhstan

Everybody enjoys it when the wrong anthem’s
played by mistake, don’t they? Well, perhaps
not Kazakh athletes. Back in 2012, one was
played a song from the comedy Borat instead
of their anthem. Another time, Kazakh athletes
were played Ricky Martin’s Livin’ la Vida Loca
at an opening ceremony. So if a Kazakh does
wins gold, makes sure you’re listening. It
should actually sound like this song.

Brazil, National Anthem

Brazil’s anthem is a genuine triumph, a mini-
opera whose introduction alone spirals ever-
upwards, getting quicker and quicker, as if the
melody itself is trying to drag people onto
their feet. But at this Olympics, you want it
played for one reason only: because the crowd
will sing. Brazilians don’t sing their anthem
reluctantly, like most sports fans. They sing it
joyously, belting out every word and carrying
on singing long after the music’s stopped. If
it’s played, it will be the most exhilarating
sound at the Rio Games.

China, March of the Volunteers

China’s perky anthem is played so often at the
Olympics, it’s surprising that few people know
its unusual past. It was originally written for a
1935 film called Children of Troubled Times –
a love story set against the Japanese
invasion of Manchuria. But the song itself,
especially its call to “build a new Great Wall
with our own flesh and blood”, proved so
popular it was not only released on vinyl, but
it then practically forced its way into
becoming the country’s anthem. By 1939, it
was so well known that The New York Times
felt the need to print its sheet music so
readers could give it a go.

Mauritania, National Anthem


If a national anthem is meant to advertise a
country, then Mauritania’s does it very badly.
It has such an air of menace, it practically
screams, “If you come here, you’re not getting
out”. It’s far more threatening than Iran’s or
North Korea’s anthems – countries you might
think would want to scare – but is brilliant for
it.

Democratic Republic of Congo, Arise
Congolese

The first real national anthem – the UK’s God
Save the King – was originally meant to be
sung by a soloist, not by a crowd. There’s
only one anthem that keeps up that tradition:
the Democratic Republic of Congo’s. Its final
section is written to be sung by a lone singer,
a choir only chiming in with the words
“Congo”, “30 June” and “sacred day” in
reference to when the country got
independence. Unfortunately, it’s rarely done
properly, but you get the feeling of its beauty
even in the instrumental.

Paraguay, Republic or Death!

Paraguay’s anthem isn’t the best by a long
shot, but it has by far the best name – a title
that sums up everything that’s meant to be at
the heart of these songs and of nationalism
itself. And it would be very amusing to hear a
stadium announcer at the Olympics ask the
crowd to, “Stand for Republic or Death.”
Although given Paraguay has only ever won
one medal – a silver in men’s football – the
chances of that happening in Brazil are slim.
Come on Paraguayans, make this your year!
Alex Marshall is the author of Republic or
Death! Travels in Search of National Anthems,
out now on Windmill Books. He blogs about
these songs at republicordeath.com

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160804-rio-2016-the-most-amazing-national-anthems

A mall, an airline and a newspaper

One of Tinubu’s most outspoken critics was
Segun Oni. As the PDP’s National Vice
Chairman for South-West, he dubbed Tinubu
‘the most corrupt politician in Nigeria.’ The
luxury shopping mall in Ikeja, the majestic
Oriental Hotel, an airline and a newspaper
empire, these were but a pick of the
possessions Oni accused Tinubu of having
obtained unlawfully.

But Nigeria is a country where politicians
change sides as easily as they change kaftans,
and last year Oni defected to Tinubu’s APC.
Now he praises his fellow party member for
his political astuteness and plays down his
own accusations as inspired by nothing more
than partisan politics. ‘If by now the anti-
corruption people have not gone after him, it
means Tinubu has a clean bill.’ Tinubu’s
‘clean bill’ could just be an indication of how
difficult it is to find documented evidence of
corruption in Nigeria.

THE OUTSPOKEN CRITIC NOW PRAISES HIS
NEW PARTY MEMBER

At best, Bola Tinubu is a paradox. The
politician claims to believe that taxpayer’s
money should be utilised for the good of the
people and has even lobbied – in vain – for a
clause in the APC manifesto about welfare for
the elderly and widows. But in his final year
as governor he also forced through a pension
law that, among other things, provides him
with a house in Lagos and Abuja, six cars to
be replaced every three years and new
furniture every two years, as well as a cook,
steward, gardener and other household helps,
all to be paid for by Lagos State.
‘You can’t take Nigerian politicians too
seriously when they take the moral high
ground,’ says Folarin Gbadebo-Smith.
According to the Chief Executive of the Lagos-
based Centre for Public Policy Alternatives,
the political system inherited from the British
is organised to extract resources and funding
from the country in order to enrich its rulers.
‘Once you are at the head of the political food
chain, no one expects you to deliver a service
to the people.’

Leaders with vision are scarce. That is why he
feels it is would be unfair to brand Tinubu only
as a power-hungry godfather. “Then you miss
the policy of this man. He is much more a
political strategist than a dictatorial
personality. Lagos is better off under Tinubu.
Whether the development would rate high at a
global level is a different matter. But he
created an environment in which people can
thrive economically.” Many Nigerians do see
Lagos as the best achieving state, but given
the quality of governance in the country, their
standards are pretty low.


A solid opposition

Back to Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere,
where Tinubu’s appearance aroused so much
enthusiasm. The votes have been counted, and
it is now clear that former military ruler
Muhammadu Buhari will run the race for APC
against President Jonathan. When you glance
around the emptying stadium, you see
artificial grass covering the pitch, tracks
divided by neatly drawn chalk lines, and walls
freshly painted. This stadium is maintained by
the Lagos State Government. It is a striking
contrast to the National Stadium deteriorating
on the other side of the road under the
management of the Federal Government.

The condition of the National Stadium is
representative of the country’s government.
Buhari will inherit a failing state. The fall in
oil prices has cut the state’s revenues by a
third. The rulers in the capital Abuja have in
the past mainly indulged themselves in looting
the country’s treasury with impunity, without
caring much for the needs of the people. There
is no guaranty the graft will lessen under the
new rulers. But they -and this is new- will be
more likely to be held accountable for their
actions, because for the first time there will be
a solid political opposition.

And that might be Bola Tinubu’s biggest feat.

https://www.zammagazine.com/chronicle/chronicle-12/215-the-godfather-of-nigeria-s-new-rule

onicle #12 / By Femke van Zeijl
He declares that taxpayer’s money should be
utilised for the good of the people, but he also
passed a pension law that provides him with
six cars to be replaced every three years. As
Lagos State governor he boosted its internal
revenue more than tenfold. He is also the
'Godfather' of Nigeria's new rulers. Bola
Tinubu invigorates hopes for change in
Nigeria.

The cheering sets in as soon as the crowd in
the gallery spots the small figure in his white
kaftan strolling over the tracks of Teslim
Balogun Stadium. The voices swell to a roar
when the frail man begins to climb the gallery
steps. He squeezes a path through the horde
of young men wearing hats and t-shirts with
the logo of Nigerian opposition party APC; he
is applauded, patted on the shoulder, blocked
in his way. Once he even has to shove his
round spectacles back onto his nose, the
glasses having shifted in the commotion, but
he remains perfectly calm, like a man
accustomed to such attention.

THE VOICES SWELL TO A ROAR WHEN THE
FRAIL MAN BEGINS TO CLIMB THE GALLERY
STEP

It is December 11, 2014. In a few hours’ time,
Nigeria’s largest opposition party will
announce the winner of its primaries in this
stadium in Surulere, a middle-class
neighbourhood in the megalopolis of Lagos.
Then it will become clear that northener
Muhammadu Buhari is going to be the
presidential candidate for the All Progressives
Congress in the coming elections, to be held
on March 28.
Presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari
(second man wearing white with glasses).
Photo credit: Heinrich Böll Stiftung/Flickr
Judging from the fan like behaviour of the
crowd, you would say the favourite contestant
had just entered the stadium, but nothing
could be further from the truth. Bola Ahmed
Tinubu does not partake in the primaries.
Officially the bespectacled man in the kaftan is
nothing more than an ordinary party member,
but the crowd knows better than that.

The real boss

Tinubu has passed by already, but Babatunde
Ajishe keeps yelling. ‘Tinubu nah real oga,’ he
shouts in Nigerian Pidgin English. Tinubu is
the real boss. Ajishe is one of the many
agbero boys among the supporters. These
young men without clear means of income are
sometimes used by politicians as a paid
crowd and at other times for the dirty work,
like intimidating the opposition. They are also
an important branch of Lagos’ grassroots,
which constitutes Tinubu’s electoral base.

Bola Tinubu (62) was governor of Lagos State
from 1999 till 2007. After his two terms, he
gave his successor Babatunde Fashola, the
current governor, a leg up and thus kept his
finger in the pie. APC’s candidate
Muhammadu Buhari, now the new president,
also comes from Tinubu’s inner circle. Tinubu
has proven himself the kingmaker.

The new government of Africa’s largest oil
producer will meet a colossal task. The ill-
equipped Nigerian army, despite support from
Chadian and Cameroonian forces, still has a
hard time curbing Boko Haram in the north-
east of the country; unemployment is rife and
two-thirds of Nigerians live off no more than
two dollars a day; the country only produces a
fraction of the electricity it needs.

BOLA TINUBU’S STRATEGY TURNED NIGERIAN
POLITICS UPSIDE DOWN
The People’s Democratic Party of previous
president Goodluck Jonathan had won every
national election since the reinstatement of
democracy in 1999, but for the first time in
Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, it was a tight race.
To combat more effectively, the two largest
parties in the opposition merged into the APC,
uniting constituencies in the north and the
southwest of the country: a considerable bloc
of the Nigerian electorate. It paid off.
Bola Tinubu was the driving force behind the
strategy that turned politics in Africa’s largest
economy upside down.

UNDER TINUBU’S ADMINISTRATION LAGOS
STARTED TO FLOURISH.

Under Tinubu’s administration, Lagos started
to flourish. The new governor managed to
clean up and revive the tax system. When he
took office, the internal state revenue was 600
million naira a month; when he left eight years
later it had grown to 7 billion.

Part of this money is being invested in public
amenities such as infrastructure. “The city was
disorderly before Tinubu. Nobody obeyed
traffic rules, people didn’t pay taxes and
everyone was building without approval,” says
Simon Kolawole, a leading political reporter
during Tinubu’s tenure. “Compared to the
West it might not seem much, but for
Lagosians it was an enormous improvement.”


The most egalitarian Nigerian

Thursday afternoon, a few weeks before the
elections: Tinubu’s living room, which feels
like a hotel lobby, is filled with expectation.
The big man is holding audience, and his
house on Bourdillon Road, Ikoyi, one of Lagos’
prime real estate areas, is brimming with
people. Visitors tip the guards at the gate to
inform them when he is at home. Even outside
his mansion the agbero boys are jostling,
hoping for their share of Tinubu’s generousity.

Four framed pictures of Bola Tinubu flank the
room, one a painted portrait almost reaching
the ceiling. Waiting on the Louis XVI furniture
are two market women wearing earrings with
the APC logo. Also seated are five Lagos State
Commissioners; an elderly imam dressed in a
gold brocade robe; the son of the Oba (king)
of Lagos; the young Nigerian pop singer
Dammy Krane and his manager; and a man
with his very pregnant wife. When Tinubu
enters the room they all jump from their seats.
In the presence of Asíwájú, as his followers
call him – a word which means ‘leader’ in the
Yoruba language – you stand up. It is hard to
imagine this is the same man who a friend
from his time in exile describes as ‘the most
egalitarian Nigerian I know.’

Well-known journalist and presenter Funmi
Iyanda is worried about Tinubu’s
transformation into Asíwájú: ‘Nigerians have a
tendency to celebrate their leaders, even the
questionable ones. It is time we realise that
leaders are our servants, not the other way
around.’ In such an environment even the
most democratic of minds will become
despotic, she feels. ‘It has changed Tinubu. He
has inhabited a more authoritarian role, even
though it seems unnatural to him.’


NIGERIANS HAVE A TENDENCY TO
CELEBRATE THEIR LEADERS, EVEN THE
QUESTIONABLE ONES”

Nevertheless, Tinubu is not one of those
typically Nigerian ogas (bosses) who cannot
bear criticism, and Iyanda knows this from her
own experience. As a young journalist she
once compared Tinubu with Steve Urkel, the
bespectacled character from the sitcom
Family Matters. ‘I fully expected him to hate
me after that, but I got a phone call saying
that he thought it was funny.’ When he took
office as governor, he even asked her to join
the transition committee that was to come up
with a roadmap for Lagos’ future. ‘I never saw
such a collection of bright minds,’ says
Iyanda. ‘He is good at identifying talent and
using people to achieve what he set out to
do.’

Meritocracy

This is likely his most poignant difference with
the average Nigerian leader: Tinubu is not
afraid to gather competent people around him.
‘A leader is successful when he develops other
leaders,’ he states in his office adjacent to the
parlour full of waiting people.
A constant refrain in Nigeria is that you don’t
achieve something because of what you know
but because of who you know. Tinubu however
is interested in the capabilities of the people
he surrounds himself with. An example of this
is his successor to the governor’s seat, the
technocrat Fashola. There’s also Tinubu’s old
friend, the banker Akabueze. His appointment
as Commissioner of Economic Planning &
Budget was controversial mainly because he
was the first ever commissioner who was not
Yoruba, the ethnic group that forms the
majority in Lagos. ‘Talent is not exclusive to
an ethnic group. I’ve always believed in
diversity,’ says Tinubu in a voice with a slight
slur, his typical tone.

Tinubu's street popularity is not reflected by
the elite, as many intellectuals are much less
fond of his leadership. At the bottom of that
aversion are the endless rumours about his
corruption –interestingly, this ‘man of the
people’ has also become very rich. Some even
call him ‘Lagos’ biggest thief,’ an aspersion
they say is supported by the amount of
property he has allegedly acquired. The
politician behind his desk shrugs off any
accusations. ‘If I respond to all false
allegations, I would lose focus. Nothing ever
stuck, so why should I bother?’

The Dab is a dance in which the dancer
simultaneously drops the head while raising
an arm and the elbow in a gesture that has
been noted to resemble sneezing. [1] As a
Sports Illustrated article about the
phenomenon described the Dab, “The dance is
pretty simple; one leans in to their elbow like
they’re sneezing."

Origins

The Dab has its origins in the Atlanta hip-hop
scene, but there is disagreement about who
originated the dance. [2] Artists frequently
mentioned as possible originators include
Migos (as in "Look at My Dab ", Skippa Da
Flippa, Peewee Longway, and Rich The Kid .

American rapper Bow Wow attempted to
explain the origin of the dab dance, saying it
related heavily to the cannabis dabbers
community started long before the dance in
2012. He was met with opposition from other
rappers who immediately took to Twitter to
insult and disagree with him.

There is also speculation that the dance
originated from Dabbing, an action taken
where someone snorts cocaine from their
elbow while acting like they are sneezing.
However, there is no proof that this claim is
true nor false. NFL football player Cam
Newton of the Carolina Panthers is well known
for performing this dance when he scores a
touchdown.

Popularity beyond the U.S. south

In 2015, the Dab rose to national prominence
in the U.S. As XXL Magazine reported in
August 2015, "What started as a regional
down South adlib is quickly becoming a
masterful maneuver in clubs and on street
corners. It’s called dabbin’."

Popularity in sports

The Dab gained popularity in U.S. sports
following an eight-second celebratory Dab by
Cam Newton, football quarterback for the
Carolina Panthers of the National Football
League, during a game against the Tennessee
Titans on November 15, 2015. According
to a Sports Illustrated account of the incident,
"[w]hen two Titans players confronted
[Newton] about the celebration, he continued
to dance in their faces, even as he backed
away."

After his famous dab against the Titans,
Newton explained at a press conference why
he had dabbed. He credited a 16-year old for
instructing him to "dab on them folks":
“
I'm a firm believer that if you don't like
me to do it then don't let me in ... I just
like doing it, man. It's not to be boastful,
and from the crowd's response they like
seeing it. ... Tell me what to do "Dab on
them folks," so I tried "Dab on them
folks," in that tone too. "Dab on them
folks." He's only like 16, but he's got an
Adam's apple out of this world.

It was later confirmed that the 16-year old
was Newton's younger brother Caylin.

– Ramadan is the holy month in which Muslims the world over give so much credence to whenever it is approaching

– It is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar

– Muslims fast either 29 or 30 days from dawn to sunset during this month

In a matter of days, the holy month of Ramadan for this year will kick start, where Muslims will abstain from food, drink and all other thingswhich vitiate fasting. Some of the reasons below are why there is no month compared to Ramadan in terms of the rewards our Creator gives us.

1. Ramadan is a month of Forgiveness.

2. Ramadan is a month of Rahmah (that is abundant blessings).

3. Ramadan is the month of generosity

.4. Ramadan, the month that Allaah subhaanahu wa ta’ala accepts the Tawbah (repentance) of the servants, and the month that Allaah blesses His servants.

5. We are in need of Ramadan to correct ourselves, for we have forgotten Allaah tabarak wa ta’ala for the majority of the year. To correct our selves for we have been neglectful. To correct ourselves for we are not upon the remembrance of Allaah.

6. To correct our selves because our hearts have gotten hard, some hearts are dead, some hearts are sick, some hearts are stone scold, some heart’s are black, getting no benefit whatsoever.

7. Some hearts are so bad, andso ill that they see a good as a Munkar, (as an evil), and they see an evil as agood. These are not as they should be.

8. We need a Ramadan because our connection with Allaah tabarak wa ta’ala is not correct .Muslims praying

9. We need a Ramadan because we do not have any Khushoo (devotion) in our Salaah.

10. We need a Ramadan because our Qura’an has dust and is sitting o­n a shelf.

11. We need a Ramadan because we never read the books of Sunnah

.12. We need a Ramadan because we don’t fast, and if we fast physically without food or drink, we don’t fast with our eyes by lowering them and our tongue by not slandering and our tongue by not lying and back-biting.

13. We need a Ramadan to get ourselves back in order, to work for the Hereafter, to connect ourselves to Allaah tabaarak wa ta’ala

.14. We need a Ramadan because relationships brother to brother and sister to sister is in a miserable condition.

15. We need a Ramadan because we have bad thoughts about o­ne another.

16. We need a Ramadan because of dhulm (injustice) to o­ne another.

17. We need a Ramadan because there is backbiting, there is envy, there is jealousy,and there is slander.

18. We need a Ramadan because we are despicable, because we are sick, because we are ill. (All these are diseases of the heart)

19. We need a Ramadan because we don’t believe in the promise of Allaah tabaarakwa ta’ala, or if we do, we do not implement it.

20. We need a Ramadan because it is time for us to change and become something better then we are now

.21. We need a Ramadan because that is the o­nly thingthat is going to get us together

.22. We need a Ramadan because we don’t have unity, there’s no brotherhood.

23. We need a Ramadan because there’s no respect forelders.

24. We need a Ramadan because there’s no real love between us.

25. We need a Ramadan, full of love and the Mercy of Allaah tabaarak wa ta’ala. A Ramadanlike we come in, like in a clinic or a hospital, trying to solve our illnesses, trying to come out of there without the disease we came with, trying to be better than we went in with.

Buharism:
money buys kitty cat

not all pussy