₦airaland Forum

The Trinity is biblical truth.

Listen to these sermons:

The Trinity in the Old Testament:

https://audiomack.com/newdejix/song/the-trinity-in-the-old-testament

Jesus Christ is our Great God and Savior:

https://audiomack.com/newdejix/song/our-great-god-and-savior-jesus-christ

For more on the Trinity and similar truths, email: newdejix@gmail.com

tplayer:
And third class is underrated, abi.

Precisely

Second-Class Upper is Overrated in Nigeria

By: Deji Yesufu

A young man I work with on the mission field is trusting God to get a job. We all know that to get a job in Nigeria is only akin to finding a needle in a haystack; only second to Moses’ dividing the red sea. It is pretty difficult and even more difficult in an economy like today’s. So I reached out to an acquaintance and asked if my friend could be helped at their organisation. He said “…o yes, he can be taken in as a graduate trainee”. Except that the young man must have nothing short of a “2-1”. That information drew out an avalanche of nostalgia in me. The almighty “2-1”; the unatenable second class upper has again returned to hunt me.

My days at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, was a lifetime. I entered school at the age of 17. I left the university when I was 25. I literally grew up in school. I did a five year course; I had an extra semester – which culminated in an extra year; and ASUU strike gave me the remaining years in school. For a long time, my mates and I held the record of the most years spent in a Nigerian university. Besides the long years in school, there was also the pursuit of a good grade. I mostly hovered around a third class grade. But in my final three years, I found a secret to getting good grades (studying past questions) and this propelled me into a comfortable “2-2”. But all the talk among my mates was that if you don’t have “2-1” you will not be invited for tests with companies that offered good jobs. I remembered how some of my friends nearly killed themselves getting “2-1”. At the long run, everyone got a grade and we left school to face real life.

Now, this is my summation of what real life is. Grades, particularly those obtained from Nigerian universities, are the worst form of accessing the academic capabilities of students and graduates. Ideally grades should tell you which student is better than the other. But the problem is that the way and manner many of our students get their grades leave them worse than they were when they entered school. My point is that many Nigerian universities do not train their students to be experts in their fields. They train them mostly to pass examinations. So that after a year study, a student knows mostly the theory in his training and not the substance. And the pursuit of grades makes this worse: students cram; they pay their teachers for grades; they cheat; and in some extreme cases sleep with lecturers to get grades. So, you get a graduate with a “2-1” who knows practically nothing in his field of study. In the other realm, you have students with third class who are walking encyclopaedias of the course they read.

Recently I concluded a Master Degree course with a foreign University. It was as if I had never been to school. I left the school with a walking knowledge of my course of study. Funny enough, the school did not test us in the traditional manner we examine students here. All our examinations were “open book”. We were required to even quote our sources, etc. Now I understand that this will work better in the humanities than in the sciences. But my point is that the aim of examining the student was never for getting grades but whether or not we understood our subject of study. I left that school with a hunger to read all my textbooks all over again. I see my teachers when I’m on my field of practice. I see their warning, their advice, etc. Not for once did we study to pass because there was no need for such. And this malaise with Nigerian schools is not just in Engineering alone. I see it also even in the manner our medical doctors are trained and tested. You often get the impression that the aim of examining students is for them to get grades and not for them to have an understanding of their field of study.

It had been 22 years since I left the university. A few years ago, one of my classmates created a WhatsApp group where we all meet to interact. I can tell you for free that most of the guys that had passes and third class are the ones doing well among us. Our first classers and “2-1”ers are either lectures in universities or at best consultants with institutions. It is the third classers that are the business men and the professionals on the field. And I am talking of a class of an average of one hundred electrical engineers. I met one of us at a burial recently, who had graduated with a third class. You could tell he was being very modest as he curtailed how well he was doing in life so as not to shame the rest of us. I can tell anyone for free: Nigerian university grade systems are the worst ways to evaluate the capabilities of individuals that leave our schools.

My friend is still trusting God for a job and I have told him not to worry himself too much; it will come. His “2-2” is a silent humbler that will prepare him for the right employer. He will do better in life than teaching in a university or working as one beggarly consultant somewhere.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/the-deception-of-second-class-uppers-in-nigerian-universities/

My questions are:
1. if someone had chosen or should choose christian / christian ticket, will there be peace?

The political climate will determine it. If we had a Christian region with large coying bloc, oy could happen.

2. Does the God of Nigerian Christians answer their prayers concerning leadership at all?

God who commandee us to pray, answers prayers.

3. How have the Nigerian Christians benefited from the outgoing leadership of this country?

We have benefited from everything pther Nigerians are enjoying

Steep:
Who is this one?

Who's this one?

What Should Christians Do with a Bola Tinubu Presidency?

By: Deji Yesufu

Earlier this morning, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was pronounced winner of the 2023 Presidential elections in Nigeria. Tinubu becomes the 16th president and Head of State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Tinubu, a Muslim from South-West Nigeria, had chosen a Muslim from North-East Nigeria as running mate. In the process, he led his campaign on a Muslim-Muslim ticket, which alienated a lot of Christian voters. Tinubu had clearly reasoned that the votes he will pull from northern Nigeria will far outweigh the votes from a vexed section of Christian voters. And one must admit that he was right after all. The natural question therefore is this: what do Christians do with a Bola Tinubu Presidency? My short answer will be to counsel that we accept it. The long answer will be explained in the rest of the essay.

First. Christians must come to terms with how the Bible regards political power. Scripture teaches that all power belongs to God and he bestows them on whomever he wishes. What it means is that in the providence of God, nothing could happen in the political arena of Nigeria without God ordaining it. In other words, God made Tinubu the Nigerian president. I have read commentaries elsewhere where it is suggested that God could never make somebody with the kind of record Tinubu has president. Truth is that if every one of the contestants are weighed on the balance of God’s holiness, no one will emerge worthy. God still uses imperfect people in governance. Except for Joseph and Daniel, every other ruler in the Bible were heathens. Why do we think that God will then raise a Christian or a near perfect man to rule Nigeria?

Second. The political contest is not over. Nigeria still has a judiciary, no matter how imperfect she is. At the last count, Bola Tinubu polled 8.7 million votes; Atiku – 6.9M; Obi – 6.1M; and Kwankwanso – 1.7M. On the natural, the difference between Obi and Tinubu votes is a mere 2.6M votes. If the Labour Party do their home work well, they can narrow down this difference through careful data collection from polling units and go to argue their case in court. But does this nullify my earlier claim that God made Tinubu president? No, it does not. The same God who made Tinubu president now can remove him through legal means. The opposition have been positing that Tinubu rigged himself to government. That’s fine. The onus is on them to argue their case in court, present their evidence and allow the judiciary to pronounce on the matter. Whatever comes out of that process is the will of God. Does that mean that God is just sitting down, rubber stamping everything men do? No. It means that God has both decreed the end from the beginning and also ensures the means to the end. True faith concludes that God is in charge, whatever the actions of men.

Third. Nigeria is the Christian’s Jerusalem. God’s command to us is to pray for the peace of Jerusalem because if she has peace, we will have peace also (Jeremiah 29:7). Now the political peace of Nigeria has been long in the making. Nigeria is not a divine entity; this country did not fall from heaven. It was human beings who put the concept of nationhood together and concluded that large swaths of communities connected together as a nation will fair better than isolated communities. The modern Nigerian state came about via British colonisation of our people. After the British left, Nigeria has gone through ups and down. The country has endured a thirty-month war; it has also experienced period of sustained prosperity; etc. All of these add up to the making of the country. Every thing Nigeria has experienced as a nation are part of God’s providence for her and the Christian mindset is that all of these will add up towards God fulfilling his good purpose for us. And God’s primary purpose for Nigeria is the redemption of his elect within this nation state. Whatever will make for peace, the preaching of the gospel and the enduring of a Christian Church in Nigeria is God’s purpose for this country. Anything else is secondary. So, any government that will allow for the gospel to thrive is the government Christians must pray for.

Lastly. In the light of the aforementioned: with the reality of God sovereignty actively working to give Nigeria a purposeful government and God working through any circumstance, including overturning a Tinubu government in the judiciary and installing Obi, the Christian’s attitude is one of complete faith in God. God is in charge. Therefore, the Christian’s attitude to a Bola Ahmed Tinubu government is one that calls us to pray for him. We must plead with God that Tinubu will succeed in his proposed policies. We must pray that God will give him health and wisdom. We must ask that God send him sound men to develop a new Nigeria. We must pray against nothing evil befalling him. After we have prayed, we must trust God to do his will.

As I close this essay, I wish to make an appeal to Eastern Nigeria who are the biggest losers in the Peter Obi botched presidential campaign: please be patient. My friend from Enugu told me that he put his reputation on the line, calling his friends who had sympathy for IPOB to give the Nigerian project a chance: that a free and fair election can happen in Nigeria. He says now he cannot say anything because he is now being blamed. He said if his friends resort to guerrilla warfare against Nigeria, he will not be able to oppose them again. I sympathise with the Ibo nation but I can only appeal for peace. I believe the judiciary still works and Peter Obi had used the Judiciary before to recover a stolen mandate. Let’s allow peace to reign and let’s argue our case like responsible people. Most people only know how violence begin; few know how it will end. I believe Ndigbo will one day have her son rule Nigeria. Peter Obi made a very good statement towards that end in the just concluded elections. Nigeria is better together than torn apart.

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/what-should-christians-do-with-a-bola-tinubu-presidency/

Soloknight:
Please where is the venue of the meeting

Kindly check your email for my request to interact with you privately... for security reasons we are careful not to make our venue public for now... or call or WhatsApp me on 07065254425

Dailyparrot:
I have to create this thread after reading through the topic on front page asking for jobs/professions that will make you not to marry someone.

So, I'm talking to this Unizik student that's studying medical radiography. Everything was going well. She even told me that she has told her mother about me and all. We met on Facebook and she's already asking to see me in person.

Until the day she found out that I use my car for Uber/Bolt business, everything changed. This girl stopped talking to me.

She has never been to Lagos and does not know how Uber works. She was asking how much I earn in a day, and that hope the Uber is not like their normal school cab that charge 100 naira per person, bla bla bla.

Well, I just don't want to let her know my net worth. I don't do Uber full time. I work on Fiverr and because sales dropped there, I decided to use Uber to make up for the income. I also do academic research for foreign students. Etc. I am into a lot of stuffs that fetch me nothing less than 400k a month so I don't think I should be regarded poor.

My house in the East is at roofing level. I am almost completing the payment of 4.5 million for a land I'm purchasing at Mowe, I own my car plus another Sienna I bought when Fiverr was booming.

I have a masters degree. So, should a girl reject me because I use my car to drive on Uber?

I am just laughing at her ignorance. The other time, we were talking and I jokingly asked her why she's putting on make up, and she was like, so she can find better suitors.

I thence assume I am not a better suitor because to her, I'm poor. This is someone earning 8k per month in the school that she was teaching during ASUU strike.

I wonder why women are impatient when it comes to taking decisions and that's why most of them regret later.

I am supposing being a medical student makes this girl think she deserves someone better than just a cab driver.

LOL.

Run ... Run o

Testing

Wiseandtrue:
Another concocted lies! Deji Yesufu, it's in the news how this regime is committing different crimes and blaming it on IPOBs! Go and educate yaself!

Dialogue Buhari tell you say him want dialogue How many people have intervened, did he listen

Person wey want dialogue dey call a part of country he preside 5% and dot

We are talking about a "president" that kills protesters here!

So abeg! Keep your advise for Buhari because if he truly want dialogue, he knows how to go about it!

Curtail the venom...

gidgiddy:
Nigerians are the only people on earth who pray for peace to come, while sitting on top of a mountain of injustice

That doesnt happen in the real world

Nigeria is 6th most terrorised country in the world for a reason. Rather than asking what is propelling young people to take up arms against government, you are asking and praying to come from where?


From a country built on injustice, unfairness and corruption?

This is not a matter of IPOB, this is a matter of Nigeria

I love peace but Im a realistic person who knows that the Nigeria of today cannot bring peace

So you take up arms against the state?

AN APPEAL TO IPOB

By: Deji Yesufu

Yesterday I was at the staff clinic of a tertiary hospital somewhere in South West Nigeria. As we waited to see the doctor, a young house officer came in for her medicals. She had just been taken by the hospital to do her internship. From the conversation between herself and the nurse on ground, I learnt that she had schooled in Enugu, South East Nigeria. And had travelled all the way to the South West for her continued training in medicine.

I immediately engaged her in a dialogue, showing her that I enjoyed my trip to Enugu in 2018 but that unfortunately my second trip last year was not so enjoyable. I told her that the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and their agitation was not adding to the economy of the South East, rather it was destroying it. The young lady responded saying that at the moment IPOB has split into different factions with each of them having different modus operandi – some are more violent than others.

Now, there is nowhere in the world where violence has been the sole means of actualizing a vision. Everyone employs the carrot and stick approach in realizing a purpose. Even in the house, a wise father knows when to employ the stick on the recalcitrant child and he knows when to offer some carrots. It is time IPOB and all other agitating groups in South East Nigeria begin to consider other options before them.

I have listened to many of their thinkers and they come off to me more like rabble-rousers than persons with ideas that can convince a nation. Those who effect change in society are individuals who do not always employ a gun; those who effect lasting change mostly involve the pen – which they use in enumerating their ideas in coherent ways. Even if those ideas are not utilized in their lifetime, a generation will rise up; pick up what is written and implement them. In this article, I want to talk to IPOB about the idea called Peter Obi.

In 2018, when I published Victor Banjo, my primary audience were the various groups agitating for Biafra. My main thesis was this: Eastern Nigeria had more reasons to call for secession in 1967 than they have today – yet, even in 1967 Ojukwu and others with him made the wrong decision by seceding. The cost of that decision was that some three million people perished in a needless war and every part of the country paid a price for that decision; some families are even still mourning fifty years after.

One of such families is the family of Victor Banjo. Therefore when a people agitate, they think the matter through properly. And war should always be a last resort. In that book, I suggested that Eastern Nigeria should put forward one of their sons and sell him to the Nigerian electorate with the hope that they will buy him. When I made that suggestion, Peter Obi was not in the picture. Today, even his detractors cannot deny the fact that Obi is the best option among the individuals that have come forward to run for the presidency of the country.

So, my appeal is to the various factions of IPOB: sheath your sword and give Peter Obi a chance. It is sad that while people from other parts of the country are spending and being spent to see Obi elected into office, members of IPOB are carrying out attacks on INEC offices in South East Nigeria. Do you realize that politics is a game of numbers? Do you realize that no one will deny Eastern Nigeria a place in Aso Rock if 100% of the votes casted in the whole of Eastern Nigeria and South South go to Peter Obi? Do you understand that those of us in the South West and the middle belt of the country are poised to give Obi at least 25% of votes casted?

With these numbers, there is no way Obi will not coast to victory in the coming election. And there is no one born in Nigeria today who will deny him the right to rule the country. I am saying in essence that the best chance you have in realizing your desires to be inclusive in the whole Nigerian project is Peter Gregory Obi. Kindly consider that option.

The other option before you is the continued division among you. The continuous hit and run measures you employ. You may need to check the history books and see that there is no group in the world that has ever realized their purposes in such a manner. Dialogue is what the modern man employs in realizing their vision. Put your best ideas forward and run with them. Peter Obi is the best idea for South East Nigeria today. Run with him.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/an-appeal-to-ipob/

dontrulee:
You're a making a good choice but it will be difficult Sha.

Medical doctors hardly have time for themselves not to talk of having time for family, perhaps in the UK, it may be better.
But here are a few challenges you may have:
1. Most medical doctors have a fixed way of doing things, this may eventually show in their homes and if their spouse is not understanding, it may lead to issues.

2. If you marry a medical doctor, the way she thinks will definitely be different from the way you think. This will lead to a clash of personalities. Not to talk of female medical doctors that feel they're on top of the world and everyone is beneath them, however some are very humble and have good character.

3. You can be well assured that you and your children will be taken care of health wise but they may not have luxury of time to spend with you and your children and time is needed to build emotional attraction and love in a family. Think well.


4. Most medical personnel are boring to be with, they think of medicine almost all the time. Can you cope if your partner is one of such persons??

In summary, weigh the benefits and the risks and choose, in my own personal opinion it will be good if you marry her but there will definitely be some little frictions trying to understand each other's misunderstanding!

My experience too

post=119305723:
Our True Life Story Series.

Hello Nairalanders,
He found out his wife is a hermaphrodite on their honeymoon?!
What is your take on this?

If the person is reading the comments here, I'll advise he takes his wife to a Urologist. It is a condition that is quite common. She will be treated for hormonal changes and I understand that surgeries can be done to fix it. This is a comment from a medical practioner.

Pls don't throw her out.

It is good she's owned up.

Let the chats end. And make her not to contact the guy again. She should block him.

All the best.

CC: lalasticlala

Update on this case... The men have been caught

You would have been 7 or 8 in 2002 when the Ikeja bomb blast occured. Making your year of birth 1994 or 1995.

So right now you will be 26 or 27.

Just pick one of those dates and choose a day in the year you like. NOthing to be ashamed of.

My father in law died last year. He was a Prof. of Veterinary Medicine. Till this day, no one knows his true age. He would have bee 72 or 73.

It is not where you are coming from that matter but where you are going to.

But you did well connecting your early years to the Ikeja bomb blast.

Hundeyin Responds....

A Nigerian with Twitter handle @Ojogbadura was robbed by some men of the Nigerian Police Force today.

After accusing him of being a yahoo boy, they got him to transfer 100K to them.

Fortunately he got wind of some their names.

See tweets.

Benjamin Hundeyin has responded to the tweet.

Meteorites,

Everything is wrong with your home and I pray you emerge out of all these unscathed.

1. Marriage in itself is difficult. It is doubly so when couples live apart. Those who counsel that couples should sleep in the same room, bathe together, etc, know what they are saying. No matter the disagreement, seeing each other daily will encourage resolving issues. If by God's mercies, you both sort this out, pack your load and go and stay with that man. How do you leave a man all by himself, without sex or companionship? I pray you have not been replaced.

2. What's this whole idea of your raising the kids by yourself, alone? Those children need their Dad. And the stress of separation is telling on you all.

I wish I could say more but I usually do not like to waste my words on forums like these bc many times they are not heeded. I'll like to have your husband's contacts. DM me if you think I could help.

CC: lalasticlala

Acehart:
Speechless
Cc: Mynd44

Yes!

Thread 4

She Said "NO!"

Chapter Nine of the book reveals the account given by the captured girls, who were all Muslims. You cannot read that account and not see humanity in display; at some point while reading this chapter, I broke down and sobbed uncontrollably. The girls were driven for about three hours to a river in the heart of Sambisa forest. When they got there, they were then transported by boat to the enclave of the insurgents. This trip on the river took three days. When they arrived at the destination, they were taken into a building that had many rooms and they were fed only white rice – no stew, no vegetable, no oil; nothing. One thing the insurgents insisted on, though, was that the girls were to say their daily prayers faithfully. They will herd them to some point, get them to do their ablution and then they will say their prayers. This was about the time that Leah was becoming increasingly distinguished from her colleagues. Leah will just sit there and watch them. Incidentally the terrorists did not discover this until a day before their release. Here is the account by the Muslim girls:

“When Boko Haram realized that she wasn’t performing any of the rites, they asked her why. Leah boldly told them that she was a Christian. It may have been brave, but it was obviously going to make her their target. Sure enough the men hurried off to notify their leader. The leader came marching in with an angry scowl on his face. He leaned towards Leah and demanded her name. Not only did Leah reply with her name, but she also added that she was a Christian. She may have been scared – she had to be – but she didn’t show it. The leader became furious and threatened to kill her if she didn’t renounce her Christianity by reciting the Islamic creed – Kalmar Shahada. Leah refused. The men then gave her a brutal beating, ordering her to renounce her faith in Jesus and join Islam. Though she knew yielding will make them stop the beating, she refused to turn her back on Christianity. We pleaded with her to tell them what they wanted to hear, and even said we would recite the creed so she could voice it out to them, but she remained adamant…”

Now, that is humanity and that is the difference between Boko Haram’s militant Islam and the regular Islam we see around. The captured Muslim girls may not have practiced Leah’s faith, but they could not stand the sight of a fellow human like themselves being beaten like an animal. Their account said that the beating continued and even became more brutal but Leah will not budge. She simply said “no”. Then the terrorists did something that got to Leah. The following day after the beating, and still locked up in another cell, all the Muslim girls were marched out and put into the vehicle that brought them. Leah could see her mates being returned and at this point, she began to plead with her captures to be released. They will not listen. They also said no.

These all happened in 2018 and Leah Sharibu is still in the den of those animals – Boko Haram. A number of girls that have escaped these evil detentions have returned to speak of the fact that Leah Sharibu is still alive and well. She is still holding on to her faith in Jesus Christ. Some other accounts say that she has been married off to an insurgent commander and even given birth to children. Whatever the case is, the account of this young girl’s faith in Jesus Christ is not only intriguing, it is also convicting and humbling. It is convicting because I am certain that very few of us Christians can stand up in our faith against such evil men as this young girl has done. It is also humbling because Leah’s predicament is an indictment on the kind of religion that many of us practice here in the south of Nigeria. We carry on as if there are no troubles in this country; we are selfish and self-centered, and we build a religion of self-preservation and personal prosperity. We forget quickly that militant Islam is taking over Northern Nigeria mainly because those of us who ought to do the difficult work of missions to north, have given up such laudable work for a prosperity Christianity. We forget that if we do not do the work, it is only a matter of time before militant Islam takes over the whole of the north and begin to threaten incursion into the south.

May God use the story of Leah Sharibu to awaken our humanity and our Christian calling. May he cause us to remember that as Christians, we are pilgrim on this earth. Our calling is to be witnesses for Christ both through our words and our lifestyle. Leah’s classmates, who are Christians, said that they were convinced that only Leah Sharibu had the kind of courage to face those insurgents. They said that with benefit of insights, it was as if she was prepared for a time like this. The reality of Christianity is this: God took up flesh and came into the world to die for the sins of all men. The path to this redemption was the crucifixion of Jesus on a Roman Cross. The Bible says that if the devil had known, he would not have killed the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:. God has a way of manifesting the greatest work through weak men. I am convinced that the last has not been heard of Leah Sharibu. From the weakness and vulnerability of this dear young woman, will come a manifestation of God’s power and glory. Boko Haram took the wrong person – they just did not know it.

Please remember to pray for Leah Sharibu: that God will manifest his good will through the predicament that has befallen her and her family. We know that God’s greatest work is the redemption of all men. May Leah’s testimony continue to redound to the glory of God and continue to cause for those who do not believe in Jesus Christ to turn to him in repentance and faith. Amen.

Written by Deji Yesufu

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/leah-sharibu-what-really-happened-at-dapchi/

CONCLUDED

Thread 4 and the concluding part of the story tomorrow. Stay tuned

Thread 3

"Where are the Christian Girls!"

Patience, one of Leah’s schoolmate, gives the account of events that happened at their dormitory, a day before the attack on their school:

“On the Sunday evening of the very day before the attack, all the Christian students gathered in Leah’s dormitory for normal devotions. As we chatted after the devotion before bed time, Leah’s best friend in school, Liatu, brought up the issue of Boko Haram. As if Leah knew something was going to happen, she asked all of us a question: ‘if you were taken away by Boko Haram tonight and they ask you to renounce your faith in Jesus, would you do it?’ Some said they would if that will help get them released, and said they will later come back to the faith. But Leah boldly said, ‘that is what I will never do, no matter what happens!’…

Quite poignant you would say. True to it, the following day, at the evening, the girls were just preparing to have their dinner, when sounds of gun shots ripped through the air of the school. The children knew immediately that this was a Boko Haram attack. The school had taken them through drills before, in case of such attack, so they quite naturally knew what to do. But in the face of real life guns, it is easy for the lessons learnt to fly off one’s head. Many of the girls began scurrying around for safety. Some were able to run to the staff quarters and found refuge in the homes of some teachers. Others fled into the neighboring bushes and since it was dark, there was no point chasing after them. One girl, Comfort, recounted that she was actually with Leah at the time of the attack. She had been ill and Leah had brought her dinner to her in the room. She was just about trying her hand on the food, when the sound of gun shots began.

Quickly, she and Leah ran out of the dormitory and were headed towards the school gate. At some point, because she was weak, she could not keep pace with Leah and then she tripped over and fell into a ditch which had grasses that covered her. She would later hear some of the Boko Haram militants milling around where she was, asking each other where are the Christian girls. “We thought they said there are Christian girls in this school…” she overheard them say.

Another girl, Vashti, recounts what happened that led to Leah’s capture. The school drill had taught the girls to head out of the school gate and into bushes, hiding until the military authorities came. Alas, as the girls were heading out of the school, there was a military truck by the school gate. There were also men in uniform, holding weapons and encouraging the girls to enter into the truck for safety. Vashti made an attempt to climb in, but in the ensuing pandemonium, someone pushed her and she fell to the ground. It was while she was trying to get up that she noticed that these men in uniform did not have boots on. They wore mostly slippers or scandals. She remembered that the Nigerian soldier always wore his booths. It was at this point she began to make attempt to alert her schoolmates but no one will listen. She then bolted away from the truck and one of the men pursued after her. She successfully hid herself behind a tree and was not caught. Unfortunately for Leah Sharibu, she was one of the girls that was taken into the truck and driven away. It was only after they had journeyed for close to three hours, did the girls realize that they had been abducted. It was too late at that time.

Another thing this book revealed, which unfortunately some of us did not see reported in the news, was that Leah Sharibu was the only Christian girl captured in that truck. You will remember that I had noted earlier that Dapchi town was predominantly Muslim and thus most of the girls in the school practiced Islam. It is safe to say that negotiations to have these girls released came through rather easily because the captured girls were Muslims. The case was a bit different with the Chibok girls because most of the girls in that case were Christians. Besides, going by the account of Comfort earlier, the insurgents had come to the school with the sole purpose of capturing Christian girls and turning them into Muslim by force and it happened that the only Christian girl in that group was Leah.

... to be continued below

RoyalDiadems:
We're waiting for the continuation. The name of the Lord Jesus will be glorified in the north.

Amen

Thread 2

Trained by Persecution

My growing up years were in Zaria, Kaduna State. My father was a staff of the Ahmadu Bello University, so I had all my schooling there: elementary, secondary and even university education – all in Zaria. There is an account in this book on Leah that every Christian in Northern Nigeria can identify with: it is the fact that there is a general antagonism against Christians in the north. In Zaria, where the university offers a lot of liberal thinking, the antagonism was not that much (although we did have instances of Christians beings persecuted and killed for their faith). So when the book opened with the account that Leah Sharibu and her family lived in Dapchi town as minority Christians, I could understand. Their own situation was even more profound because Dapchi, Yobe State, does not have the Zaria liberal bent to Islam. Here is a classmate’s account of life in Dapchi as stated in the book:

"Dapchi is a predominantly Muslim town where only about 10% of the people are Christians. There are only four small churches in the Dapchi area and each church has a congregation of less than 30 people. The pressure to deny your faith and to live as a Muslim starts at a very young age. Generally, in Yobe State it is hard for Christian children to receive any formal education. As for Christian adults, they are often overlooked for jobs or leadership positions at the local or state levels due to religious discrimination. The persecution is real, and we live it on a daily basis. However, this kind of everyday persecution was nothing like what we were about to face…”

Another thing about living in northern Nigeria is that due to this ever present persecution, the nature of Christianity in Northern Nigeria is a lot different from the one in the south of the country. When you live day after day, knowing that one day you could pay the ultimate price for your faith, your commitment to Jesus Christ is real. There is a sense of not holding to the things of this world that is ingrained into your psyche; and then you join biblical accounts that tell you that the Christian life is one that is laced with persecution – including the reality of paying the ultimate price of being killed for your faith. From one’s early commitment to Jesus, the doctrine of never denying Christ no matter what is ingrained into your psyche. A deep Arminian theology also puts the fear of both renouncing faith in Christ and losing one’s salvation on the same stead. So when, in 2014, the Chibok girls were kidnapped in Borno State, all boarding schools in North Eastern Nigeria were put on red-alert. Everybody knew that it was only a matter of time before another school was ransacked by the terrorists.

So, in school, and at the Christian fellowship gathering, the students encouraged themselves in the faith and continually drum the fact into themselves that if ever their school was taken over by Boko Haram, there will not be a situation where any one of them will renounce their in Christ. It was doubly so for Leah Sharibu because she was actually the president of their Fellowship of Christian students. She was the one who taught the doctrine and it was her that must of a certainty live out its reality if ever it happened. Patience, one of Leah’s schoolmate, gives the account of events that happened at their dormitory, a day before the attack on their school:

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Thread 2 to be posted tomorrow...

Thread 1

Leah Sharibu: What Really Happened at Dapchi

By: Deji Yesufu

Leah Sharibu and a hundred and nine other girls were kidnapped from their school at Dapchi town, Yobe State, on 19th Febraury, 2018, a Monday. Their abduction quickly became world news – with calls from all over the world asking for the release of the young women. The situation was going to prove a disaster for the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), especially with the nation’s elections around the corner – the following year, 2019. In 2014, there had been a similar kidnapping of young girls from a school at Chibok town in Borno State and that incident, more than any other, caused much embarrassment to the government of Goodluck Jonathan and might have influenced their failure to be re-elected on a second term. So, a month after the kidnap of the Dapchi girls, arrangement were made and the girls were released. The Nigerian government never agrees that they pay ransom to kidnappers, so it is sufficient to say here that the girls were released because the kind of militant Islam that Boko Haram practice releases school girls kidnapped at no cost. Whatever might have happened, the country was relieved that the girls were returned – all of them, except one – Leah Sharibu.

What the Press reported for all of us to read was that Leah was not released because she did not renounce her Christian faith. This is true. What we however did not know were the little details that surrounded Leah’s decision. In a book titled “Leah: Hero for Jesus”, Dr. Gloria Samdi-Puldu and Rev. Peter Fretheim made a collection of first-hand accounts of events surrounding Leah’s capture. They gave us accounts by Leah’s mother, Rebecca; her father, Nathan; and accounts from her friends and classmates. The account by the girls who were captured with Leah was the most intriguing. If you have the opportunity of finding the book, do read it – it is quite revealing. This article will however reveal some details with the express aim of helping us appreciate a momentous moment in our nation life – a moment that is almost being forgotten by all of us.

... to be continued below

Inset: Painted portrait of Leah Sharibu

For the full article see: https://textandpublishing.com/leah-sharibu-what-really-happened-at-dapchi/

Urheadmaster:
APC go collect wotowoto for this up coming general election in Nigeria

Finish