₦airaland Forum

There are news making the rounds that some members of the Nigerian army have been "sentenced to die for acts of mutiny". These are men who fight under very appalling conditions, virtually no weapons, no world class emoluments, they almost make do with whatever they find for food, no MORALE, and even when they die in active service, there is almost no guarantee that thier families would get compensated or even when they do, it is often under torturous conditions, all for psaltery benefits...so, some of them protested...and now, if reports are anything to go by, they would DIE...

Yet the same insurgency that opened the door to the so called mutiny, that has killed millions of Nigerians in the most babaric manner since 2009, cut pregnant women open and removed the foetus, removed victims eyes, raped littles girls and women, abducted little girls in thier dormetries, maimed innocent people, raided villages and killed countless, sometimes as much as 50 people with matchettes in a single day, even up to this morning, displaced countless more children who are still living in squalor in various IDP camps across the nation, people with families like anyone of us, loved ones, with blood flowing in thier veins too, are being SET FREE by General Buhari's administration...

The government says it is reintegrating "repentant" terrorists into the society and has even called for them to run for various political offices. And there are also plans to set up an agency funded with tax payers money, to cater to thier needs and affairs, there are also plans to send them abroad for studies!!!!!

Their unfortunate victims, many of them women and children, whose families have been wiped out in the most gruesome manner, who's livelihood has been taken away, towns and villages annihilated, have not been properly resettled, there is no agency to cater to thier own needs not to talk of the solders who have been killed fighting them...even donations sent in by kind hearted foreign bodies and government for them are looted...

Tell me again, is there justice in this world? Who else needs evidence that Nigeria is a country that has lost it morally? That in search of a solution Nigeria found a problem in the person of General Buhari?

Coronavirus In Nigeria, Questions Arising...

Since the outbreak of the virus we've seen world leaders addressing thier people, why has General Buhari been sort of "MUTE"!

We know of powerful "Insiders" in Nigeria or opinion leaders who are often quick to speak on issue of national interest, why have they all appeared to be "MUTE" too?

Why have we not seen details of the Italian "who brought it" to our shores, like his name, pictures etc?

The man was said to have left Milan and entered Nigeria on the 25th, was he not screened at the airport in Milan, was he screened at airport with no signs, if yes, WHY?
He fell sick on the 26th, if we say there is a window period like in HIV cases, is that window period just a day i.e 25th to 26th, if NO, did he contact the virus in Nigeria then?

Femi Fani Kayode posted today how the alleged driver who drove the man denied going anywhere near Lagos in the last 7 years...

And how it has proved difficult for the government to trace the 151 co-flight passengers with the man, WHY so?

Even the alleged airport hotel where he is said to have lodged is said to have come forward to deny any record of him, and are willing to open their register to prove same...

Fani Kayode also cited how the alleged company he was said to have visited does not exist!

Nigerians saw and picked on the Lagos State Commissioner of Health when visited the "Coronavirus virus patient" without any sort of protective gear...

And Nigerians also saw how, before this known case was reported, the FGN appeared to be in a hurry to release over N620 million to "fight" the virus...how far, what's up with the money?

Are we seeing a case of "looking for an opportunity to loot as usual" using a case of worldwide concern as pretext?

We saw how the government of former President Jonathan handled the Ebola issue, at least then, we heard names, saw faces, even saw how a courageous doctor lost her life, are we here witnessing a case of a government, discovering it has lost control of major issues in the nation i.e security, social amenities etc, is now trying to steal any shine it can get?

These are just a few questions begging for honest answers.

Whatever the case maybe however, our call to Nigerians as always, is to take the best precautions they can, and follow the safety measures put out by this government, and more importantly, SHUN all FAKE social media NEWS...

God bless Nigeria.

Consider this; humans are the most populous large mammal on Earth today, and probably in all geological history. With a population of 7.6 billion individuals on a planet that can and should sustain only around 4.5 billion people, some experts have asked if the Earth can continue to support this much people indefinitely? What will happen if man does nothing to manage future population growth and total resource use, they ask? And in attempt to answer ecological, political and ethical questions like these ones, some have been inspired to push various proposals to solving the "problem" of our species’ ecological footprint on this planet...

Contraceptives, delibrate and covert sterilization of unsuspecting masses in the name of immunization, war, famine, *biological weapons*, etc are just a few...

With a book like the one attached to this post, written over 35 years ago, are we here seeing a real prediction of the corona virus or is it just an insider giving off a little info of what the "owners" of earth plan to do to mankind?

Time will tell...

-Albert Afeso Akanbi

What’s your take on the number 3? Well, let me start by saying as human beings we understand numbers, and this is because we live in a world where things come in different numbers. From 2, 7, 12 to 14 and so on, throughout history, diverse cultures and people have highlighted different numbers as significant and ritualized in ways that made them culturally important.
My own fascination with the number 3 however, stems from its influence, which cuts across almost everything and virtually every age, to the extent that according to Christians, even the almighty God reveals himself to us as a Triune Being.
But, as expected, the Islamic theology as well as some Christian groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses who, relying on Biblical verses like John 1:14 to push their argument that ‘God is one’, insist that “how can an individual be with someone and then be that same person…?” Although they fail to define exactly what the number 1 actually represents, opponents of the Holy Trinity doctrine also fail to tell us why it is that throughout history, the number 3 has had a unique and profound significance to countless generations.
Now, I am not an expert or a theologian, but I know enough to tell that there is something about the number 3 that make reading about it not only interesting but might just offer a perfect understanding of the God(s) Who Himself appears to us in 3 forms, even if it’s to just to upgrade our knowledge.
For example, throughout history, no matter what culture you look at, the most important things come in 3s. The Jehovah’s Witnesses say this is where the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity draws its pagan sources since we see 3 replicated in cultures worldwide, but they also fail to tell us why the whole world take the number seriously in the first place. Even in the Holy Bible, as we shall see in this write-up, 3 features prominently in almost all the most important events and stories.
Because of this, the “Ancient Alien theorists” group insist that there is an extra-terrestrial connection to the number 3. They insist that “once we understand the extraordinary power of 3, we ourselves will become like our creator(s)” because “the creator(s) left us signs pointing to the power of 3 in various monuments across the world”.
While not confirming or denying this point, at least I know that the prominence of the number 3 predates even organized religion.
For example, in a place called Newgrange Stone Passage Tomb in Ireland, there exist 5000-year-old walls that are decorated with certain mysterious circular lines, all of them in in 3s. Some people might dismiss this as just another artistic expression from ancient people and it would make sense until you realize that in the Yunnan Province of China, you also will find some huge Buddhist tower temples, 3 of them in number, 1,100 years old, called the Three Pagodas. The thing is, these three structures are designed in such a way that they form a triangle and they are said to protect the population from natural disasters. Then in ancient Greece, they believed the destinies of the gods and men are determined by three all-powerful beings known as the three faces. These are just a few of the countless cultures around the world who hold the belief that 3 represents something sacred, something that dates back as far as man can remember and cuts across all facets of human endeavor, art, architecture, mythology, literature, science and especially religion.
Even as humans, consider your body, most Christians say we are made up of the body, soul and spirit, that’s 3. Take a look at our lives, past, present and future, our story itself falls perfectly into 3, and the basic things our bodies crave for are food, water and sex, 3!
Are these signs, is God himself leaving us clues?
In the bible, Jonah is in the belle of the wale for 3 days. In Genesis, God separates the water from the earth after 3 days. In the transfiguration, Jesus is in company of Moses and Elijah, making them 3, he is in the tomb for 3 days, at his baptism, he steps out of the water, the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove and the voice of God is heard, making 3 of them, I can go on and on.
Now, let me digress a little. In the Giza Plateau in Egypt, three great pyramids decorate the landscape just outside the city of Cairo which is believed to have been constructed about 4000 years ago. Some experts say these pyramids were built by people who had the knowledge of geometry at the time, and that they are arranged in the form of a perfect triangle, and you know what a triangle represents, 3! They say it appears that our intrigue with sacred geometry may have been hard wired into us, which is why we express geometry in our monuments.
Is it this worldwide belief in 3 that inspired theories that the pyramid of Giza represents a portal, or gateway to the realm of the gods or God? Take note that even the pyramids are shaped as triangles.
In Samos, Greece, in the 6th century, mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras introduced his famous theorem A2+B2=C2 which explained the mathematical relationship between the three sides of a right angle triangle. Some experts have argued that his work was originally based on pyramids design. They say he brought Egypt to Greece and thought that everything in the universe has a 3-part structure and that the number 3 is the gateway to understanding the mysteries of the world.
In Cambridge University, England, experts say the research papers of sir Isaac Newton, one of the most influential scientists of the 17th century, introduced what became the foundation of modern physics, when it talked about the 3 laws of motion. Some say since he practiced Alchemy and was someone that could be described as a mystic, and in alchemy and mysticism 3 is considered a powerful number, it was natural for Newton to try to communicate information with the power of 3. What more, Alchemy was not just about the transmutation of pure matter into gold, it was also about the knowledge of the secrets of the universe and how man can transform himself into becoming one with the universe. In alchemy, 3 is the power of transformation and bear in mind also that Jesus rose on the 3rd day.
In the Hindu tradition, there are 3 great divine energy involved in the creative process, and one of this energy Shiva, often depicted as having a 3rd eye in the middle of his forehead, is thought to have 3 powers which are will, action and knowledge. This 3rd eye is the center of spiritual power according to them, and it is aligned in such a way that it forms a triangle that can be traced to a point in the human brain called the pineal gland. Was this why in 2013, former president of the United State Barrack Obama unveiled an ambitious government funded research programme named “The Brain Initiative”, designed to map the human brain and shed light on how humans learn, think, remember and create?
The pineal gland is a light sensitive organ that’s no larger than a grain of rice located in the human brain within the endocrine system. Though it is located deep within the center of the brain in-between the two hemispheres, experts say it appears to share some characteristics with the human eye. Though not its primary function, because it is light sensitive, it is sometimes called the 3rd eye.
Some have theorized that ancient cultures knew about the pineal gland, how that it is associated with enlightenment because, in the 3 structure that the human being exist, our two eyes only allows us to see all around us, but the 3rd eye, the pineal gland, allows us to see things we would not normally see.
I can go on and on, but the thing is, why do we function differently from all other animals on this planet? Why do we create art, music, write books, bury our dead and create time to contemplate our own existence? Do we really have a 3rd eye? If we are created in the image of God, and are three in dimension with a 3rd eye, why do we deny that our creator is triad, trio or trinity or whatever you choose to call it? WHY?
One of the most ancient Catholic cathedral in Germany has played host to a steady stream of visitors, for centuries, who go there to view a golden sarcophagus thought to hold the remains of the three wise men or Maggi who visited Jesus at his birth. Various explanation has been offered about who these men were, but according to the bible, they were three king come from the east. For me, the question is not about who they were, but why they brought three gifts according to tradition and the Bible. Gold, which representing material needs, Frankincense, representing enlightenment, and Myrrh an oil associated with death and embalmment representing the afterlife, 3!
There are theologians who insist that understanding and unlocking the power of 3 lies in the mystery of the Holy Trinity. That the notion of 3 divine being in one God refers to the three states of being: God the father as the intellectual or ethical self, God the son as the physical and actual self, and God the Holy Spirit, the emotional or aspirational self. Past, present and future. 3!
Finally, experts say even within the human genetic code, the discovery in 1966 of a series of 3 molecule combinations known as codus or triplets in the universal structure of the DNA, proves beyond doubt our triune nature like our maker(s)…
Added to my fascination is a question; what exactly is it about the number 3?

“And when the Lord Jesus has become your peace, remember, there is another thing: good will towards men. Do not try to keep Christmas without good will towards men.” -Charles Spurgeon

My friend Okozie is a spare part vendor at Ladipo Market in Lagos. Preparation for last year’s Christmas started quite early for him; 5 months before 25 December to be precise. He’d leave home as early as 5am, return as late as 10pm, sometimes later. At the market, his desperation to make money would be so obvious from the way he’d “harass” every passerby in sight, especially those he felt were prospective customers. His mission; he wanted to make as much money as possible to enable him have “a Christmas to remember”. He wanted to go home with a sleek car and all manner of goodies that would ensure villagers knew he had “arrived”.

He blended in perfectly with the insanity in which almost everyone runs around these days in preparation for the annual holiday, and for him it paid off.

Then it was Christmas day. Okozie had arrived a day before with pomp and pageantry and so much noise. Soon after his arrival, he and his men and taken over his village and boozed till the early hours of Christmas day. In fact, an incident which occurred following their excess consumption of liquor on Christmas Eve, leading to the injury of one of them, involved the police. By the time he came out of all of that and fell asleep from hangover, it was 7pm the following day. By the time he came to, Christmas was over and he woke to multiple challenges waiting to be solved.
Inasmuch as I am not trying to sniff at merriment this season, this story is just a typical example of how most of us understand Christmas today, something that has nothing to do with the sacred story surrounding the essence of Jesus’ birth and the purpose of his life.
The annual Christmas rush we see today wears out many and conveniently takes peoples mind from the purpose of Jesus’s coming and what is expected of man to his fellow man.

I believe this is hypocritical on the part of both Christians and non-Christians alike. If non-Christians don’t believe in the birth of Christ, then why do they go to the trouble to recognize the holiday? And if Christians truly wish to honour the birth of the Saviour, then why engage in the madness and licentiousness which accompanies the holiday these days rather than focus more on its meaning?

In almost every street today in this country, churches with strange names engraved on different shaped and sized signboards pock their heads from street corners to invite faithful. Yet, despite this upsurge in religious activities, in our everyday actions as a people, we have never ceased to deny the very significance of Jesus Christ in history how much less grasp the full essence of his birth. Daily we make a mockery of the very core of Jesus’ birth and purpose which is LOVE (the supreme form of living energy) for God, for neighbours, goodwill towards men and life as sacrifice.
Christians must take note that apart from a quarrel with the December 25 date, most of the people who have problems with the celebration of Christmas do so because of the level of debauchery they see during the feast.

For example, a prominent anti-tithing OAP sometimes last year or so, insisted that “Christmas is Nimrod’s birthday, keep Christ out of it”. Although I have made the point in previous articles that there is virtually no Christian today who doesn’t agree with the idea that Jesus was not necessarily born in December and that, that should not detract from the essence and purpose of Christmas, but it is the actions of most Christians themselves that inspire some of such arguments.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses for example claim that since Jesus didn’t command us to mark his birthday and his apostles didn’t celebrate it, we shouldn’t. Even though that would be tantamount to saying we know exactly everything the apostles or even Jesus said or did when they were here, who would see the way we mark his birth today and wouldn’t pause for a moment and say, “wait a minute, will Jesus really approve of all these?”.
People today generally miss the underlying value of Christmas, which is the amazing sense of giving and sharing. God is a giving God, and Christmas reminds us that we are supposed to be like Him. This is why I for one, though aware of all the objections, still choose to celebrate it.
Those who look at the materialism that accompany the celebration and thus reject it on the basis of that are in other words telling us it is right to reject Christmas because we are all imperfect.

I have made this point before and I will make it again, liturgically speaking, Christmas is a season, not a day, and it important for us to bear that in mind. December 25 may not be the actually birthday of Jesus and may be pagan yes, but the season itself, its meaning and essence, and the figure we celebrate are not.

For those hammering on its pagan origin, well, we now have a new ‘paganism’ layered on top Christian holidays (holy-days). For example, most language have their roots somewhere. Most days of the week if not all, months of the years, etc. grew out of what many would insist are pagan names too. Until groups like Jehovah’s witnesses stop using the word or worshiping on “Sun-day” because it was related to the worship of the sun god once upon a time, I won’t take them serious on Christmas.

Which modern speaker of the English language today thinks of “Sun-day” as carrying a connotation of sun worship? Yet that’s the very nature of language and almost everything we believe today which we don’t even care about their origins.
Christmas now means what we make it in the Christian way and Jesus’s birth, message, death and resurrection are the most important events in human history according to Christians. Not to mark these events in some way, by way of special celebration, would be foolish.

I have also heard some people say since all days are special why should we set one day apart? Well, if all days are special then no day is special, so why then do they have a problem with those who choose 25 December? I think the American Reformed Baptist pastor John Piper summed it perfectly when he wrote that “It’s really worth the risk, even if the date of December 25 was chosen because of its proximity to some kind of pagan festival. Let’s just take it, sanctify it, and make the most of it, because Christ is worthy of being celebrated in his birth”.

The essence of Christmas is share, in God’s LOVE and exhibit goodwill towards men, as demonstrated by God Himself. There is an episode which the gospel of Mark calls ‘The Loaves’ which I believe somehow explains in a way what the spirit of Christmas call us all to do.

This story can also be found in the Bible books of Matthew 14: 13-21 and John 6: 26. Some commentators have explained that the crowd was fed because they learnt from Jesus how to share. But others insist that the clue to the meaning of this incident is in the original story as it is recorded in the bible. ‘Make the people sit down’. This was what Jesus was reported to have ordered before he blessed and broke the bread. A truer translation of the very words spoken by Jesus on that day would be ‘Make the men sit down’. Sit down O men and pause for a moment. God has entered into his own creation, suspend everything you think you know and reflect on the meaning of that.

“Make the men sit down!” Jesus said. Make the Essenes, the Pharisees, Judas Iscariot with his dagger sit down. Make Simeon the Zealot, with his patriotic band of terrorist guerillas sit down. Sit down! O men of Israel. I believe this is the true meaning of Christmas. Jesus gathered together a huge crowd of people in a desert spot, and made them sit down together. He made them break bread together and eat a simple meal and admonished them to LOVE one another, follow God’s example and show goodwill towards one another.

Sink your difference differences, ignore the smaller picture (of the merriment, the licentiousness, the gifts, the noise and all that, of Christmas) and focus on the big picture (of God’s love, sacrifice and goodwill towards men) and as you go about this season, let that guide your actions going forward.

If only every Nigerian, Christians and non-Christians alike heed this call. Major General Buhari and his APC would obey court order, he would do what is really right for Nigeria. He would shun nepotism. If we heed this call, we would “love your neighbour as yourself”, the touts sent to beat up Nigerian activist Deji Adeyanju yesterday morning would not take the offer. Boko Haram would pause their satanic quest for innocent blood and “sit down”. Our National Assembly would sit down, pause, think, and show good will towards fellow Nigerians rather than choose to spend 37 billion of our budget on the renovation of a complex that was built with 7 billion naira. Our politicians with their ruinous and destructive kleptomaniac tendencies and thievery would sit down. They would sit down and restructure Nigeria into a true federation that it should be. Enough of lip service and hypocrisy. Sit down O people of Nigeria! Show goodwill towards yourselves.

This is the true meaning of Christmas. Yet, average to the Nigerian Christian today, the reality is prayers to God for Him to kill our enemies. As if that is not enough, a very destructive hate culture and materialism has now invaded the very fabrics of our souls, to the extent it has subjugated the very essence of Christmas in particular and religion in general and pitched us against ourselves. Politics has failed, the family unit is crumbling, economics has miscarried, our one-time-culture of love and community is eroded, relationships are disappointing, and in fact everything is deteriorating around us in this country. Charlatans in sync with politicians now easily disguise today as religious leaders and then with base intent at heart, together they wreck all forms of barbarity and madness on us and Major General Buhari not helping matter.
Who will save us now?

All the same, may the spirit of Christmas fill your heart with hope and happiness and may the sacrifice of Jesus Christ abide with us all this season and beyond, amen.

Merry Christmas…

It another Christmas season, a time to celebrate the birth of perhaps the greatest figure human history.
Over the years, many people have expressed their opinion about the propriety or impropriety of celebrating Christmas on December 25, and some have sought to detract from its essence because of the “type of licentiousness with the celebration these days”, or what correlation such has to the life of Jesus.
There are however incontrovertible facts about Jesus. For example, he was indeed born, he was an exceptional figure, and for the over 3 billion people who believe in him today, he is LORD and savior, and the significance of his birth cannot be overemphasized.
For me, Christmas is not a day, it is in fact A SEASON. Therefore, in the spirit of the season, I’d like to urge everyone who reads this article, especially Christians, to reflect on the life, example, and teachings of Jesus, and allow the same to influence the way we deal with one another, going forward.
Mahatma Gandhi was quoted saying “Oh, I don’t reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It’s just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ…”. It is ironic that as far back as the 1940s, Gandhi understood that our world would be a better place if we allow Jesus’ teachings to guide us or strive to be like him, how come many of us in Nigeria today don’t?
Why do we claim to love Jesus so much to the extent that we celebrate his birth yearly and yet the aggregate of our attitude as a society does not reflect a people who have absorbed his teachings even though the religion he founded has more followers here than in any black nation on earth?
Using everyday experiences Jesus taught his listeners deep spiritual truths and admonished them on the best moral codes to live by. Now, the question of morality has been with man for as long as civilization has existed. Like Jesus, many men have appeared and taught us how to live, or what is morally right or wrong. But why does it appear as though being good, or doing what is right, is so difficult? Why for example, does a child learn selfishness, to insult or lie by default? Why do people choose to be evil when they can also choose to be good?
The late American Scientist Dr. Carl Sagan wrote about an experience that powerfully changed his thinking, which happened in 1939. As a little boy, one evening, his father had taken him to watch the New York Fair. Safely perched on his father's shoulders, with his mother reassuringly at his side, he was generally enjoying the sight of the event and totally oblivious of the huge crowd of people among which was a pencil hawker around him. As the pencil man paused to rearrange the tray containing his ware, feeling some pity for him, the little Sagan’s father reached into the crumpled paper bag that held the remains of their lunch, withdrew an apple, and handed it to the pencil man. Although he disliked apples then, and had in fact refused the same fruit when it was offered him at lunch and dinner, he nevertheless immediately protested with tears and wailing as his father handed the remnant of their food to the hungry and clearly disadvantaged stranger because “it was my apple, and my father had just given it away to a funny-looking stranger who, to compound my anguish, was now glaring unsympathetically in my direction”.

His father, he wrote, a man of nearly limitless patience and tenderness, though disappointed at him, hugged him tight to his chest. “He's a poor stiff, out of work," he said to little Carl, too quietly for the pencil man to hear. “He hasn’t eaten all day. We have enough. We can give him an apple." He added. Young Carl reconsidered, stifled his sobs and soon fell asleep on his father’s arms.
How many times have we seen this sort of attitude in many kids and even adults around us today? How many times have we ourselves exhibited such insensitive and selfish attitude towards others?
Moral codes that seek to regulate human behavior have been with us not only since the dawn of civilization but also among pre-civilized but highly social, hunter-gathering societies that existed before us. In some fortunate ancient societies, an inspired lawgiver would rise and lay down a
set of rules for people to live by. Over time, there have been countless codes as a result. A few examples are the code of Ashoka
in India, Hammurabi in Babylon, Lycurgus in Sparta and Solon in Athens just to name a few. These moral codes, though largely defunct today, guided people’s behavior, were popular in their times and everyone was expected to live by them such that those who didn’t were punished.
Today, in a country like Nigeria with a population of people, many of whom are highly religious yet bereft of spirituality, it is hard to find a person who doesn’t subscribe to one form of religious code or the other. Yet, lately, we have seen the country’s name feature prominently in everything bad that comes up around the world. Even within our shores, the news isn’t entirely a beacon of light.
What does it mean to do what is right? Is it right to help a needy stranger? How does one relate with an enemy? Should we ever take advantage of someone who trust and treats us kindly? If hurt by a friend, or helped by an enemy, should we reciprocate in kind? If a colleague makes you look bad in front of your boss, should you try to get even? Should the totality of past behavior outweigh any recent departures from the norm etc.? I know to some, the answers to these questions may be easy and to other they are straight forward, but these and more were questions that Carl Sagan began to reflect on after his experience with the pencil man, questions that shaped him into becoming one of the most consistent moral voices in American history even though he died an atheist. The same questions that has produced great moral teachers throughout history.
I know this would sound like a tall dream, but my wish is to see a Nigeria where everyone, both the leaders and led, Christian or not, anytime they are faced with making decisions, especially far reaching ones, would always let the “if I was in his shoes” mantra guide them.
I understand the complexity of human behavior, but do we have to wait until our churches and mosques say so before we choose to do good? Should our actions always be determined by our perceived self-interest? For example, an old woman who offers a cup of cold water to a tasty stranger, an act of kindness, only because she is shoring up her rewards in heaven or terrified of going to hell fire?
Among the major codes of moral behavior, the most popular is the Golden Rule which is attributed to Jesus Christ. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. But how many people follow it even though almost everyone admires it and often quotes it, especially when the discuss is about a heinous crime? Some disagree with this rule while pointing to the response of Chinese philosopher Kung-Tzu also known in the West as Confucius, when in the fifth century B.C. his opinion of repaying evil with kindness as advocated by Jesus was sought and he replied, "Then with what will you repay kindness?". How could one turn the other cheek when slapped after his first cheek has been slapped, especially by a heartless adversary whose sole intention is to liquidate him? Is that not a guarantee for total liquidation?
Another code of moral conduct is the Silver Rule made popular by the Jewish Rabbi Hillel who lived 50 years before Jesus. “Do not do unto others what you would not have them do
unto you”. Men like Mohandas Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived by this rule and counselled oppressed people not to repay violence with violence, but not to be compliant and obedient either, to their oppressors.
The Brazen Rule advocates the “Do unto others as they do unto you” code of moral conduct. It is the "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," principle proposed in the Old Testament of the Holy Bible. I am sure many of us would have seen this rule play out in our daily lives especially when we feel this inner yearning to show kindness to people who are kind to us, or seek vengeance against grievous offenders. In such situations, it is fairly natural to say “one good turn deserves another” or to say “an offender is worthy of his own desert”.
Fact is, the first two rules require a lot of discipline and self determination to live by and the situation in Nigeria today makes it even more difficult. Despite our religiosity, like elsewhere in the world, especially among the elite class especially in politics, what we see at work is “the Suck up to those above you, and abuse those below you” principle. Like the norm in in many nonhuman primate societies, the jungle or a zoo, we have seen men argue that the Golden
Rule impossible to live by. They advocate (at least by their actions) the Iron Rule which is “Do it to them before they do it to you”, a rule that promotes the advantage of a ruthless and powerful few against the interests of everybody else, and there are powerful Nigerians who are guilty of that today.
Well, no matter how hard it might seem, one of my new year resolutions is to do everything within my power to let Jesus’ example guide the way I relate with others, going forward. If you have not already decided on that, do so now. If you have, keep the faith.
Merry Christmas…

When I graduated from Delta State University Abraka a little over ten years ago, I left without any delusions about the risks the average person living in that region faces. The violence I experienced as a student has left a kind of warning bell inside my head ever since. However, last week, I naively decided that after so long, things would have changed in the State and so I let down my guard.

Actually, nothing has changed. If anything, I think like the rest of Nigeria, the security situation in the State, especially in the Warri axis, is worse now. Since inception, the administration of the current government has been marred with cases of incessant armed robbery, kidnapping, cultism and all forms of social vises culminating into sleeplessness for ordinary people.

I was a victim, and from speaking with a number of indigenes after my experience, I gathered that a day hardly passes without news of a violent crime happening somewhere around the State.

Sadly, like the armed robbers who attacked us, some of the youths engaged in these heinous crimes are youngsters between the ages of 15 to 30 years, a generation on who’s shoulders the hope of the State should rest.

Depressingly too, it appears that crime is now seen as normal. Homes which are supposed to be the micro unit in society for incubating good kids has failed in the State. Religion, despite its proliferation, has also disappointed the State, and I ask, what is government doing to change this?
At about 6am on Thursday the 7th of November, I left Ibadan in company of an older friend and his family in a convoy of two cars, for Warri. We were supposed to make the trip on Wednesday, but due to a faulty fuel pump, the journey was delayed.

From the city of Ore in Ondo State, we noticed so many police check points so that they could have been more than 50 on the expressway. Even some parts of the road were not motorable, something that necessitated motorists to keep swapping lanes at different points of the journey. It was as if poles apart had a check point to the extent that police officers in one check point could actually shout orders to officers in the next.
After the delay caused by having to stop at every check we arrived Delta State at 6pm. I noticed the streets were more chaotic, rough and clustered than before. Then we got a call that the Sienna bus conveying the women and children had broken down in the town of Okpara Waterside, not too far from Warri. Upon reaching the expressway where the vehicle had broken down, we decided that the women and children should leave in our own car while we the men stayed behind. It was already 6:30pm and visibility level was by then rapidly dropping to zero.
At exactly 8:05pm (I took note of the time because I had just received a call from my uncle) after we had finished eating the food we ordered and were then waiting for the mechanic who had gone to get the pump from town, we suddenly saw masked men emerge from nearby bushes with guns, machete and sticks. It was so abrupt that within 5 minutes, they had robbed us at gun point, of all our valuables. My wallet first, then phone, laptop, power bank, the bag containing my cloths, ID cards, shoes, car key, external hard drive, documents and so on, all gone.
It was a very devastating blow for me particularly because it was not as if we did not know the security situation in the country, just that we took things for granted and didn’t generally appreciate how bad things have gotten.

We tried to make a report that night but could not. The following morning, we were at the Eku Police Station. First the lady in charge of registering crimes could not even speak or write good English. For every word we dictated to her while she took our statement, she asked us to spell. That left us wondering how she manages to register crimes. Then we were taken around the building to a nearby bush where the DPO was, seated in a wooden stool, dressed in mufti and fanning himself with a hand fan. He advised us to take the incident in good faith, or if unsatisfied, to go report either at Abraka or Warri.

We spent the whole of Friday from court to Police Station, and in the end we were asked to pay some money to get an affidavit and a police extract.

By the time we reached the venue of the programme for which we had travelled, guests were already leaving. In fact, our car had to wait with the other cars that had been stopped for Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo Agege whose convoy of over 20 cars took over 20 minutes to leave the premises. As I watched his motorcade leave, and seeing hungry faces milling around him and expectantly singing his praise, I asked myself what people like him are doing to solve the security situation in the State in particular and in Nigeria in general.

Delta State is rich in both human and material resources, why are the youths taking to crime? Back at the hotel, even at the Police Station, the court, the bank, there was hardly a place I went after the incident that I was not inundated with really depressing tales of people’s experiences.
Recently, we heard news of how President Buhari ordered a forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC books from 2001 till date. Allegedly, “over three hundred contracts have been awarded with none executed and one hundred and twenty have been fully paid for. Even the headquarters of the commission is yet to be completed and it owes some phantom contractors millions of naira”. What sort of country are we building?

Throughout the Niger Delta, lands are degraded, rivers are polluted, places of worship have taken over and morality is dead and buried, youths are hostile, the aged are not catered for, kids are left to their whims and the innocents pay the price.

Like many Nigerians, especially those who have fallen victim of crime, I am asking; ‘what exactly is happening in this country?’ Why is it that most of our news from almost all sources, year in year out, are those of terrifying crimes, violence, or massive fraud? From incessant killings, kidnapping, stories of deviances to a satanic erosion of our values, pillaging of the economy, elementary social amenities that are left in shamble because corruption to financial mismanagement of untold magnitude, the story is the same. The painful part is that, it is those of us who go by our normal lives that are mostly victims rather than the people who bring these woes on us, and till date since independence, no one has ever been convincingly convicted or imprisoned for ruining or causing our nation harm, because of our much-cherished culture of impunity.

Sadly, these deviant behavior appears to be present in all of us, in all strata of the society. From “the civil servant who will bog you down in bureaucracy unless you pay a bribe to the nurse in a public clinic who will insist there are no available hospital beds until you part with some cash” we are all guilty.
Now the criminals who attacked us would sell our items off at giveaway just to get the fund for their next wrap of smoke and weeds, and the next day look for the next unlucky victim.

At the Police Stations we were educated on how criminals operate. It is really saddening. However, one thing I noticed is the dismissive manner with which the average Nigerian reacts when they hear “the police is on top of the situation” anytime a crime happens. The government and the police must do more to disabuse our minds and protect us.
An average Nigerian would be quick to claim being “a good and practicing Christian or Muslim, but watching him or her one would hardly find a real demonstration of the fruits” of religion.

On the journey back, the palpable feeling of sadness inside the car was so thick one could reach out and touch it or even slice through with a knife. We drove in silence, that sort of silence that said the whole story till we got close Sapele Round About. There we were stopped at another Check Point. When we related our experience and showed our police extract, one of the officers shook his head, sighed and said to us: “I am sorry about what happened to you guys but please bear with us, you are in a different ‘country’ now”

On the ongoing atrocities against Nigerians in South Africa, someone on social media suggested that Nigerians in the country should round up the Nigerian embassy there, beat the ambassador to pulp till he ends up in the hospital and then set the building ablaze.

This advise to diaspora Nigerians seem in order especially now that violence appears to be the only language that APC (a government that pleads with and offers millions of naira to bandits, terrorists and kidnapers) understands...

My question to Nigerians, home and abroad is this; can an APC led Buhari's government that has grossly failed to protect Nigerian lives at home protect the same Nigerian lives abroad? Does charity not begin at home anymore?

Can you put (although it is now obvious Buhari stole Atiku's mandate) a crown on the head of a clown who can not lift a finger to help himself and expect a king who can protect his subjects?

Here at home, we sink boreholes to provide our own water, we buy generators to provide ourselves with electricity, we fence ourselves in with walls and iron bars for protection, we literarily take our own security into our own hands, diaspora Nigerians now face the same fate...at least that's what the action of the embassy, the ambassador and the experiences and testimonies of countless Nigerians living abroad has proven...

And to you shameless and evil minded South Africans who attack fellow blacks, given the pain that the black man has undergone throughout his history, if your evil behaviour proves anything, it is that it buttresses the fact that "there is something fundamentally wrong with the black man". You kiss the foot of the sculpture of a white man whom you fear and hate at the same time, avoid the the Chinese and Indians and yet attack fellow blacks who only want to survive because their governments at home have failed them, shame on you...

Attacking Nigerians, a country that stood by you during your darkest days and even hid your great Madiba in her shores for many months during apartheid won't solve your problems, the solution lies with you looking inwards and changing your own atitude and perception of reality...

And for Nigerians at home, since Buhari has proven to be the monumental failure and disaster that he is, let me remind us that, there are South Africans, and South African businesses here also...

Let me leave this here for now...


Albert Afeso Akanbi -02.09.2019 -02:00am

The woman whose picture appear on the billboard image attached to this post is Helen Ukpabio, the founder of the Calabar based Liberty Gospel Church...

The current evil, unspeakable atrocities and the gross abuse going on against kids between the ages of 1 to 15 years today in southern Nigeria, especially in Akwa Ibom State, can mostly be traced to her activities...

At a time when civilized countries like the United States and Israel are talking stem cell, robotics, nanotechnology and the likes, and China and Japan are doing everything they can to harness the potentials of kids the world has identified as "star kids" and "gifted children" , self acclaimed "Lady Apostle" Helen Upkabio and are co travellers in their Voyage of Evil, are talking about witchcraft and believing that the only way to legitimize their spirituality and outdo their competitors is the art of defrauding unsuspecting worshipers is the naming and denounciation of kids as "witches"...

In her pamphlets, dramas, crusades and preaching, she has consistently insisted that a child who is often sickly, deformed, bedwets, sleep walks, often running off to play, talks in her sleep, displays intelligence not consistent with kids her age and so on, is a whitch...

As a result of her activities, over 15,000 children have either been denounced, abadonded, stigmatized, mobbed, rejected by family members and even killed in the last 10 years in Akwa Ibom State alone...and largely because of her also, a number of other charlatans have arisen and taken upon themselves the task of "delivering" and "exorcising" the witchcraft from children, even as some of them charge as much as from between 200,000 to 400,000 naira from gullible and unsuspecting parents and wards...and most of these exorcism are done under very gruesome conditions, sometimes leading to severe injuries to the kids...and for parents who can't pay, the kids would be detained like battery chickens under very horrendous conditions, many times going without food for weeks...

People like Mr Sam Itauma, founder of the Eket based Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network CRARN, who has been working to assist this kids have variously been attacked...his orphanage home in Eket is grossly under funded and thoroughly overpopulated...and at least 4 kids, newly denounced and abandoned and are lucky not to get killed, find their way to his orphanage every fortnight...

Over the years, I have written articles in the papers about this issue, in fact, my upcoming book whose picture is also attached to this post, is intended to call the attention of Nigerians to this evil going on in the name of Christ in southern Nigeria...

From information I gathered, I understand that being a former member of the Olumba Olumba Obu fraternity, Helen herself maybe suffering from psychological problems...but the problem now is that, she has managed to breathe the confusion inside her head into the world around her and depressingly too, she's making so much money from it...

This is very sad, and my greatest dispaointment is in a society that permits mentally, morally and spiritually bankrupt people like this woman to continue to operate...

A society that eats up it's own brightest kids is automatically setting the mechanism for it's own demise...this is a fact I like Nigerians to allow to sink in, especially given the fact that ours is a country with over 70 million of her almost 200 million population comprising kids between the ages of 1 to 15 years, and yet over 30 million of them are at risk of one form of abuse or the other...

From the 10.5 million mostly girl child who are out of school, more than the entire population of three countries out together by the way, to the 2.1 million who are scattered across various IDP camps in northern Nigeria, displaced by terror, the 2.1 million alimajiris in northern Nigeria, child destitutes to child labourers, child artisans, streets hawkers, child househelps, just name it, ours is a broken society in shambles when it come to issues of child welfare... And these conmen and women parading themselves as prophets, instead of lending a hand, are making matters worse...

While the government and big corporations appears to be stealing the wealth of the people of southern Nigeria and leaving in its wake land degradation and sea pollution, mentally disturbed people like Helen are stealing their conscience by making them do unspeakable acts of evil to their kids...

Among countless victims of these "prophets" are a girl of 15 who had a three inches nail driven into her skull in a bid to make her confess, she became mentally retarded before she died shortly after... a boy of 9 who was made to drink a concoction of cement, another who was bathed in acid who, when he died, his death was celebrated as "one less mouth to feed", all in a bid to make them all confess to thier witchacraft...

In as much as I do not claim to understand the concept of witchcraft, or cannot say whether or not it exists, my problem is with the abuse of people especially kids and that is why I am using this opportunity to call on society to look into this issue of child abuse...and to say it is time government beguin to regulate religious activities in the country... We need to support NGOs working for kids in that region, and we need implementable new child protection laws...

Thank you...

Are Nigerians not one of, if not the most impossible people in the world?

President Buhari has been in power since the last four years, and just last month, on the basis of a rigged election, he had himself sworn-in again for another four year term which many have predicted would be another round of misery, bloodletting, hunger and frustration that characterised his first term in office. And here we are singing his praise for "having the courage" to declare June 12 a public holiday, and shouting "happy democracy day"...

What is a holiday when people can't feed, when innocent people are being killed daily across the nation by terrorists that the president doesn't even have the courage to proscribe?

If I were a member of the Abiola family I would ask:
What is the meaning of a holiday to even late MKO Abiola's memory when his legacies are not being uphold? When those who denied him his mandate, detained him, kill his wife Kudirat, destroyed his business empire, and eventually had him killed have not been brought to justice? Are some of the keys actors of that era not still roaming the streets free today?

If we as Nigerians know our rights, won't we be demanding instead for a report to be published detailing everything that transpired then, that led to the annulment of one of the freest elections in our history, to be made available to the public?

If the government was really serious, would it just declare June 12 a holiday and go to sleep?

How about paying reparation to the Abiola family? How about unfreezing his accounts? How about compensating his family for delibratelty destroying the man's empire and for the untold suffering that Abacha who is the current president's hero, made him go through? Or didn't we all see how Abiola was feried from place to place in a Black Maria then like a common criminal?

In any case, there are those, like former President Obasanjo, who still insists Abiola himself was not a saint, and others who insist that he deserved what he got. In as much as I cannot join issues with such people, I think we all should look at the June 12 issue as a matter of righting a wrong, and in doing so, the government also must have the courage to move beyond merely declaring June 12 a public holiday...

But there is another side of the story that I want us as Nigerians to consider, that's is if we are of the mind...

Abiola was a Muslim who did so much to further Islam in Nigeria. There were even reports that he sank a ship load containing copies of the Holy Bible which were destined for our shores...whether this is true or just another bitter rumour I can't say, I but merely stated this to buttress the point that he was a "good Muslim"...

Despite this fact and as well as him being very good friends with IBB who was the president at that time, as soon as it became clear that Abiola was well ahead in the count, General Babangida had the elections declared void...

The Church could easily have tolerated the decision going by the fact that Abiola was a fierce proponent of Islamic interests, yet it didn't. In fact, the spokespeople of all the major churches then agreed to insist on Abiola’s claim to become president, insisting that since the elections had been surprisingly free and fair, General Babangida had no right to annul them...

But Abiola did not find nearly as much support among his Islamic allies in the North. The Sultan of Sokoto told the faithfuls that it had been the will of Allah to annul the elections, even though Abiola was Vice-President of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs then...

In fact, there were even some occasions then when Hausa-Fulani politicians openly stated that the North would commit "political suicide" if it gave the presidency over to a politician from the South...

Muslims in Yorubaland were so shocked by what many of them called an act of "treason" on the part of their co-religionists that some of them even called for the Southern Muslims to quit the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and set up a new umbrella association...

If we were a serious country, what lesson should the Abiola affair have taught us? Why did the Caliphate deny Abiola the presidency? Why did the Yoruba Muslims renege on their threat to pull out of the Islamic body if the mandate was not resorted? Should we take the declaration of a day as holiday more serious than these and many more questions that plague us today as a people....

The answer to these and more questions lies in the same reason why our political class has taken us for a ride over years...

Not only are we a people who suffer from chronic dementia, we also don't know our rights, and we love our chains and defend our oppressors...

Look at what is happening in the country today, look at what happened at the Senate yesterday, as we speak, like in his first term, the entire echelon of government is again occupied by a section of the nation and a particular religion and yet, we are shouting democracy day?

But I guess this won't be for long...

I hope history will one day, sooner than later, repeat itself in this country...

In 1989, Romania was exactly where we are today as a nation. With a satanic government headed by one of the most ruthless dictators in history as its head, the country was in shambles as we are today. In fact, the president then, had a special trained force in place protecting him and the elite.

Then one day in December of that year, the scales fell from the eyes of the people and there was an awakening. Civil unrest broke out, then a revolution started in the Romanian city of Timișoara and soon spread throughout the country.

In 24 hours, General Secretary Nicolae Ceaușescu was round up, captured, tried and summarily executed, both him and his wife Elena and their allies.

And that was the end of 42 years of Communist rule in Romania. It was also the last removal of a Marxist-Leninist government...

Today, with all our resources, Nigerian leaders can't provide infrastructre or give her people a meaningful life, Nigerians are suffering and those who can, are fleeing to other countries to become second class citizens... Instead of turning the enormous wealth of the nation into infrastructure like other countries, the elite, the cabal, are stashing the monies away in private accounts for themselves and generations that can't even exhaust spending the money...

We have taken 20 years and spent billions to generate 1000 Megawatts of electricity when Egypt, spending less have taken just a few months to generate times ten that number according Dangote...

And to make matters worse, we, instead of demanding our rights and asking accountability from our rulers, we are here singing the praise of a government that allows the killing of Christians and innocent people, and has even refused us the basic right of choosing our own leaders in a free and fair elections.

I hope one day, the scales will fall from our eyes, then there will be that awakening, and this sacrilege that's called leadership will fall and become history... I hope this happens in my lifetime....

Before then, happy June 12...

HAPPY JUNE 12...

Are Nigerians not one of, if not the impossible people in the world?

President Buhari has been in power since the last four years, and just last month, on the basis of a rigged election, he had himself sworn-in again for another four year term which many have predicted would be another round of misery, bloodletting, hunger and frustration that characterised his first term in office. And here we are singing his praise for "having the courage" to declare June 12 a public holiday, and shouting "happy democracy day"...

What is a holiday when people can't feed, when innocent people are being killed daily across the nation by terrorists that the president doesn't even have the courage to proscribe?

If I were a member of the Abiola family I would ask:
What is the meaning of a holiday to even late MKO Abuela's memory when his legacies are not being uphold? When those who denied him his mandate, detained him, kill his wife Kudirat, destroyed his business empire, and eventually had him killed have not been brought to justice? Are some of the keys actors of that era not still roaming free today?

If we as Nigerians know our rights, won't we be demanding instead for a report to be published detailing everything that transpired then, that led to the annulment of one of the freest elections in our history, to be made available to the public?

If the government was really serious, would it just declare June 12 a holiday and go to sleep?

How about paying reparation to the Abiola family? How about unfreezing his accounts? How about compensating his family for delibratelty destroying the man's empire and for the untold suffering that Abacha who is the current president's hero, made him go through? Or didn't we all see how Abuela was feried from place to place in a Black Maria then like a common criminal?

In any case, there are those, like former President Obasanjo, who still insists Abiola himself was not a saint, that he deserved what he got. In as much as I cannot join issues with such people, I think we all should look at the June 12 issue as a matter of righting a wrong, and in doing so, the government also must have the courage to move beyond merely declaring June 12 a public holiday...

But there is a a side of the story that I want us as Nigerians to consider, that's is if we are of the mind...

Abiola was a Muslim who did so much to further Islam in Nigeria. There were even reports that he sank a ship load containing copies of the Holy Bible which were destined for our shores...whether this is true or just another bitter rumour I can't say, but I but merely stated this to buttress the point that he was a "good Muslim"...

Despite this fact and as well as him being very good friends with IBB who was the president at that time, as soon as it became clear that Abiola was well ahead in the count, General Babangida had the election declared void...

The Church could easily have tolerated the decision going by the fact that Abiola was a fierce proponent of Islamic interests, yet it didn't. In fact, the spokespeople of all the major churches then agreed to insist on Abiola’s claim to become president, insisting that since the elections had been surprisingly free and fair, General Babangida had no right to annul them...

But Abiola did not find nearly as much support among his Islamic allies in the North. The Sultan of Sokoto told the faithful that it had been the will of Allah to annul the election, even though Abiola was Vice-President of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs then...

In fact, there were even some occasions then when Hausa-Fulani politicians openly stated that the North would commit "political suicide" if it gave the presidency over to a politician from the South...

Muslims in Yorubaland were so shocked by what many of them called an act of "treason" on the part of their co-religionists that some of them even called for the Southern Muslims to quit the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and set up a new umbrella association...

If we were a serious country, what lesson should the Abiola affair have taught us? Why did the Caliphate deny Abiola the presidency? Why did the Yoruba Muslims renege on their threat to pull out of the Islamic body if the mandate was not resorted? Should we take the declaration of a day as holiday more serious than these and more questions that plague us today as a people....

The answer to these and more questions lies in the same reason why our political class has taken us for a ride over years...

Not only are we a people who suffer from chronic dementia, we also don't know our rights, and we love our chains and defend our oppressors...

Look at what is happening in the country today, look at what happened at the Senate yesterday, as we speak, like his first term, the entire echelon of government is again occupied by a section of the nation and a particular religion and yet, we are shouting democrat day?

But I guess this won't be for long...

I hope history, will one day, sooner than later, repeatedly itself in country...

In 1989, Romania was exactly where we are today as a nation. With a satanic government headed by one of the most ruthless dictators in history as its head, the country was in shambles as we are today. In fact, the president then, had a special trained force in place protecting him and the elite.

Then one day in December of that year, the scales fell from the eyes of the people and there was an awakening. Civil unrest broke, then a revolution started in the city of Timișoara and soon spread throughout the country.

In 24 hours, General Secretary Nicolae Ceaușescu was round up, captured, tried and summarily executed, both him and his wife Elena and their allies.

And that was the end of 42 years of Communist rule in Romania. It was also the last removal of a Marxist-Leninist government...

Today, with all our resources, Nigerian leaders can't provide infrastructre or give her people a meaningful life, Nigerians are suffering and those who can, are fleeing to other countries to become second class citizens... Instead of turning the enormous wealth of the nation into infrastructure like other countries, the elite, the cabal, are stashing the monies away in private accounts for themselves and generations that can't even exhaust spending the money...

We have taken 20 years and spent billions to generate 1000 Megawatts of electricity when Egypt, spending less have taken just a few months to generate times ten that number accordingly Dangote...

And to make matters worse, we, instead of demanding our rights and asking accountability from our rulers, we are here singing the praise of a government that allows the killing of Christians and innocent people, and has even refused us the basic right of choosing our own leaders in a free and fair elections.

I believe one day, the scales will fall from our eyes, then there will be that awakening, and this sacrilege that's called leadership will fall and become history... I hope this happens in my lifetime....


Before then, happy June 12...

When he collected the car keys on that fateful afternoon of April 1, 2018, he had no inkling that Fate would teach him a very valuable lesson that many of us today give no attention. That only a thin line separates life, which is a gift, from death.
Abdulsalami Gbolahan Ridwan was born 24 years ago into the Abdulsalami family of Oshogbo in Osun State. Popularly known as ‘Mr. Exponent’ among his fans and friends, Gbolahan realized his mission in life early enough. By the time he started his primary education and later proceeded to an Islamic College in Ede where he bagged his Senior School Certificate, he had already known that promoting creativity through music was what he wanted to do.

Though his father insisted on studying Business Administration at Osun State University Oshogbo where he is currently a final year student, he didn’t drop his pursuit of music.

April 1st. The naming ceremony of his younger sibling was in full swing in the house. The drinks were almost out, and his dad had instructed him to go get more drinks from his Lounge and bar in another area of the city. In company of his Manager whom he had come home with from school the night before, Gbolahan took one of the cars in the house and they set out.

Minutes into the journey however, they suddenly heard a loud blast from underneath the car. One of the tyres had exploded. Almost immediately, Gbolahan lost control of the car and the next series of events happened so fast that he and his friend could have been watching a scene from an action movie. The vehicle violently skidded off the road, somersaulted a number of times before coming to rest in a ditch near the expressway. Miraculously, Gbolahan and his friend came out of the almost mangled car totally unscarred, so that the crowd that quickly gathered around them started looking for the passengers in the vehicle, and even refused to believe that the duo had actually emerged from the car.

Although he admitted to me that it was a clear case of inexperience, over speeding and lack of proper check of the car before leaving home, a recent World Health Organization report says Nigeria records 33,700 deaths in every 100 million people living in the country annually.
Although this report led Saraki’s Senate into passing a motion on the pandemic rise of road traffic accidents in Nigeria, a lot still needs to be done by the Road Traffic Officials, road users and the government who must do its duty to fix our roads.
The accident greatly shook Gbolahan who narrated how it became a lasting lesson for him. King David writing in the book of Psalm 90:12 say: “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Unlike many of us today Gbolahan realised from that day that time is limited and life is too short to waste it.
There are not so many hours in a day, and there are only so many days in our lives. If one lived for 70 years for example, that would have amounted to about 26,000 days. Now this may seem like a lot of time, but compared to eternity, it is but a breath. So we must pay attention to the things we do here today, because it is our actions here and now, that would echo into eternity long after we are gone.
Though he choose his path early, April 1 changed Gbolahan’s mindset radically so that it led him into the decision to make his life count by giving value to his time.
So, the experience gave birth to ‘Exponent Life in Concert ELIC’ programme. Rallying around a few friends of like minds, Gbolahan started a process that would bring student from across Nigerian universities, starting from Osun State University, together, to promote creative the arts like music, acting, writing, fashion etc, through talent hunt and award giving so as to support those who are making a mark and to encourage those who have dreams to take action.
The maiden edition of ELIC was held in 2018 in Oshogbo and it attracted students as well as well meaning Nigerians and corporate organisations who support the arts in their hundreds.
Now, in toeing this path, Gbolahan has done nothing different from what many young Nigerians, who are making impact, are doing.
For examples, Precious David-Gaga from Delta State, a graphic editor and lover of music who organizes capacity development training programmes in campuses, whose work is making positive impact on young people within and outside Warri, readily comes to mind.

There is also Ayodele Taofiq-Fanida, who is determined to take entrepreneurship to another dimension, and has authored two fund-raising books and founded the ‘Save Our Community Afrika’, a youth led community based project in Lagos, and a host of others that space would not permit us to mention here, whose names we don’t often get to hear.

Now, the difference between Gbolahan and these youths is that, with ELIC, Gbolahan is trying to make the point that entertainment merged with education can indeed be used to remove our youths from crime.

And true, ELIC Season I showed us all that like an on-again off-again romance, education and entertainment have a long-standing relationship which some experts call “edutainment.”
Although some have argued that while “education aims to cultivate maturity, responsibility, knowledge and growth... and good education trains us for employment, for good citizenship, and for a deeper, more meaningful human experience... entertainment aims only to amuse, and holds no prejudice against meaningless fun...”
While this may appear true on the surface, the truth is that education and entertainment often overlaps and we can enjoy the best of both worlds: rich delights and profound learning. The fact that education studies the arts and educational games and the work of youths like Gbolahan within our educational system is proof that “Edutainment” is a new phase in our national life that the authorities must begin to look into.
Yes, I concede that entertainment is not the goal of education, but it is still important as the best motivator there is, and learning only happens when people are motivated. We have seen how the artistic skill of youths like Gbolahan has brought education and entertainment together in a way that inspires.
And despite the rot in our education system, and the challenges Gbolahan and his team faced in the maiden edition of ELIC, it appears students, starting from Osun State University, are prepared for it.
Our universities are plagued with obsolete infrastructure, and despite the intervention from government agencies such as Education Trust Fund, most universities cannot boast of standard laboratories, qualified lecturers and world class classrooms. To add salt to injury, ASUU embarks on strike at every blink of the eyelid. Now, what sort of products do we expect from such institutions?
Yet despite this reality, youths like Gbolahan brave all odds to make impact. And in recognition, Gbolahan was awarded the Rotary Award for ICON of the year 2018, Best Entertainment Manager by Uniosun and a host of others. Inspired by this, Gbolahan has gone on to co-found Kelvin and Gbolahan (K&G) Entertainment, and he is currently serving as manager of AMA Sound Nation, and all these has not in any way affected his academics negatively.
Experts upon experts have argued that the Nigerian entertainment and media industry, with a total revenue of 3.8B USD annually, is the future, and so, while calling on Nigerian youths to key in to this, I also call on the authorities to explore better ways of exploiting “edutainment” for the benefit of our youths.
In the end, the question we would ask ourselves would be; “Which path do I want to take, my own… or someone else’s?” And we have seen people regret on their deathbeds why they did not live a life true to themselves instead of one for others. So, the duty of every youth who reads this today should be to discover purpose and pursue it. It’s not too late to start, you can start today, to live for yourself, to pursue your dreams right where you are, and with what resources you have.
Therefore, the lesson we must all take from Gbolahan’s experience is that life is too short to live it for others. People may or may not accept your dream at first, but pursuing it is still what you must do if you want to be happy and fulfilled.
God bless you...

Sometimes in April, news broke of how outspoken Nigerian Pentecostal pastor and founder of the Omega Fire Ministries International, Apostle Johnson Suleman, had acquired for himself a private jet.

With words of praise like “God’s own oracle…the lion of Africa”, pictures and video of the man gracing the inside of the jet, the church’s Dubai branch announced the development.

Understandably, a number of Nigerians criticized the move. I expected such criticism, especially because the country recently became the world’s capital of extreme poverty. Some people, especially church members, quickly rose to the man’s defence. Even one time Special Assistant to former President Jonathan, Reno Omokri, made a Live Facebook video in which he explained how Apostle Suleman had sent two very poor church members to school abroad, how they finished, got very good jobs, made so much money, and then decided to buy the man a jet without his knowledge.

I wonder why Mr Omokri chose to offer such an apparently untenable defence of the man. Could he have been inspired by the fact that, according to his own words, the Apostle “…helped me raise money for the Free Leah Sharibu Movement”?

Fortified with the knowledge that private jets, private yachts and so on, are luxuries associated mainly with extremely wealthy people, I am tempted to ask why a man who, only weeks before, had admonished his members on the need to use their resources in helping the needy, would, rather than turn admonition on self, spend so much on a private jet.

Apostle Suleiman has joined the league of Pentecostal pastors like E.A Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church, Pastor Oritsejafor of the Word of Life Bible Church, Bishop Oyedepo of Living Faith Church and a host of others who own private jets, universities and other business concerns.

Despite the PR, the fact remains that Apostle Suleiman acquired his jet under conditions shrouded in opaqueness. That is why he needed members and allies to offer flawed explanations, and when all the justification didn’t fly and citizen voiced concern about the morality behind the whole affair, he turned around and told them to their faces; “…if you are complaining about one jet I don’t know what you are going to do when we get 50…load your gunpowder…because we are just starting.”

Coming from a man who relies on donations from which he is tax exempt, a man who has no credible patent to his name, his was not just a conceited response to the general public, but a statement that smirks of pride, totally unlike Jesus Christ.

Can Apostle Suleman deny knowledge of, or tell us in good conscience, the true source of the money with which he acquired the jet? With a church whose members do not exceed 100,000 worldwide, what exactly is so urgent about his message that he needed a jet to propagate?

The truth is that Pentecostalism in Nigeria has derailed from the message of Christ. The movement, by inference most of its pastors, who are supposed to be contributing positively to nation building as well as being the conscience of the nation, have failed woefully in that role.

We have reached a point in our history where, if we really want lasting resolutions to our countless national challenges, we need to take a critical look at the damage that Nigerian “Prosperity At All Cost” ministers are doing to the psych of our people.

We can’t pretend not to notice the social upheaval this sort of message has contributed to the Nigerian situation. Yes, they may give scholarships here and there, may pay hospital bills for this patient or that, and they may even give a bag of rice to this woman or that, yes. But the question is; what is the import of their message and lifestyle and its effects on the mentality of the people?

A recent column in Sahara Reporters insisted that “they laid the foundation of greed and social discontent from which the society is yet to come to terms. They departed radically from the preaching of the Lord Jesus which emphasised contentment and instead substituted greed and avarice into the social lexicon. They offer wishy-washy holiness and continue to inundate us with the doctrines of prosperity, albeit, prosperity at all costs. They decided to build a temple of materialism from which they hold the befuddled populace in a trance-like grip.”

Jesus Christ spoke truth to power and fought the cause of the poor. But most of our Pentecostal clergymen would rather wine and dine with politicians, even in the presence of abiding poverty and hunger.

From Prophet T.B Joshua who predicted a win for Hillary Clinton in the last US election to Apostle Suleiman, we have received a barrage of prophecies that never came to pass. For example, the revered Pastor Adeboye openly anointed Olusegun Osoba for the government house in 2003. The result? The man lost. Yet, in these men, we see the biggest proponents of a theology that says “God rewards the faithful with wealth and health”.

Apostle Suleiman has boasted that God told him he would get 50 jets. But why would a God who could give him that much not fix just one of the myriad economic problems that plague the tiny Auchi community where his church is domiciled?

Now that he has built his ministry on financial prosperity, what will he do when the donations dry up? Should not the story of one time “prosperous” Church of God Mission International serve as lesson in humility for him?

As a pastor, more than anybody else, the Apostle should know that his type of theology, which is so pervasive today in Nigeria, is a distortion of the message of Jesus and it doesn’t equip Nigerians to deal with the challenges of life, which are very rampant in our country today, especially man made ones.

If you preach that wealth and health is a sign of God’s favor, what will you do when you lose any or both? This is the question we must all ask ourselves. The revered Men of God, pastor Kumuyi and Pastor Odukoya are both good examples of this fact, when their amiable wives of blessed memories, passed under circumstances I believe they would not have wished for. But we are humans, we are frail and we are dust.

Because of this message, we have seen how believers get sick and some even die, yet shame compounded the grief. There is no graceful death in the “Prosperity At All Cost” and “I Cannot Be Sick” gospel. There are only jarring disappointments after fevered attempts by many to deny the inevitability; our humanity.

We must emulate Jesus who, in keeping with God’s heart expressed through the Prophets of old, carried on the tradition of defending the poor. He even told the church at Laodicea who boast as Apostle Suleiman does today, “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked”

Jesus turned over the tables of moneychangers and drove out those who profited from religion, he called tax collectors to repentance, and said to “store up for yourselves riches in heaven where nothing can steal or destroy it”.

While Jesus isn’t suggesting that we all live destitute, he clearly warned about the great dangers of a desperate quest for wealth, and the power it has to shift the mind to things that are ephemeral.

The truth is, behind this quest for jets, private universities, trips to the most developed countries to “preach the gospel” and conveniently avoiding the Islamic world that needs it most, to build and own empires, is unbridled GREED.

These men may not see this, but the rest of us do. This is why I would conclude with the prayers of His Holiness, Pope Francis I; “…Lord, please touch the hearts of these people who worship… the god of money …And also touch my heart, so I don’t fall into this too, so that I can see.” Amen.

Apostle Paul said unequivocally that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Christian faith. In other words, if Jesus didn’t rise, Christianity is false.
Like many men throughout history, I suppose there are very good reasons to believe in the resurrection story.
Recall that in previous articles, we established the reliability of the gospel accounts, and added to that, there are many experts who have made a very good case against the ‘Miracles Are Impossible’ argument, which are aimed at disproving the resurrection stories.
There is almost no scholar today who doesn’t agree that the birth, teachings, miracles, indisputable death by crucifixion outside of Jerusalem, and burial of Jesus in a tomb not far from where he was killed, are facts of history.
Even skeptical scholars, i.e. Irish-American John D. Crossan, in his book ‘Jesus: A revolutionary Biography’ said; “Jesus’ death by crucifixion under Pilate is as sure as anything historical can ever be”. Mark 15:42 and Apostle Paul at 1 Corinthians 15:3 corroborated this fact also.
The highly revered Jewish historian Josephus also substantiated what Prophet Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 21:23 that Jewish laws demanded that even foreigners and criminals who were executed by the State must be buried.
The issue now however, is not about Jesus’ death and burial, but about what actually happened on that first Easter morning.
The number of books written about the last nine hour of Jesus’ life, some of them in attempt to answer the question of what actually happened to his body, are more than the books written about the lives of all the religious and political leaders in all history combined.
Still, we find some of these books written by skeptics, put forward a number of suppositions that can be distilled into three, namely; The Mythic, which says the resurrection stories were made up, Conspiracy, which says the disciples lied about the resurrection for personal gains, and The Hallucination Theories.
But Christians throughout history have not ceased to insist that Jesus did indeed rise and that the disciples witnessed it.
Joining countless scholars, American New Testament researcher Bart Ehrman says “I don’t doubt at all some disciples claimed this… Paul, writing about 25 years later, indicates that this is what they claimed, and I don’t think he is making it up…”
Would a religion so great no other has rivaled it in all history have arisen from a mere fabricated story?
Skeptics would say ‘yes, that is very possible’ and would even argue that people claim they see all sort of things, so why should we take the disciples’ claim about Jesus’ resurrection serious? But if you accept the reliability of the gospels, this would not be a problem. Yes, people die for things that are not necessarily true, but do they die for something they know for sure was false? Did the apostles die for a belief, no! They died for what they said they saw, not a belief.
The disciples were not expecting Jesus to rise even though he promised to, and when they witnessed his resurrection, they didn’t proclaim it under duress.
We are told Jesus appeared to groups of people at once. Having in mind that scientists insist that group hallucinations are very rare or may even be nonexistent, how possible is it for a group of 500, as Apostle Paul mentioned, to be fooled at the same time?
If the disciples hallucinated or made up stories, why would they preach Jesus’ bodily appearance rather than a spiritual one? At least there were men at the time who were familiar with visions and even many of them had claimed to have seen some.
Why would they, especially Jesus’ brother Saint James, who we know did not initially believe in his brother as the messiah, lie about his resurrection? Apostle Paul was at the top of his profession at the time, he was a respected and powerful religious leader with great pride, why would he convert, lie about something fabricated and forfeit everything for it?
A dying and rising messiah was not part of Second-Temple Judaism belief. So why would someone like James rush to Jerusalem and be caught up in a fabricated group ecstasy when it would have made sense that Jesus’ execution as a criminal, would have supported his continued unbelief rather than his conversion?
Though the message of Jesus’ resurrection may sound warm and loving to Christians today, to the ancient Jewish culture that thrived on honour, such a message was disgusting. To the enemies of Christianity then, they could not imagine a Son of God dying a disgraceful death. In fact, such a message was enough to truncate the new religion.
The Jews, to whom Jesus belonged, expected a conquering Messiah not one shamefully crucified. Yet this was the message that a few persecuted disciples proclaimed. Can all their zeal be based on a lie, conspiracy or hallucination?
If one wanted to make up a story to gain following, would he not make up something that was appealing; something that would work to his own advantage? Will he make up a story that was disgusting to the same people he wanted to win to his side?
Another point to consider is that the ancient Jewish world considered women lower than men and so did not rate their testimonies high. In fact, Josephus in his Antiquities wrote “let not the testimony of women be admitted…” and the Talmud also said “any evidence which a woman (gives) is not valid (to offer)” yet, in the gospels resurrection stories, women were the first and primary witnesses to the empty tomb, is it reasonable to use women to proclaim a manufactured story in a society that didn’t respect their witness?
N.T Wright sums it all up when he said “as historians, we are obliged to comment that if these stories have been made up… then we will never had had Mary Magdalene in this role. To put Mary there is …to us as historians… something …the early Christians would never, never have made up...”
When Jesus died, the disciples remained in Jerusalem proclaiming his resurrection, why so? The historian Tacitus in his work Annals and Apostle Paul confirmed that Christianity began in Judea. Do impostors act like that? Can you imagine that a people’s leader was shamefully executed and they remained where he was killed preaching hope? If the evidence were not in their favour, would they not have left like cult people do? A good example is when Joseph Smith of the Mormon left New York City with his followers when similar event occurred?
When people make up stories, they fled to places where they are not known, they don’t remain in a place where they are well known, where there are enough evidences to debunk them.
No one can deny that the early apostles suffered and died for the message of the resurrection.
From Tacitus, Suetonius to Josephus, Christian and non-Christian scholars alike all agree that the disciple suffered and died for the gospel. And this was despite the fact that in the ancient world, it was believed that people suffering were being punished and so needed to turn from their evil ways. For the disciples, it was voluntary suffering, there was no gain attached.
Ok, who can satisfactorily tell us today what actually happened to Jesus’ body? At least the location of the tomb was public knowledge.
Archeologists have found a stone named ‘Nazareth Stone’ which was from around 41 AD, with an inscription of a Roman Decree about a missing body. Why would the Romans authorities make such a decree?
This problem led to the disciples being accused of having stole the body, but if they really did, why would they help spread the rumour by recording it in the gospels for future generations to see?
And how would they have smuggled a life size body through the crowded city of Jerusalem at that time of Passover when the town would have been filled to capacity?
Rather than argue about that first Easter Sunday, let us believe and celebrate it as hope for all mankind…
Happy Easter…

As I went for my usual early morning jug today, I came across a frail looking elderly woman. It was quite early and so the road was relatively deserted and lonely. On one hand she clutched the Holy Bible and on the other a huge bell. In-between Christian choruses, the clinging of the bell and shouting on top of her voice, she called on the public to repent and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, her aged voice ringing into the silence of the distance.
As I reached where she was, I felt deeply moved. This was an old woman, who probably felt she was close to her end and as such decided that the world must hear the good news she had received, something she believed had saved and assured her of meeting Jesus when she dies.
The spectacle reminded me of late Mrs. Eunice Elisha, a pastor of one of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, who sometimes ago embarked on similar venture on one early Saturday morning in Gbazango-West of Kubwa, a satellite town in Abuja, but was brutally hacked to death by people suspected of belonging to a certain religion.
We were told that the other religion “warned her to be mindful of what she preached and even had her husband advice her to take caution”. Her lifeless body in a pool of her own blood was the result of those ‘warning’.
Recently, the governor of Kaduna state warned that “foreign powers planning to interfere in our elections would go back in body bags.”
Then the President’s warned at an APC caucus meeting that “So I want anybody who thinks he …will snatch ballot boxes or disturb the voting system, he will do it at the expense of his own life…”
As usual, outrage followed both statements, as Nigerians became divided on whether these statements were a license for extra judicial killings. Going by the provisions of our electoral laws, whether or not these statements were warranted in the first place is another matter.
From Mr. President, Governor El Rufai to the killers of Mrs. Eunice, the question is, what is it that formed the ideology of a certain people that has shaped their outlook of life in such a way that, to them, even the most “inconsequential” offences -i.e. a middle aged woman preaching her faith in the street- is a thing deserving of the most severest of punishment? Now I am not trying to say snatching ballot boxes or attempting to derail our elections is an inconsequential offence, no. Why do I have the feeling that to some people, life can easily be discarded for reasons as mundane for example, two goats locking horns, as it were? Why would anyone kill another person for what s/he believes, or what s/he said about that?
For me, the common denominator, from the street killers, to those who rule us, is an ideology that has led to a chronic lack of empathy.
Empathy is the capacity to understand and feel what another person feels from within their frame of reference, which is the capacity to place one’s self in another’s position. To try to feel other people’s pain exactly the same way they feel it. Ironically, we all want this from others, but we are stingy in giving it ourselves.
Apparently, the people who hacked Mrs. Eunice, a mother of 7, to death have no empathy any more than the man who called for foreigners to be returned in body bags or the one who suggests we discard our electoral laws, and liquidate ballot box snatchers, when he himself failed to give assent to intended reforms of those laws. And this may sound simplistic, but it is not.
The point am trying to make is that our leaders lack the capacity of putting themselves in the shoes of us the followers. Over 20,000 people have been killed since this government took office, a government that has empathy would not play politics with the fight on terror, it would take the bull by the horn and not pay ransom (indirect empowerment according to President Obasanjo) to killers or “forgive ‘repentant’ killers.
Even those who, obviously, are pulling the strings from behind the scene on President Buhari’s re-election quest, despite his age and physical limitations, according to he himself, lack empathy for the man too.
A government that is not bereft of any atom of empathy will not promise to amend our constitution, strengthen INEC to reduce, attract the best and brightest of our sons into our politics and yet turn out to be one of the most sectional governments in our history.
Such a government won’t promise to prevent the abuse and misuse of Executive powers and yet fail to obey court orders.
Nor will it promise to bring permanent peace and yet look the other way as we organize mass burials.
In almost four years since President Buhari took power, over 11 million jobs have been lost, poverty level as increased and most Nigerians live within less than two dollar a day.
In 2015, even before President Buhari appointed ministers, he approved almost 40 billion naira to prospect crude oil in northern Nigeria, as we speak, that has proven to be a waste of tax payer’s money, yet no comments on the matter. If President Buhari has the capacity to put himself in our shoes, he would at least offer an explanation because I don’t expect him to accept it if he sends someone on an errand with his hard earned money, and the someone returned with no results or explanation.
Before his election, he swore that subsidy was a scam, even in Lagos; protests were organized against former president Jonathan when the issue of subsidy and the pump price of fuel came up, and President Buhari also promised to sell off all the planes in the presidential fleet as a way of cutting cost, today, the wastage in government, from contracts award to appointments smirks of the worst form of corruption, and the amount that has been paid for subsidy is unequaled.
Do we have to go far back into memory lane to remember the row between Ibe Kachukwu, Minister of State of Petroleum and the GMD of NNPC, over the whistle the former blew on the issue of 25 billion naira NNPC funds? Has there been a conclusive probe on the matter? Who else noticed that Mr. Kachukwu has gone quiet ever since? Who else doesn’t know that NNPC being a haven of corruption for successive governments, requires urgent reform or outright scrapping or privatization?
Who didn’t hear about the issue of one Mr. Folarin Coker, a former Lagos state employee who was alleged of diverting 3 billion naira, and doesn’t know that the matter has not been conclusively investigated? Is he not an employee of NTDC now, employed by Mr. President?
Who didn’t hear about the issue of Abba Kyari, President Buhari’s Chief of Staff who was accused of taking bribe to help MTN evade fines, despite concrete evidence, has the matter been conclusively investigated?
On camera, when the issue of budget padding came up, President Buhari promised to punish those involved, like most of his promises, till date, has anything been heard of the matter?
Tell me, who among President Buhari’s inner circle of friends and re-election promoters, from the governor recently accused of taking bribes in raw cash, caught on camera to the man who many have accused of owning much of Lagos, to the one who said to join APC and have your sins forgiven, who among them is clean? Even when Babachir Lawal was sacked, he was replaced with Boss Mustapha his cousin, effectively retaining the position of SGF in the family.
Despite the fact that this president spent much of his tenure blaming past governments, he also spent a better part of it in medical tourism, even though he promised to end same, and in fact, the First Lady raised the alarm that funds appropriated for Aso Rock Hospital were looted, no heads have rolled.
Is the president somehow shocked at how fast his tenure ended with nothing to show for it? How times flies, yet only the wise realize this truth.
From President Obasanjo to the UK House of Lords, people with conscience and lovers of Nigeria everywhere have all “expressed worry about the inability of the Buhari government to end killings in Nigeria”, shouldn’t we the voters?
Citizens, how much worse do we want things to get before we act, in the name of God, let us show ourselves some empathy and vote out President Buhari and APC at all level come Saturday?
God bless Nigeria…

In less than 48 hours, in fulfillment of our civic responsibility as citizens, we would be heading for the polls. Before then, I think it is imperative we reminded ourselves of certain salient facts before casting our votes…
Bearing in mind where we’ve been as a people, we must all remember that in 2015, among countless other promises, President Buhari promised the following;
“…to initiate action to amend our constitution with a view to devolving power…”
“…to strengthen INEC to reduce, if possible, eliminate electoral malpractice in Nigeria’s political life…”
To “…attract the best and brightest of our sons into our politics and public service…”
To “…prevent the abuse and misuse of Executive…through strengthening and sanitizing the EFCC and ICPC as independent entities…”
He also promised to “restructure governance for leaner, more efficient…” running of government to discourage wastage…
Then he promised to “…bring permanent peace and solution to the insurgency issues in the North East, Niger Delta and other conflict prone states…”
Let us not forget that President Buhari also promised to “…initiate policies to ensure that Nigerians are free to live and work in any part of the country…’ and to “make our economy one of the fastest growing emerging economies in the world…” and so on…
In light of all these promises and more, let us not forget the situation in Nigeria as we speak…
Let us remember that the United States Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) say it has documented at least 19,890 deaths in Nigeria since June 2015, just after President Buhari assumed office.

We should also remember that the United Kingdom-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) disclosed that “Fulani militias killed 1,061 people in about 106 attacks on communities in central Nigeria in the first quarter of 2018”.
Let us remember that the UK House of Lords has “expressed worry about the inability of the Buhari government to end killings in Nigeria”, a concern that followed a debate on the “killing of about 200 people in Plateau State by suspected Fulani herdsmen”.
Do not forget also that the CFR, an independent body of experts dedicated to providing advice on policy options facing countries, put the “cumulative deaths in Nigeria from May 2011 to May 2018 at 53,595”, even though we expected this government to stem the tide when they came on board in 2015. This statistics can be found on a section of the organization’s website, Nigeria Security Tracker (NST)…
We must also not fail to forget that in another CSW's report, published by THISD AY newspaper, the organization said, "During the first quarter of 2018 they documented over 1000 deaths by the Fulani militia on communities in Adamawa, Benue, southern Kaduna, Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau and Taraba states, with an additional 17 lives lost in attacks in the south of the country…
Let us remember that in the course of this administration’s lifespan, we have organized mass burials, especially in Benue State, as if there is an ongoing civil war. We must also remember the horrific pictures that came from Benue State alone during those periods.
Let us note that the CWS said, "…attacks by herder militia are currently occurring with such frequency, organization and asymmetry that the characterization as 'clashes' no longer suffices”
Remember the “over 400 deaths in 46 attacks during the second quarter of 2018. In one of the most recent, at least 200 people were reported to have died in coordinated attacks in around 50 communities in BarkinLadi Local Government Area in Plateau State, which began on June 22 and lasted until June 24, 2018”.
They also reported that “victims of the BarkinLadi attacks were women and children and 120 of them were killed as they returned from the funeral of an elderly member of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN)”!

Let us also remember the impassioned debate in the UK parliament in the course of this government, following “the murder of about 200 people in Plateau State by alleged herdsmen”, in which the House of Lords warned the Nigerian and British governments “that remaining complacent about the violent attacks could plunge Nigeria into the type of genocide that happened in Rwanda...”
Let us not forget all the killings, from the lone Redeem Christian Church woman preacher, murdered in cold blood in the street of Abuja while she went about her early morning preaching, to the endless terrorist killings…let us remember that most of these killers have not been found, that in the face of the killings that have characterized the lifespan of this administration, former president Olusegun Obasanjo said “…with the teaming of Boko Haram and Islamic State’s West African Province (ISWAP), Boko Haram is stronger today militarily than they have ever been. Boko Haram has also been empowered by the Nigerian government through payment of millions of dollars as ransom…”
Let us remember also how much the Dollar exchanged for the naira before now, how much petrol sold for per liter, remember President Buhari’s appointments, how sectional there have been, that Nigeria was once adjured the largest economy in Africa but today the headquarters of poverty in the world. Let us remember that Nigeria, which is the most populous black nation in the world, the highest crude producer in Africa, currently lacks purposeful leadership as we speak and remains the haven of extreme cases of corruption in the oil sector.
Let us also remember that in the face of all these, there are Men of The Cloak in this country, who, like the founder and early witnesses of the Christian faith, have not ceased to play the role of the conscience of the nation, and that they have indeed been speaking out…
Let us remember the words of Bishop David Oyedepo that “…a flood of evil is determined to rise against the nation by the powers of darkness, but God forbid that Christians would be found sleeping”. Christians please, remember not to sleep on Saturday.
Let us also remember that Dr Paul Enenche said “…it is an absolute abomination for the cause of God to be confronted (with evil) and you keep quiet…”
Let us remember all the men, from Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, Bishop Emmanuel, Bolanle Gbonigi, Bishop Jasper Akinola, Prelate Sunday Mbang, Pastor David Ibiyomi, to Prophet T B Joshua, Reverend Samson Ayokunle CAN president, Pastor Paul Adefarasin, Bishop El Buba, the greatly revered Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, Apostle Johnson Sulaiman, Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere, to Pastor Rhoda Awiliki and so many others, who speak truth to power…
Let us also never forget that there is a Vice President who is also a Pastor in Nigeria today, that our highly revered Pastor E. A Adeboye has maintained some type of conspicuous silence in these trying times, and that the “holy man” Pastor WF Kumuyi and his wife went “felicitating with a man under whose watch more innocent and defenseless Nigerians, particularly Christians, have been slaughtered than any other in the history of our country…”
Let us remember the words of the late sage, Martin Luther king Jnr that “In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends”

Finally, Nigerians, let us remember not to forget that the 2019 general elections will provide the best opportunity for us to deal with the crisis that currently bedevils our nation... I hope Nigerians, “especially Nigerian Christians will realize that much more of the solution is in their hands than they perhaps realize…"
Citizens, if you have the chance of hiring between a suspected “thief” and another with established case of extreme dementia and unsoundness of the mind, which of them will you hire? Please remember to vote wisely on 16th February, 2018.
God bless Nigeria…

As I watched Kaduna State governor threatened, on national television, that “foreigners who ‘interfered’ with” the upcoming general elections “would return in body bags”, I wondered how things have degenerated to this low in less than four years.
It is sad that the veteran broadcaster who anchored the interview did not make attempt to distance the NTA from such reckless statement, but sadder still is the fact that the presidency, and even the man himself, have made attempts to either justify or rephrase a statement that is so clear, to even a child.
There is no body with a conscience, Nigerian or not, observing the way things are going in the last four years, that would not wish for the APC to be voted out of power next week.
Many of us need not struggle with our memories to recall that four years ago in the same country, it was 200 naira to one dollar. A bag of rice sold for 10,000 naira, a litre of petrol sold for 87 naira, a tin of milk sold for 100 naira, and so on, today what is the story?
Yes, the PDP government was accused of corruption, but it was the same government that announced that Nigeria had overtaken South Africa as the largest economy in Africa.
Then 2015 came, and a former military dictator well over 75 years, took the saddle...then many of us had already bought into the narrative that he was ‘a man of integrity’, forgetting the truth that integrity alone, whatever that means, does put food on the table, we voted and encouraged others to vote en-masse for him.
Suddenly everything changed...
First, it took him six months to name his ministers, and when he finally did, it was the same old recycled names, some of whom have corruption cases hanging on their heads till today.
Then prices of commodities went skywards, the naira quickly crashed against the dollar, petrol, as of today sells for 150 naira per litre or more in some places, so much so that the last Christmas was the only Christmas that didn’t become the worst in living memory of Nigerians in the last four years, where many had to sleep at filling stations while many more paid three times the usual transport fare to travel home, and so on...
As of today, The International Organisation for Migration IOM, have reported an increased in violence brought about by terrorism in the North East, they say over 59,000 Nigerians have been displaced in the last three months, and that’s despite claims of victory against terrorism.
Our troops are not motivated, they are left on their own, to war against an enemy that the government has been accused to be systematically empowering by paying ransoms running into billions of naira to... As a write, Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe and in fact the entire North-East is experiencing the worst form of humanitarian crisis Nigeria has ever seen...
If all these negatives are all that there is to this government maybe it would have been bearable... But no, they are not.
The security of lives and properties of Nigerians, in the last four years, has become a mirage. We saw how Islamists Fulani herdsmen joined forces with Jihadist Boko Haram...
Even though there has been a loll in reportage, we know that the result of this partnership has been blood, blood and more blood...As we speak; the young Christian girl kidnapped with others in Dapchi, who refused to renounce her faith and accept Islam, Leah Sharibu, is still in captivity...
Yet, we have a government whose body language suggests it would not accept voices of dissent, would, according to the chairman of its party, ‘forgive’ thieves who joined their party, does not take the matter of the killing of innocent people seriously, and most importantly, may not even be willing to give us free and fair elections. Or how else do we explain the recent redeployments of Commissioners of Police and the attempts to ‘cage’ the judiciary?
Although many may not care to notice, hardly a day goes by today that we don't wake up to news of carnage or some acts of illegality in the country, to the extent that Nigerians don’t care anymore...
There are reports that the number of deaths and internal displacements in Nigeria in the last four years may be more than what is obtained in Syria where there is currently an ongoing civil war!
Bishop Oyedepo of Living Faith Church noted that although we are not at war, since this government came to power, we have organised mass burials than some places where there is ongoing war...
As if that is not enough, there are also reports that this president gave the order to recruit "repentant" ex-Boko Haram members into our security forces!
It is a well known fact that Mr Femi Fani-Kayode is in the forefront of those drumming into our ears that ‘there is a dangerous Islamic agenda, which is the reason Mr Buhari sought power four times, got it eventually, and is now the arrow head for furthering that agenda...’
In the last four years, in Plateau State alone, many have been killed, so much so that over 120 people were massacred in cold blood in a manner that left bulging eyes and dropping jaws in one Saturday alone...
It is in this same country, within the last four years, that we heard reports of some fellow who claim to represent a group that calls itself "Miyetti Allah" (Warriors of Allah) coming forward to announce that the Plateau State carnage was revenge for over 300 cows killed by the youths of the State...till this moment, many of those killings, many also in Benue State, have not been properly handled.
The government’s response was to blame the massacres on desperate politicians...so called politicians that they do not have neither the will nor the nerve to name and prosecute...

After the usual paparazzi that attended all those killings, deployment of troops, announcements of curfews and hypocritical political statements, all the noise would disappeared to be replaced with the routine of dangerous politicking, endless talking and tribalism...until another massacre...
Are we a people without conscience? Isn’t it already obvious that we are under a government that is clearly without the answers? Are we so unserious as a people, suffering from a case of chronic collective dementia, that over 120 people dead in one day and we still go on as if all is well, while some youth retards amongst us still canvass for this government? Just few weeks ago, a sitting CJN was illegally removed, and ASUU just called off a 3 months old strike yesterday, and it is pretty obvious that if it were not for the coming elections next Saturday, this government wouldn’t care...
In more serious climes, by now the whole country would have been shut down, all activities would have grounded to a halt... Civil Liberty Organisations, Labour Unions, religious bodies, university students, market women, etc would have mobilized and poured into the streets in protest to demand a solution to these endless killings, madness, and illegality or better yet insist that the "desperate politicians" that Mr Buhari spoke about be named and brought to justice...
But no, not Nigeria...not Nigeria where people can go on the streets of Kano in protest because one atheist in Denmark drew cartoons of one "prophet" even though citizens were being killed in their hundreds, daily, by Boko Haram...not Nigeria where we will carry on as if all is well leaving those affected and the victims of massacre to leak their wounds...not Nigeria where a president who prides himself as a man of integrity would lift the hand of a confirmed thief in campaign rally and yet some youths who do not know their left from right would still sing his praise... not Nigeria where a group such as MURIC, under a supposed professor, would spend quality time and energy writing about why Friday should be declared a public holiday for Muslims ‘since Saturday was declared for The Seventh Day Adventists and Sunday for Catholics and other Christians’ but refuse to speak out against the untold acts of violence, persecution and killings of Christians and minorities in some place in the north...
INEC has just extended the date for the collection of PVCs till Monday 11th, elections comes up next weekend, in the name of God, Nigerians, do the needful, vote out APC!!!!
God bless Nigeria...

Last year, I wrote a series of articles tagged ‘Christmas Specials’ which ran through the four Sundays of December, 2017.

My intention then, as it is now, is to shed some light on Christmas, the central figure we celebrate annually, and us.

But before all that, I’d like to offer my sincere apologies to my readers for being away from my computer for a while, it was due to circumstances beyond my control, and I hope and pray for the grace to maintain this space for as long into the future as possible.

As we brace up to celebrate another round of festivities, I like to say the series you are about to read is an improvement on my previous thoughts the subject, a thing that has not changed.

Echoes of ancient scrolls heralding Christmas started long before 1844, when 36 year old Constantin Tischendorf, a German specialist of ancient languages, led a group of men on Camel backs to the Monastery of Saint Catherine, caught within the thoroughly biblical desert of Sinai in modern day Egypt, in search of answers to Biblical truth about Jesus and his birth.


Tischendorf’s quest for evidence, not only for the earliest records of Jesus’ existence, but also for a historical backing for the stories written about him, eventually paid off.


Since its building in early 6th century AD by the Byzantine emperor Justinian, the fortress-like building, walled on all sides by 4-storey high fences, sandwiched in the very same harsh terrain in whose granite cliff Moses received the Ten Commandments on stone tablets, had changed very little.


Worthy of note is that, in 1517 in Wittenberg, some type of upheaval had rocked the Roman Catholic Church, so that a number of issues had been raised by the Reformation which aroused public interest in some of the teachings and traditions –which included Christmas celebration- of the Church, the question of the person of Jesus Christ and the originality of texts of the New Testament.

In fact, at that time, when Biblical criticism reached new heights led by philosophers like Thomas Hobbes, the Dutch scholar and Catholic priest Erasmus Rotterdam, had already compiled the first-ever printed edition of the New Testament in original Greek.


Before his trip to Sinai, Tischendorf took time to study Erasmus’ work, the documents known as Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, one of the four great uncials, and even travelled to Rome where he was warmly received by Pope Gregory XVI, to study the 4th Century Codex Vaticanus.


These documents, the sheer quest for knowledge and scholastic passion led Tischendorf like many New Testament scholars before and after him, to the great monasteries of the East.


After 15 years of several failed attempts, a presentation of credentials from Tsar Alexander II of Russia led to unrestricted access to the library of this great monastery.


It was one fateful night during this visit, that Tischendorf discovered what he called “…the most precious Biblical treasure in existence, a document whose age and importance exceeded that of all the manuscripts which I had ever examined during 20 years’ study of the subject”, and which many experts describe as one of the ancient witnesses or echoes of the gospels.


Today, almost all expert are in agreement regarding the authenticity of this manuscript -which by the way includes the lost ‘Epistle of Barnabas’ and ‘Shepard of Hermas’- called Codex Sinaiticus.


Tsar Alexander II bought the manuscript from the monastery, and by 1933, the British museum paid a whopping 100,000 pounds, the highest ever paid for a manuscript at that time, to purchase the document.


Scholars agree that both the Codex Vaticanus and Sinaiticus are twin sisters, and that they remain the oldest near complete ancient texts containing most of the Old and New Testaments in existence today.


Because of finds like these, archaeologists and scholars like Tischendorf have helped to push the antiquity of Christian documentation further back to more than 2 centuries before the Council of Nicaea and authenticated many of the teachings of the Church today.


The point I am making is that these documents and many like them that have been found over the years are echoes from antiquity, and they have told us a great deal about the veracity of the books written about the figure we would be celebrating this season, Jesus Christ himself.


From comparing the documents with many other discovered manuscripts from the time immediately after Jesus and his disciples, from examining their handwritings, punctuations, spacing, and even the reign of the emperors mentioned in them and comparing the information gathered with non-Christian history, scholars established that their stories could be relied on.


Tischendorf’s findings further inspired subsequent digs around Egypt that exhumed other documents like private letters, contracts and other legal and official transactions, which enabled scholars to learn a great deal about the everyday life of ancient people in the near east, especially early disciples of Jesus.


For example, in one of the finds, American archaeologist Patrick Hunt’s eyes fell on the word ‘karphos’ on one of the papyrus. It was the ancient Greek word translated ‘mote’ in Saint Matthew’s gospel chapter number 7:3 and Saint Luke’s 6:41, “…then you will clearly see to cast the ‘mote’ from your brother’s eye…” spoken by Jesus Christ.


After countless digs, archaeologists Bernard Grenfell and Hunt, placing their works side by side the works of many other experts, even those from non-Christian sources, found that ‘the evidence supporting the gospels from less than 150 years after Jesus was overwhelming’.


In 1930, American mining millionaire Alfred Chester Beatty announced the acquisition of some manuscript from Egypt. Again, from the manuscripts, experts found that almost all of New Testament, including most of Apostle Paul’s letters, was bound as a codex or booklet in the 1st Century, just like the documents discovered by Hunt and Grenfell. And that the document showed that Apostle Paul’s writings and the gospels were contemporary documents.


In 1950, Swiss collector Martin Bodmer announced the acquisition of substantial portions of a papyrus codex of Saints John and Luke’s gospels, again datable to less than 200AD.


Some scholars say by far the most substantial discovery in modern times is the one made near the town of Nag Hammandi in modern day Egypt, of manuscripts, written in Greek characters Coptic, the original language of Egypt, which has greatly illuminated scholars on the works of non-orthodox followers of Christ within the century of his death.


Today, in the British museum there exist a collection of 3 papyrus fragments called Egerton Papyrus 2, and recognizable from this work are near identical versions of Saints Matthew, Mark and Luke’s account of the healing of a leper together with the story of Jesus escaping stoning. Together, they comprise one of the oldest surviving witnesses to, and echoes of any gospel or codex.


Similarly, in John Ryland’s library, Manchester University, there is a papyrus originally discovered in Egypt in 1920. From careful study, scholars say it was produced well within less 100 years of Jesus lifetime.


There are countless ancient documents like these, some of them datable to 94AD, less than a century after Jesus Christ, like the Dead Sea scrolls and all the other documents that have been discovered and are still being discovered, scholars have found that without any shred of doubt, all the works have proven the following about the Holy Bible in general and the New Testaments in particular;


That contrary to the claims of some, the Holy Bible has suffered very negligible or no change at all over the centuries.


That all the manuscripts, from the Caesarean, Byzantine, Western to the Alexandrians, just name it, are all in one large family in terms of their preservation, and their thorough authentication of the scriptures we have today.


British scholar Ian Wilson puts it thus’ “…as a whole, errors and textual variations are relatively minor, and the gospels can be judged to be very much as the authors wrote them…”


Now these are just scholastic witnesses, but the Holy Bible’s witness itself that “…all scriptures is inspired of God and beneficial…” in 2 Timothy 3:16 carries more weight for the Christian today.


Since the Nigeria’s Christian leadership draw the authority for their every actions today from this same Holy Bible, and since the great Roman Catholic Church, falling back on it, has picked this season as one in which to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, I ask; from what we know of the real Jesus from a historical perspective, would he have given his blessing to everything we do in his name today?

In the coming days, in my subsequent articles, we will address this question and many more.

May the treasures and traditions of Christmas fill your heart with hope and happiness and may the sacrifice of Jesus Christ abide with us all, amen.

You can now order your copy of "Christians & Muslims: A Collection of Articles by Albert Afeso Akanbi " on Barnes&Nobles, Amazon, Scribbd etc, and every other major store books are sold online...

Please like, leave a comment, order your copy and help share...God bless you...

https://m.barnesandnoble.com/w/christians-muslims-albert-afeso-akanbi/1129116468?type=eBook

Dandara dos Santos was born a boy 42 years ago in Brazil. Insisting he was a girl trapped in a boy's body, he first began to dress and act like a girl just the way Nigerian barbie doll Bob Risky is currently doing, before he finally transformed himself into a full blown woman.

Brazil is the most populous nation in South America, and with a population that is largely Catholic, also doubles as the largest Catholic country on earth...

Brazil also ranks as a country with the highest recorded cases of hate killings and discrimination against transgender people in South America, even though it is often described as a "very tolerant country".

With majority Catholic countries like Argentina and Co in the group, Brazil ranks as one of the most dangerous places to live for transgender and LGBTq people in the world.

Despite the prevalent phobia for "abnormal people" in Brazil, Dandara's mother, a staunch Catholic herself, unlike other Brazilian mothers who would promptly push such a child out of the house, refused to send her child out of the house, insisting that "Jesus came not for the healthy but the sick".

Ironically, Dandara became a victim of hate crime when a long time "customer" picked him up, after "business", lured him to the slums of Fortaleza where phobia for Trans people was highest, and there he met his end in such a brutal manner.

About 6 Brazilian teenagers mobbed him so thoroughly that, covered in dust and blood, they kicked his face, smashed a big stone on his head, beat him with planks of wood, so thoroughly exhausted from the beating and unable to walk, he was carried into a wheelbarrow and wheeled to where he was shot twice in the face and then bludgeoned.

For me, this is a gross act of man's inhumanity to man. And this is just one out of a long string of crimes against people, in Brazil and even Nigeria.

Man is just a complex kind of hypocritical animal who is not only full of contradiction, but also delights in lying to himself, and humanity has been lying to itself almost as long as man has been around on this planet. And the killing of Dandara shows how evil man can get....

Why would anyone be brutally executed for choosing to look the way he wants to look? What is wrong with people? If you don't like rap, don't attend the concert. If you don't like beef, look away or buy fish. How does the fact that a man chooses to transform to a woman a problem, especially when the man goes about his own business?

I think it is intolerant people themselves, those who hide under any guise whatsover today, and are calling for the heads of people they consider as abnormal, it is they in fact, who are sick in the mind because people's preferences should not be anyone's problem any more than musical tastes or preference in food and drink does...if you don't like the way someone looks, please look the other way, don't discriminate against, attack or kill him/her...

And this is happening everywhere...

Almost about the same time Dandara was killed, in Ondo west Local Government Area of Ondo state, here in our very own Nigeria, one honourable Dotun who was a supervisory counsellor there was caught pants down with his male lover, one Olumide, they were attacked by a mob, the honorable escaped, and the lover died the next morning following wounds sustained from the attacks. Bad enough, people celebrated the killing of Olumide as the "removing of the aberration from society"!

As I type these words, kids are currently facing serious abuse in Eket, Akwa Ibom state, in fact, my soon to be released book "The Memoir of a White Witch" is based on eye witness account of the same subject of gross human rights abuse...

I think we should all say no to mob justice because non of us is perfect...

RIP Olumide....RIP Dandara... And may God console Dandara's aged mother and Olumide's wife and two kids...

*Albert Afeso Akanbi|19:01|23.06.18*

Surah 19:30 tells us Jesus preached Islam even as an infant, and we are told that Jesus preached the same message as prophet Mohammad (PBUH). Yet, from records, we know that the lives of both figures are irreconcilable opposites. From one being a celibate to the other marrying more women than is permitted in his own religion, from one never lifting a sword to the other taking part in several wars-whether they were defensive wars or not, killing is killing, and so on, we see traits that put the two figures apart. How could they have preached the same message?

The Koran tells us Jesus Christ was an unsuccessful Islamic prophet, the question is, how could Allah who promised to protect Jesus’ message, protect him and his followers till the day of judgment allow his message to be corrupted? Even if it were true, why did Allah have to wait over 600 years to correct this corruption by revealing the Koran?

We are told that it was Allah that made it appear Jesus was crucified when in truth he had substituted a strange man for Jesus to be killed, and Surah 61: 14 tells us it was him who helped those who believe, question is, why kill an innocent man in the place of Jesus, and if it was Allah that made it appear to the Jews that they killed Jesus, why blame his disciples and Christians for believing so, and could he not be accused of being behind the distortion and by extension the so called corruption of the Bible?

If as we have seen, the Koran says the Holy Bible was given as guidance to mankind, that Jesus was born of a virgin, that he is the Spirit and Word of God, the messiah and so on, and yet we are told by the same Koran that his message was corrupted, of what importance then is all the uniqueness of the Koranic Jesus if Allah knew he would turn out an unsuccessful preacher of Islam in the end?

www.akanbiafeso.

"...the Holy Bible is almost 800,000 words long, with over 900 English translations ranging from the grandiloquent to colloquial, and translations into over 2500 international languages worldwide, and yet it is easy to read with its simple message of salvation to mankind...
As we speak, over 5 copies of the holy book is being given away every second around the world...
Yet the Koran, a mere four-fifth of the New Testament in size is so difficult to read, reason being it’s “endless incoherent rhapsody of fables and precepts” according to Thomas Carlyle and its “…toilsome reading as I ever undertook, a wearisome, confused jumble, crude, incondite…” form according to Edward Gibbon...
The apologists want us to believe the Koran was revealed, but even my 5 years old child knows that to qualify as a revelation a story has to be original and new not a retold tale, much less one retold in an altered form..."

https://akanbiafeso./2017/11/11/the-holy-bible-and-the-koran-a-personal-opinion-3/

"To complicate matters, the Muslims apologists tell us Jesus Christ was a Muslim who was unsuccessful in winning converts because His message became quickly corrupted. For example, Surah Al-E-Imran 50-52 reads, “I –Jesus- have come to you confirming that – i.e the books- which are -sent down- prior to me, that is, the Torah, and... I have come to you with a sign from your Lord so, fear Allah and obey me… he said: “Who are my helpers in the way of Allah?” The disciples said: “We are helpers of Allah. We... are Muslims.” Some have wondered why a revelation like this verse could find its way into the Koran when the same Koran tells us that Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), who lived 600 years after Jesus Christ, was the first Muslim. How could our Lord Jesus Christ have been a Muslim when Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), according to the Koran and historical records was the very first to submit to Allah, the first Muslim? How could Christ have been when the very first mosque and even the Koran came into existence over 600 years after Him?
If Jesus was indeed a Muslim, how come his own disciples — Peter, Matthew John co — who were contributors to the Injil –i.e the gospel- that the Koran confirmed, have preached a theology that is so evidently, fundamentally and strongly at odds with the message of the Koran? Is this the reason why the apologists feel the need to discredit the Holy Bible at all cost?"

https://akanbiafeso./2017/11/05/the-holy-bible-and-the-koran-a-personal-opinion-2/

"...if Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) received the Koran from God, and at the same time in which he did, God told him as we have seen, that the Holy Bible and Torah came from Him, and that His words in those books could not be changed, at what point then was the Bible corrupted? Was it before, during or after the prophet? If it was before as some say, why then did God not inform Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) of this? If it was during his lifetime, why did God reveal to him that the words in those books were His and could not be changed? If it was after, does it mean God cannot protect His own words ‘which cannot be changed’ from being corrupted and changed? In part two of this article, we shall take another look at this question in light of a more detailed appraisal..."


Please see link below for the complete article and all the other articles in this series:
https://akanbiafeso./2017/10/29/the-bible-and-koran-a-personal-opinion-part-i/

"...the large crowd of youth we see following him around in the East today, only buttresses two simple truths: The Nigerian youth, especially those of Igbo extraction living in the East, are fed up with their leaders and the country is long overdue for restructuring. If anything, this Kanu uprising should show every right thinking Nigerian that the time for selfish and dangerous politics is over, and Nigeria is long overdue for a patriotic, sincere and focused government. If this had been the case, I doubt if anyone would have paid any attention to one million Kanus..."


https://akanbiafeso./2017/07/20/nnamdi-kanus-rhetoric-and-the-unspoken-realities-of-nigerias-first-coup/

"...another fact we must consider is the total lack of evidence that Jesus in anyway derived personal gain, in whatever form, be it money or otherwise, from those countless people he brought hope, salvation and healing to. He even instructed his disciples that “you received without charge, give without charges”. As a matter of fact, the paralytic he healed at the Sheep Pool did not even know who healed him..."


https://akanbiafeso./2017/08/21/jesus-christ-persisting-through-and-beyond-time/

"...in June 2007, in a case that became known as the ‘Manoj-Babli Honour Killing Case’, an Indian newlywed couple was summarily executed by their relatives. The killing was ordered by a caste-based council in a small village, who before then had passed a decree prohibiting ‘marriage against societal norm’, i.e, marriage between siblings. The newlywed, considered siblings -though not directly related- were accused of having broken this law and thus deserved ‘honour killing’...

What sorts of people condemn a cross-dresser like Bobrisky, rather than re-channel such collective resentment at the thieves parading themselves daily in this country as politicians?...."

https://akanbiafeso./2017/10/14/nigeriansit-is-time-to-re-channel-our-collective-resentment-to-the-thieves-among-us/#more-473

From the very day man began to beseech the Gods, from the very time many began claiming to hear from above, the line ‘Thus Saith the Lord’ has not ceased to have great import for our species. Countless men have risen throughout history, and wielding this line like some magic wand, have gotten a large part of humanity to do their bidding even if it meant taking mankind to as low as it could go.
Simply put, so many things have been done in God’s name and most often it always turns out the true motive was self-centeredness.
The Aztecs for example, during their reign, killed over 20,000 people yearly on the command of and to appease the Gods.
In the last 12 centuries, scores have been killed by Islamist Jihadist on “Allah’s directive”.
On ‘God’s order’, Pope Innocent IV issued in 1252 a Papa Bull authorizing the inquisitors to use torture on victims of medieval inquisition, and Pope Leo X of the Medici family, to support his extravagant lifestyle, sold out forgiveness of sins –indulgence- to raise money.
On ‘God’s’ command, Moses and Joshua after him, led the ancient Israelite on their countless campaigns in which they pillaged and massacred the tribes around them.
Having escaped from persecution in Europe themselves, soon after they settled-in in the US in the 1600s, the Puritans, on ‘God’s’ order, established a religious police whose duty was to flog, hang, cut off ears for doctrinal deviations.
The list is inexhaustible and it is examples like these that made informed people today to always take every ‘Thus Saith the Lord’ with a pinch of salt.
The same reason why when a prominent Nigerian Bishop recently appealed to us to desist from criticizing him for setting the fees of one of his universities at almost a million naira, some of us still felt the need to share our opinion despite his warning that, one such ‘critic was smitten with a strange mouth odour over the act’ by God until he intervened and the individual obtained pardon.
When I read the news in the media, I didn’t know whether to laugh or feel sad for this nation. What I think the Bishop has succeeded in doing is that, he has proven to all of us that, like many men, he is afraid of dissent, and also like many religious men before him, he is willing to fleece people of their possessions in God’s name. Today like before, there is an ongoing bitter battle in the name of God for the minds and souls of Nigerians, only this time; it appears the ultimate aim is to line the pockets of a few individuals.
For God sakes the university belongs to the Bishop and as such he can peg the fees at 3 million naira if he so pleases, but citing God as his commander smirks of the hypocrisy of men before him who did worse things in God’s name.
Whether Christian fanatics today like it or not, the truth of matter is that the Pentecostal movement in Nigeria, going by the level of moral bankruptcy in this country placed side by side the upsurge in churches in recent years, have lost the simplicity of the message of Jesus Christ who they claim to follow. Pentecostalism in Nigeria as of today is a lucrative materialistic-driven business enterprise.
The Bishop cannot in all honesty deny the fact today that what he presides over is a huge business empire that answers a religious name. If he chooses to, the rest of us cannot be fooled because news coming from his ‘ministry’ is enough evidence for what even a child knows.
Jesus Christ explicitly warned that man cannot serve God and mammon, the god of money. That it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter God’s kingdom. He is on record has chasing the money changers from the temple. He was even quoted as saying ‘do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth’. The term ‘lay-up’ as is used here refers to not allowing one’s possessions possess one. Jesus was here warning against materialism and greed.
Where Saint Thomas Aquinas warned against excessive greed, the Apostle Paul admonished that the love of money is the root of all evil. Yet, today we see a Bishop with private jets, universities, whose family members runs his churches abroad, who slaps a poor girl in the public view of cameras for daring to say ‘I am a witch for Jesus’ in response to his ‘You are a witch’ accusation.
Even though I am not against a Christian being wealthy, can the bishop honestly tell us that what is at play here is not materialistic greed? Mario Puzo told us that ‘behind every great wealth there is a crime story’, though this may not hold true in all cases but can the Bishop honestly tell us that as concerns his wealth, Mario Puzo isn’t right?
For every action we take, if we cannot answer the question of whether it is fair, just and if it is fine for the same to be done to us, then it is not worth it. Bearing this in mind, can the bishop tell us honestly how many of the teeming members of his church in whose backs he rode to build his universities, can afford the said fees?
Away from the mad quest for wealth, materialism and the prosperity message of today, the church is supposed to be the light and salt of this nation. It is supposed to get involved in the problems facing this nation, and speak out against inequality in the system. It is the church’s duty to care for the poor and give guidance to the lost. I hardly see how a church that charges close to a million as fees for one of its universities in a country where more than half the citizens live below two dollars a day can function in this light.
Even though Jesus admonished that ‘whoever is generous to the poor lends to the lord’ what we have instead is extortions in God’s name, by a bunch of ‘Gods of men’ who parade themselves as ‘Men of God’.
Recently, having divorced and re-married a number of times, a ‘man of God’ declared that God said he would become the president of this country at a particular time. We all know the turn out of the election he took part in.
Another one, having been involved in a scandalous divorce with his wife, resorted to bogus interpretations of the bible. ‘…there are preachers and there are men of God…I am a man of God…we are not working in sin…’ he declared. In other words, even though he may have counseled hundreds of his members against divorce, it was ok for him to.
Another one, having endorsed the discarding of simple building rules which led to the collapse of a building in his church premises that killed many foreigners, turned around to blame some UFOs instead of himself for the disaster. The same man is predicting a narrow win for Hillary Clinton as if, all things being equal, going by Trump’s many blunders, we need a prophet to tell us this.
Another one predicted the death of a sitting president before he leaves office but that president ended up doing his two terms of eight years and attempted a failed bid to do a third term.
We have yet another who, while leaving his members hanging on a cliff as to his choice of a successor, declared ‘Thus saith the lord,’ that he should wait. Feelers are that if he chooses a family member, strong men in his church would kick. If he chooses a church member his family would kick as well so, to stay on the fence and allow maybe time to solve the problem, he declared that God had instructed him to wait.
The question is, how are this men different from the men in history who have caused mankind so much pain and misery in the name of God since they cite God’s directive for every of their actions whether good or bad?
It is surprising for me that in the face of these and countless other clear eviations that churches, Pentecostal churches at least, still have followers at all. But Nigerian pastors like our politicians are smart. But the fact that they can be so shamelessly dishonest, so contemptuous of the intelligence of their followers and still flourish does not speak very well of our tough-mindedness as a people. But it does indicate the contradiction of the Nigerian situation and proves without need for any empirical study that somewhere near the core of the Nigerian religious experience, something exists that is profoundly opposed to rationality.
When a people deliberately choose silence in the face of both political and religious anomalies, then they are not victims but accomplices….
God bless Nigeria…


Albert Afeso Akanbi is a Novelist, Researcher and a Humanitarian. He is the author of three novels, a number of short stories and articles. He lives in Abuja, FCT, Nigeria and he is a father.
He tweets @a_feso and share updates at BBM Channel PIN C00359311

ANOTHER LOOK AT THE (GENE)SIS ACCOUNT
How would the Jibu people react if a Gripen Jet, one of the world most advanced aircrafts as of today, suddenly emerges from the sky and lands in their village? These naked going primitive descendants of the Kwarafa kingdoms scattered around the mountains of Gashaka lands in the northern part of Nigeria, to whom clothing and civilization is alien.
If we try to imagine how these natives would respond upon sighting a well kitted white pilot emerge from such a spectacle, then maybe we could begin to appreciate what predicament our progenitors, those who ‘saw’ and compiled our religious texts- Torah, Bible, The Vedas etc. - faced in recording the events- many of which were oral stories picked from different cultures- of our past.
Like my unlettered grandmother who I believe would describe an airplane as a huge ‘metal bird’ for lack of the proper vocabulary to use, I think many of the stories in the Bible were ‘simplified’ for the same reason. For example, did the prophet Ezekiel see a spacecraft or a fiery chariot in his vision?
The same question applies to the story of the flood, the fall of man, the tower of babel, stories that by the way are not unique to the Bible alone as same can be found in many Mesopotamian religious writings in different versions, writings that predates the bible by many hundreds if not thousands of years.
Maybe another look at the Genesis account of the creation of man would drive my point home.
Genesis: 1. ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…’
Well, we now know the cosmos is all there was, all there is and all there will ever be. In fact, science suggests that the universe may not have been created, that the current universe as we know it may actually be the latest reincarnation of an infinitely old birthing and dying of the universe. That matter, from which the earth was formed, which the universe comprises of, was never created but rather, has always existed and will continue to do so in various forms.
Having discarded the flat earth, earth is the centre of the universe theories, we now know that there are over 200 billion galaxies in the universe, that each of these galaxies contains as much as 200 billion suns (stars) and many of these suns may have planets like our earth revolving round them. Then we also now know that Darwin is right and evolution is a fact. In the face of these huge numbers of planets, would our belief in the uniqueness of life on planet earth not be as absurd as arguing that, only one grain would sprout if one empties a sack of beans on a fertile land? In the face of this reality, would it be unreasonable to suppose that many of these planets may support civilizations, many of which maybe far older than ours to the extent that to our accentors their citizens may appear godlike. Do our religious texts suggest that one of such civilization visited our ancestors in the remote past?
Genesis: 2. ‘…and there was not a man to till the ground…and God said let US make man in our image…’
Does this verse suggest man was ‘created’ for the purpose of work, to ‘till the ground’? I think to get the answer all one need to do is to maintain a sedentary lifestyle and one will immediately notice the dangers of it because our physiology itself confirms the benefits of work or some type of aerobics. So, the Hebrew, borrowing from the ancient Sumerians before them and using the word Elohim for God, echoes the fact that man was created to work for the Gods. Who were these gods, this Elohim, or the ‘US’ at Genesis?
Let us paint a scenario. After millions of years’ evolution on this planet, our primate ancestors were visited by an extra-terrestrial race with the capability for inter-stellar travel. These beings saw in our primate forefathers some potential for intelligence and use? Our forefathers like the Jibu people saw the extra-terrestrials as Elohim, the gods? The Elohim engineered our ancestors’ DNA to ‘create’ a hybrid creature? Having created them, the gods felt these hybrid mutations were not matured enough to be given to eat of the ‘fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil’ which is to be taught the secrets of reproduction, an attempt to control the population of the workforce. A member of the Elohim-the one who would later be known as Satan today- rebelled against his own kind, and then genetically engineered the ability to reproduce into these new hybrids, an offence that led to their punishment? What if our scribes misrepresented this event as ‘the fall of man’?
Genesis: 3. ‘Then God said, ‘now the man is like one of us…and now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever…’
I cannot imagine that anyone would argue that this was a literal tree as much as an almighty God fretting about a couple eating from another tree in a garden. But I can imagine that if the Elohim, who already have in their DNA the ability to live long-they would have needed to, because crisscrossing those stars separated by light years would not have been an easy task-, having discovered that their creatures could now reproduce, decided to shut them out of the secrets of longevity, the ‘tree of life’, to prevent an uncontrolled population, hence the reason for the ‘casting out’ of ‘Eden’.
Genesis: 6. ‘Now, it came to pass…that the sons of God saw the daughters of men…and they took wives for themselves…and bore offspring who were the mighty men of old…and God was sorry he had made man…so Elohim said…‘I will destroy man whom I have made…’
I cannot imagine an all-knowing, perfect God who is incapable of making mistakes regretting his actions. But it would make a lot of sense to me if, having taught man the secret of reproduction, this member of the Elohim, who by now was an outcast to his own people, convinced other members to join him to free humanity totally from its infantilism and help humans achieve the secrets of longevity. Because this ‘tree of life’ was protected by ‘a flaming sword turning this way and that’-or maybe it is actually a laser-, he could not access the labouratory and so he and his group decided to inter-marry the daughters of men so as to mix GENES. And this mixing of GENES appeared to have worked as even the bible itself described the off-springs of this union as ‘the great men of old’.
Maybe this really was what led to the ‘war in heaven’ which was fought on the basis if an ideological difference among extraterrestrials rather than one which was fought by angels on the basis of pride? Unless someone wants us to believe that war, an unholy enterprise, could break out in a perfect heaven where a holy God dwells. Maybe it was the culmination of these events that led to the destruction of the rebellious extra-terrestrial and their human collaborators, and the saving of a little- the Noah race? -, in a global deluge.
Finally, Genesis: 11. ‘Now the whole earth has one language…then men said, ‘let us build…a tower whose top is in the heavens…the Elohim came down and saw the tower…and God said, ‘come let us go down there and confuse their language…’
If this story was actually about a literal skyscraper why would the builders choose a plain rather than the highest peak of a mountain to build? Then I would expect an almighty God of all people to know that there are practical reasons why such a structure that ‘stretches into the heavens’ cannot be possible unless this story like others is also misrepresented. But it would more sense that, in time, having understood the ways of the gods, man made plans and decided to build space vehicles and a launch ‘tower’ by which they could ‘reach the heavens’. Then the Elohim, fearing that they would finally lose their workforce should man succeed in this ambition and finally achieve longevity, having been freed of ignorance, genetically altered human language to cause confusion.
I believe like many other stories in the bible, generations of religious Midrash have blurred the real stories behind events of our past. And what do we get as the result, a few charlatans swindling gullible Nigerians of their hard earned money daily, parading themselves as ‘men of God’. It is time to begin to take another look at the stories we were taught at Sunday schools and begin to ask questions, because knowing will put us in a better position…

Albert Afeso Akanbi is a Novelist, Researcher and Community worker. He lives in Abuja, FCT, Nigeria and he is a father.
Twitter: @a_feso

The Nigerian situation reveals a very sharp contradiction. We are a people so religious and at the same time so bereft and bankrupt of the spirituality that should ordinarily flow from religiosity. In almost every street today in this country, churches bearing strange names engraved on different shape and sized signboards pock their heads to invite the faithful. Yet, despite this upsurge in religious activities in recent years, in our everyday actions as a people, we have never ceased to deny the very significance of Jesus Christ in history. Daily we make a mockery of the very core of Jesus’ ministry which is love-the supreme form of living energy- for God, for neighbours and life as sacrifice.
The whole idea of religion is supposed to be that of communion with the deities and peace with self. We are supposed to seek God first because of our sheer love for him and then out of the desire to please him. Yet, typical to the Nigerian reality, today we hear prayers to God for Him to kill our enemies. As if that is not enough, a very destructive hate culture has now invaded the very fabrics of our souls, to the extent it has subjugated the very essence of religion and pitched us against ourselves. Politics has failed, the family unit is crumbling, economics has miscarried, our one-time-culture of love and community is eroded, relationships are disappointing, and in fact everything is deteriorating around us in this country. Any charlatan can easily disguise today as some religious leader and then with base intent at heart, use religion to wreck all forms of barbarity and madness on us.
The situation we find ourselves today is not unique in history. There is one story in the gospels that reveals Israel was in almost the same situation in term of our eroded moral values. This story illustrated what I believe Jesus Christ himself thought one of his missions on earth was. With the reality of violence in the north and the south, with recent talks of economic recession and agitation for secession in some quarters, with insecurity here and there staring us in the face, massive tales of corruption now coming to light, and the dangerous slide to distrust among the various ethnic groups that make up our nation, I think no time is better than now to consider this biblical episode and heed the warning that can be glimpsed from it.
The gospel of Mark calls this episode ‘The Loaves’. The gospel of John described events leading to the episode with Jesus’ words ‘…ye seek me, not because ye saw the sign, but because ye ate of the loaves…’ Can there be any better words to describe the hypocrisy of the Nigerian situation today, as we daily seek God because of what miracle we can get rather than what love we can show our neighbours?
The gospels records Jesus’ dismay at the hypocrisy of the Jewish people at the time and that even his closest followers like the Nigerian Christians today did not understand the significance of the episode of The Loaves. The Christian is supposed to be the light and salt of this nation. Now that the salt has lost its saltiness, any wonder why we are still groping in the dark a bid to finding answers to national questions.
Since the incident of the loaves represents a very significant period in the Jewish history, since it is now obvious we can use Jesus’ warning to his people, and since Jesus is recorded to have placed a supreme and symbolic value on that incident, the question is right to ask; is it possible that we can understand the true meaning of the event of The Loaves and learn from it, distanced as we are from the event not merely by time, but by generations of Christian Midrash on the story like many other stories of the bible? I believe we can if we look in-between the lines. I also believe that any teaching about Jesus Christ that shrinks from a proper understanding of the significance of The Loaves is in obvious danger of misrepresenting Jesus and his teaching. And this is where the Nigerian church, and by extension Nigeria, is missing the point.
It is not my intention to bore my readers with verbatim quotation of the biblical text in which this story is contained. The reader will do well to look up Matthew 14: 13-21 and John 6: 26. Reading through the biblical texts, one fact is noticeable. No one expresses the slightest astonishment at the ‘multiplication’. When Jesus cleanses a leper, or heals a blind man for example, the act is usually enough to ‘astound’ or ‘amaze’ everyone who witnessed it. Here in this episode, there was no such amazement. Presumably, if we read the story naturalistically, the absence of surprise as is usual on the part of the crowds is to be explained by the fact that none of them either regarded the multiplication of the loaves of bread and pieces of fishes. They simply assumed they were being fed in a non-miraculous way and this exactly is where the significance of this story lies.
Some modern commentators, trying to unpick ‘what really happened’ from this story, have imagined that the crowd was fed because they learnt from Jesus how to share. He took the lad’s five loaves and two fishes and shared them with someone. In turn, the men, sitting on the grass, looked in their knapsacks and found that they had some food which they shared with the man next to them, hence the multiplication. To me, this ‘explanation’ for the ‘miracle’ of The Loaves only moves a small way from understanding the significance and real meaning of the story.
The clue to the meaning of this incident is in the original story as t is recorded in the bible. ‘Make the people sit down’. This was what Jesus was reported to have ordered before he blessed and broke the bread. A truer translation of the very words spoken by Jesus on that day would be ‘Make the men sit down’.
Make the men sit down! Make the Essenes, the Pharisees, Judas Iscariot with his dagger sit down. Make Simeon the Zealot, with his patriotic band of terrorist guerillas sit down. Sit down! O men of Israel. I believe this was Jesus’ call to his people on this particular day. He gathered together a huge crowd of people in a desert spot, and made them sit down together. He made them break bread together and eat a simple meal and admonished them to work together as one. He made them sink their differences as president Buhari and his APC must do today. He called them to negotiate a way to prosperity and peace for their nation. And this call is apt today considering our situation as a people. Make the Niger Delta Avengers, their pipe blowing campaign and intended autonomy Declaration sit down. Make Nnamdi Kanu and his indecisive potbellied IPOB Agitators with their clamour for secession and a break up of Nigeria sit down. Make Boko Haram with their satanic quest for innocent blood sit down. Make Fulani herdsmen with their senseless and meaningless killings of innocent women and children sit down. Make Lai Mohammad sit down with his penchant for ‘always twisting facts’ before our very eyes. Make the Bishop sit down with his ever increasing urge for more universities and private jets. Make our lawmakers sit down with their insatiable greed for ever increasing emoluments. Make our politicians with their ruinous and destructive kleptomaniac tendencies and thievery sit down. Make president Buhari sit down. Sit down and restructure Nigeria into a true federation that it should be. Enough of lip service and hypocrisy. Sit down O people of Nigeria!
These words should echo through the ages. It is time the Nigerian Church start a campaign for a call to politicians to truly restructure Nigeria. Jesus had done much to make love and not the bully boy mentality stand up. And in this act, he was eccentric for his time and culture if not revolutionary. Jesus said it was time to make evil sit down and goodness and love stand up. The Nigerian Church must now shun her prosperity message and begin to re-echo this message.
We could if we choose read this story, and quite legitimately too, as a profound spiritual incident. But for me, it’s a simple story with great imports. Suppress if you can the yang and exalt the yin! Keep down the urge to dominate, to score, to triumph, to fight and exalt the urge to conciliate, to understand, to value, to love. Kill that urge for greed and to steal every kobo meant for national projects. Nourish the urge for accountability. Suppress the urge to annihilate and vanquish the opposition and every voice of dissent in the polity and encourage freedom of expression and the press. ‘I shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountains’.
This is the real lesson of the story of The Loaves. A message I urge every Nigerian, Muslim, Traditional worshiper and Christian alike to imbibe. The differing groups of Nigeria must sit down. The sectarians must sit down. Jesus believed that Israel should return to God in a spirit of penitence, love and joy as Nigerians must do today. We must revive our long dead culture of love, love of God and our neighbours. Truth and justice must be allowed to stand. Mediocrity, favoritism and tribalism must be made to sit down. The future of our nation as one indivisible prosperous nation depends on this. It was failure of the Jewish people to heed this warning that led to the total annihilation of their nation by Rome in 70 AD. Who knows where our current hates for each other, distrust among the tribes, corruption, dangerous politicking and religious and tribal bickering will lead?
There are Nigerians today already proving that we have the capacity to love, it is up to this government to take a more forceful lead and shine the torch on which direction Nigeria should go. Though not a united and an intelligent crowd, as is almost out case today, Jesus was still able to bring them together as president Buhari must bring all Nigerians together under one roof. Our ruinous addiction to corruption, tribal and religious sentiments will do us no good on the long-run. This point must be made by this government in words and deed.
It is in the reviving of our culture of community, love for one another and probity, Christian, Muslim and traditional worshiper alike, all the tribes, young and old irrespective of class and social strata, that the promise age of blessedness will dawn on our nation and it is only then we will be able to live up to our true destiny as the true giant of Africa, not one with feet of clay…

Imagine how it may have happened. While stationed in Palestine, the centurion’s pais becomes ill — experiencing some type of life-threatening paralysis. The centurion will stop at nothing to save him. Perhaps a friend tells him of rumours of Jesus’ healing powers. Perhaps this friend also tells him Jesus is unusually open to foreigners, teaching his followers that they should love their enemies, even Roman soldiers. So the centurion decides to take a chance. Jesus was his only hope. As he made his way to Jesus, he probably worried about the possibility that Jesus, like other Jewish rabbis, would take a dim view of his homosexual relationship. Perhaps he even considered lying. He could simply use the word doulos. That would have been accurate, as far as it went. But the centurion probably figured if Jesus was powerful enough to heal his lover, he was also powerful enough to see through any half-truths. So the centurion approaches Jesus and bows before him. “Rabbi, my . . . ,” the word gets caught in his throat. This is it — the moment of truth. Either Jesus will turn away in disgust, or something wonderful will happen. So, the centurion clears his throat and speaks again. “Rabbi, my pais — yes, my pais lies at home sick unto death.” Then he pauses and waits for a second that must have seemed like an eternity. The crowd of good, God-fearing people surrounding Jesus probably became tense. This was like a homosexual man asking a pastor, prophet or a priest to heal his lover. What would Jesus do? Without hesitation, Jesus says, “Then I will come and heal him.” It’s that simple! Jesus didn’t say, “Are you kidding me? I’m not going to heal your pais so you can go on living in sin!” Nor did he say, “Well, it shouldn’t surprise you that your pais is sick; this is God’s judgment on your relationship.” Instead, Jesus’ words are simple, clear, and liberating for all who have worried about what God thinks of homosexual relationships. “I will come and heal him.” At this point, the centurion says there is no need for Jesus to travel to his home. He has faith that Jesus’ word is sufficient. Jesus then turns to the good people standing around him — those who were already dumbfounded that he was willing to heal this man’s male lover. To them, Jesus says in verse 10 of Matthew’s account, “I have not found faith this great anywhere in Israel.” In other words, Jesus holds up this gay centurion as an example of the type of faith others should aspire to. Jesus didn’t just tolerate this gay centurion. He said he was an example of faith — someone we all should strive to be like. Then, just so the good, God-fearing people wouldn’t miss his point, Jesus speaks again in verse 11: “I tell you, many will come from the east and the west -i.e. beyond the borders of Israel- to find a seat in the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs- i.e., those considered likely to inherit heaven- will be thrown into outer darkness.” By this statement Jesus affirmed that many others like this gay centurion — those who come from beyond the assumed boundaries of God’s grace — are going to be admitted to the kingdom of heaven. And he also warned that many who think themselves the most likely to be admitted will be left out.
In this story, Jesus restores a gay relationship by a miracle of healing and then holds up a gay man as an example of faith for all to follow. So consider carefully: Who is Lord — Jesus or cultural prejudice? Truth of the matter is, in as much as I cannot marry a man, I think when it comes to issues of Same-Sex marriage and relationships, a whole lot of Nigerians are hypocritical and misunderstand the Bible. And just the way we are, we are always very comfortable living under the canopy of hypocrisy that we have built for ourselves as Nigerians. Granted there is a verse in the Old Testament where Prophet Moses was quoted as saying it is wrong for a man to lay with a man and another in the New Testament where Saint Paul was quoted as saying the same thing. But then, what should we expect? These men lived at a time there was no Science and technology as we know it today. They saw the world differently and had beliefs about the universe, man and God which they took for granted. However, Jesus, an eccentric who saw thousands of years ahead of his contemporary saw things differently; the way they should be.

Another argument some people tend to fall back to in the Holy Bible is the Sodom and Gomorrah story. I make bold to say here that, these two ancient cities had nothing to do with how the Bible relates to homosexuality. Nothing at all. Yet, the story of those two ancient cities is so salaciously interpreted that millions of people are convinced that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah due to their rampant “homosexual lifestyle.” Nothing could be farther from the truth. One of the things that make biblical interpretation so thorny is the difficulty of moving from one culture to another. If the Bible is read the same way one reads the newspaper, thinking that things then are just like things now, the first mistake is made and a false outcome is guaranteed in the interpretation of the stories that are read. This is especially true with the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Let’s take a step back before we get into the text and see what cultural norms are operating here and to be able to put the story in perspective. The early second millennium BC was a particularly harsh time for desert dwellers. Travel in those days was complicated by bandits, harsh weather, and predatory animals. One literally put one’s life in jeopardy when traveling. That was why traveling by caravan was so popular in those days. So to alleviate as much misery as possible, a “hospitality ethic” was born. The hospitality ethic, practiced throughout the Middle East, was to ensure the safe passage of strangers while they travelled. The way it worked is illustrated in the story just preceding that of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. In that story, Abraham bows down to strangers, showing greeting, not hostility; Abraham orders a fine dinner prepared for them, and then personally stands watch over them while they ate, as he is now responsible for their safety. This was not done because people in those days were especially nice to each other, or because there was an abundance of food to go around. No, it was to ensure that a city or tribe got a good reputation for hospitality so that its citizens, when traveling, would be accorded the same good treatment. If a city had a bad reputation, its travellers would not find a hospitable welcome away from home. It is in the context of the ‘hospitality ethic’ that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah unfolds. Aliens come to the home of a resident alien, Lot. This is grounds for grave suspicion: "Could they be planning something against us?" they may have wondered. The citizens demand to have the strangers brought out so they may “know” (yadha) them. Although yadha is sometimes used as a synonym for sexual intercourse, it mostly refers to knowledge of someone or something. Who knows, maybe the intent here is to interrogate these strangers. When Lot resisted, their intention was threatened to be heading towards been thwarted and this may have convinced them that Lot was harbouring enemies. It is fairly obvious that the citizens’ intention was to rape the strangers, now deemed enemies. Not “to have sex with them,” but to rape them- please take note that having sex with someone is not the same thing as raping that someone. Lot counters with an offer to allow the men to rape his daughters. Does it make any sense that if these men were out for homosexual sex, Lot would offer his daughters? Female virgins to homosexual men for sex? Of course not. (One could digress here and point out that this isn’t what any of us would do today. Offering our daughters is not an act of hospitality we would consider appropriate as a host. That’s why we can’t assume that the way things are perceived and done then are like the same way they are now. Yet, Lot was obliged to make any concession to protect those who came into his home). A point to note here is that, there is nothing consensual in either case -- the strangers or the daughters. Male-on-male rape was a common aspect of ancient Near Eastern society regarding enemies. Rape was (and still is) an effort to humiliate and control, which was still prevalent amongst even the Roman army in later years. The usual practice after a war victory most times was to rape the remaining soldiers into submission as a show of dominance. If one visits most museums in the Ancient Near East today one would find in some of them display of artworks depicting this. There is this particular one where one will see depictions of a Greek soldier about to rape a defeated and horrified Persian. This aspect of rape is depicted by the men of Sodom saying, "This fellow”, that is Lot, “came here as an alien and he would play the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them." They were going to rape Lot, too! We now know that rape has nothing to do with sex, except that it is done with the genitals. To say that rape is sex is to say that we kiss a drumstick while our lips assist in tearing meat from the bone. This is a story of rape, having nothing to do with sex, let alone homosexual sex. This story is concerned about abuse of the stranger, not about homosexuals. The sin here has absolutely nothing to do with homosexuals or homosexuality at all. As proof for this, let me quote the prophet Isaiah verbatim in the holy Bible Book of Isaiah 1:10, 17: ,The Book of Wisdom in the Roman Catholic Bible and a great church father as proof that the sins of the two ancient cities had nothing to do with homosexuality but refusal to show hospitality to strangers.


Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! ... Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow.

Book of Wisdom 19:13-18


On the sinners, punishment rained down not without violent thunder as early warning; and deservedly they suffered for their crimes, since they evinced such bitter hatred for strangers.

Church Father, Origen (185-254 C.E.):


“Hear this, you who close your homes to guests! Hear this, you who shun the traveller as an enemy! Lot lived among the Sodomites. We do not read of any other good deeds of his: He escaped the flames, escaped the fire, on account of one thing only. He opened his home to guests. The angels entered the hospitable household; the flames entered those homes closed to guests.”

(Homilia Vin Genesim)

Nowhere in the above texts is the word homosexuality mentioned yet the word Sodomy has its origin in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Today, I feel very sad when I read in the papers and hear people make certain statements regarding homosexuality and homosexuals. It’s unfortunate. If anything, its goes a long way to prove that, as Nigerians we are not only very comfortable being hypocrites, we also like denying the truth; the obvious. I know a lot of people will consider this article a heresy and even call for my head and I doubt if this write up will even be published in the first place. But, this is the country we live in. A country where a so called Space Scientist was shocked when I told him that life may exist elsewhere apart from earth. How can that be? That’s impossible he barked. How can that not be? That’s very possible. I returned. In a universe so old and vast beyond ordinary human comprehension, in a universe with over 250 billion galaxies all of which in turn contain over 250 billion suns-stars- (Yes, every star you see in the night sky is a sun in its own right and as a matter of fact our sun is a small star) in each of these galaxies, many of which in turn have countless number of planets- many like earth- revolving round them, wouldn’t it be a waste of space if life exist only on earth? How can we maintain our belief in the uniqueness of life on earth alone in the face of such a vast number? If we say life exist only on earth, would it not be as foolish as saying if I empty a bag of beans on a fertile land, only one seed will grow? Yet my Space Scientist professor was shocked when I told him so.
We live in a highly religious- yet spiritually bankrupt- country where even a pastor and so called founder of a church was shocked when I told him Jesus Christ was not addressed as Jesus by his contemporary in his day but as Yeshu or Yeshua or even Jehoshua during his lifetime. That the word ‘Jesus’ may actually be a Greco-Roman corruption of the more appropriate Semitic Yeshua. He was so shocked that he called me a heretic. In a country where a group of people called for my head when I told them that there is the possibility that the universe is infinitely old and as such may not necessarily need a Creator God. That the current universe we know may be the latest re-incarnation of an infinite birthing and dying of the universe. How can a Creator create something that was not created or infinitely old so needed not to be created in the first place? I hardly see why majority of people in a country like ours will not be shocked or even feel repulse when the subject of homosexuality is discussed. Let us leave homosexuals alone to live free with who they choose to live with and focus on building our country and giving hope to the hopeless instead. This is my appeal to all Nigerians because; the sin of Sodomy was originally inhospitable and hostile behaviour toward strangers, the dreaded “other.” Today’s true Sodomites are those showing hostility to and are calling for the heads of homosexuals.

THE END