₦airaland Forum

joseph1832:
why does it sound like a foolish idea to you? Is it because it doesn't extol the ways of your money groveling pastors?

This sounds like a great idea to me ....

JAMO84:
The lekki massacre was audio. Nobody was killed, the Soldiers only shot at space, not at the protesters.
No amount of miserable, quack musical video can change the truth. DJ Witch and all her fellow Witches and Wizards must pay for inciting violence in our Country.
I AM DONE TALKING

You actually have nothing concrete to say that is why should be done talking and leave the stage for those who have something to comment

A Commentary on Falz’ End-SARS Video: “Johnny”

By: Deji Yesufu

The Nigerian musician Folarin Falana with stage name “Falz the Bahd Guy” published the video to his song “Johnny” two days ago, 10th of November, 2020, on YouTube. The three minute video captures perfectly everything that has happened regarding the EndSARS protests that enveloped Nigeria for close to three weeks. If you have not seen the video, I urge you to take sometime to watch it now:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ieglAgBsbc

Falz, dressed in all white, with his trademark spectacles without lenses, is lying in the pool of his own blood, but at the same time rapping out the lyrics of the song – “Johnny”. His hair is tinted: a message to Nigerian policemen who think that every young man with tinted hair is a Yahoo-Boy. Falz is saying in essence that one can be dressed like this and still be very creative, productive and adding to the Nigerian economy in legal ways. Unfortunately the young Nigerian man has just been gunned down and he must relay his message from the grave in the pool of his own blood. The song is laced with a background chorus saying “…Johnny just dropped…” A visibly angry Falz is pictured reeling out his lyrics, while videos of police carrying out extrajudicial killings of young Nigerian are placed intermittently in the video (see timeline 0.24, 0.34 and 0.38 for a few instances). At timeline 1.46 the song is paused and the events of 20th October, 2020, at Lekki Toll Gate are replayed again. The young man making the video is heard in the background saying that this is Lekki Toll Gate and soldiers are shooting at unharmed protesters. That singular video refutes all the lies that soldiers did not shoot at unarmed protesters. There were indeed shooting of young Nigerians that day and it remains a blight on our national history, just as the blood stained Nigerian flag from the scenes that night perfectly depict.

For Folarin Falana, son of Nigerian legal luminary, Femi Falana, the EndSARS protest is a personal issue – just as it is for millions of others who joined in the protest later. Falz and a few friends had commenced the EndSARS protest in Lagos in the first week of October, 2020. And like wild-fire the event caught up to every part of Nigeria. The Nigerian government swiftly abolished the SARS unit of the Nigerian Police but the protesters made it clear that SARS had always been proscribed in Nigeria every year since 2017, yet this evil arm of the Nigerian police continues to rear its ugly head. The protesters therefore remained on the streets until something substantial was done to bring total reforms, not just to the Nigerian police, but to every other ailing part of the country. The people of this country were at this when some accursed individuals took it upon themselves to approach unarmed protesters, most of whom were youths, and opened fire on them at Lekki, Lagos. D.J Switch who was there that night has been saying that even after the soldiers shot at the protesters, the Nigerian police also came and opened fire on them. All of these was happening as the CCTV cameras attached to the Toll Gate had been removed and the whole scenery was plunged in darkness following power outage. Anyone that does not see the shooting at Lekki as a systematic effort to end legitimate protest in the country must be from the planet Mars.

Following the shooting at Lekki, the President of Nigeria gave a speech to the country and left out the issue of the shooting. His media aides explained later that the President chose not to speak on the matter because it was already under investigation. Quite reassuring, you would say. But events of the following weeks will show that there was more to the President ignoring the Lekki shooting than not wanting to interfere with investigations. A meeting of Northern Governors was conveyed. Top officials from the Presidency were in attendance at this meeting and the Governors, quite ingeniously too, came out with the resolution that the social media should be regulated by the Nigerian government. Their argument: following the Lekki shooting, the social media was inundated with fake news that led to the uproar among the populace and to the burning down of public buildings and so on. They said it was these events that led ultimately to people discovering palliatives stored away in various warehouses around the country and the looting of the palliatives that followed. I consider this resolution by Northern governors stupid because it conveniently overlooked one vital fact: the EndSARS protests had continued peacefully in most parts of the country until October 20, 2020. It was after peaceful protesters were shot at and many killed that miscreants took advantage of the milieu and began to burn down buildings. It is simple, if law enforcements do not break the laws of the land and kill innocent Nigerians, people will not take the law into their hands and begin to attack government buildings and burn down police stations. How governors from the North conveniently overlooked this fact remains a mystery to me. The problem is not the social media but the same attitude of people in power using unbridled force in lawless ways. If government wishes to have its people live by the laws of society, they should lead those people by abiding by those laws themselves.

As we were coming to terms with government playing with the idea of regulating the social media, news began to emerge that individuals that led the EndSARS protests all around the country were being arrested, detained without trials and many of them were having their personal accounts in banks frozen by the Central Bank. When people protested the illegality of freezing people’s personal accounts, the CBN approached the Nigerian courts to make it legal. Then another joker appeared on the scene, taking a number of Nigerian celebrities and popular personalities to court over their involvement with the EndSARS protests. The fact is that if the same energy that the government is putting at clamping down EndSARS protesters is channeled at reforming vital sectors in the country, this country would have seen much progress by now. The very Northern Governors who are asking for an end to the protest and are calling for the regulating of the social media, have Boko Haram and armed bandits continually terrorizing their own people. If the Nigerian police had done its job of curbing the violence of insurgency among the general populace in Northern Nigeria, there would not have been the need to bring the army into it. The police failed at keeping its citizens safe and they again turn the guns on the very citizens they should protect and kill them. People protest these killings, saying that there must be a meaningful reform of the Nigerian police, and then the police come out and kill young Nigerians while they are singing the national anthem and holding up the Nigerian flag. Nigeria is in a very sad state.

Folarin Falana, aka Falz, sang “Johnny” long before the EndSARS protests began. He himself would have marveled at how the lyrics of the songs fitted so well into events that would play out later; as if to say Nigeria is so damn predictable. Falz is unhappy in this song; some lyrics he spits out paint a perfect picture of the grim situation we are talking about:

“… mad man… uwaka… you bloody bastard…
“… you waste a life and you try to tell me you are sorry after…”

Those words depict the frustration and anger in the Nigerian public space. Our rulers in this country have taken us for granted for far too long and at the same time they think they are doing us a favor. For a long time the question of the unity of this country has been debated in the public. When one section of the country appears to hold the other section back almost at every juncture, you begin to give thoughts to the idea of whether we should stay together as a country or we should go our separate ways. No person in their right senses will observe the EndSARS protests and not see that Nigerian youths are ready to take their destiny in their hands. Folarin Falana turned 30 a few days ago and refused to celebrate in honor of all who were killed in Lekki. Our rulers forget quickly that we know that those who led this nation in the early years of our national life were in their thirties. If young Nigerians can do the job that the opposition has failed to do in about six years of the Buhari presidency, this is a testimony to the fact that these young people can govern themselves in the days to come. We are tired of recycled politicians. We are sick of geriatric leadership. We say no to SARS and all failed military institutions. We are calling for a new Nigerian nation. This is the message that Falz sought to put across in his song “Johnny”. Falz’ words of dedication at the end of the song encapsulate it all perfectly:

Dedicated to our fallen heroes
#EndSARS
Justice must be served. Every single person responsible for these gruesome acts must be brought to book.
It is time to get your PVCs ready.
“The power of the people is greater than the people in power”.

It could not be better said than this.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/a-commentary-on-falz-end-sars-video-johnny/

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Seun, Lalasticlala, Mynd44 consider this post for front page... This is serious. In Nigeria

The Question the President Failed to Address in his Broadcast

By: Deji Yesufu

President Muhammadu Buhari finally spoke to the Nigerian people yesterday evening. His speech was coming after many people had condemned his loud silence that accompanied the shooting of peaceful protesters at Lekki Toll Gate on Tuesday night by unknown soldiers. Unfortunately the President’s speech touched on everything except the most important matter in the country today: the killing of innocent Nigerians who were protesting peacefully about the matter of police brutality in the nation. President Buhari said that his administration had acceded to the demands of protesters by scrapping the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian Police. He added that the protesters thought that government was weak in quickly agreeing to end SARS. He went on to warn against continuous break down of law and order. His speech, which was a little over ten minutes, said nothing about the killings at Lekki Toll Gate and this is very sad indeed.

Lest we forget, on the night of Tuesday, 20th October, 2020, soldiers opened fire on peaceful protesters at Lekki Toll Gate. Conflicting stories continues to emerge on the number persons that might have died following the shooting. Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, stated on Wednesday that no one died in the shooting; although a number of persons were injured. But by the close of the day yesterday, the same Governor reported that at least two persons had died. Emotions have been raging since the shooting. Lekki Toll Gate has been burnt down and a number of buildings in that vicinity were touched. On Wednesday, a day following the shooting, media houses and businesses, belonging to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Governor of Lagos State and a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC), the ruling party in the country, were burnt down. The palace of the Oba of Lagos has been ransacked by thugs. Despite a 24-hour curfew imposed on the state, Lagos has not known any rest. The question on everybody’s minds is simply this: who ordered the shooting at Lekki? What is clear is that the military has a chain of command and soldiers do not just take up weapons and shoot civilians. Someone directed those soldiers to open fire on protesters. And until that person is fished out, the public will continue to direct their frustrations on government.

The day following the shooting, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, a chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party, and a known critic of the present administration, published photos of one Brig. Gen. Francis Omata as the person who led the attack on the protesters. There are too many things wrong with this allegation: first, it was becoming clear that too much fake news was running around the Lekki Shooting, as many of those who were said to have died in the shooting had come out to say they were alive. Second, no one sends a General to quell a riot; talk less of a few protesters. By the close of that day, Gen. Omata, who is a military commander of a Lagos Garrison, had come out to explain his own side of the story: He said he was in his house when reports reached him that soldiers were shooting at peaceful protesters at Lekki Toll Gate. He arrived the toll gate 36 minutes after the shooting began and managed to stop the carnage. He explained that he had to keep shouting out his name at the soldiers to identify himself before they stopped. Gen. Omata explained that the person who led the attack on the protesters was one Lt. Col. S. O. Bello and that all those involved in the incident are already being questioned by army authorities.

This explanation by Omata may have left him off the hook but it still leaves many more questions unanswered. The primary question that still must be answered in this matter is this: who ordered the shooting? Who instructed Bello and his men to kill innocent protesters? I believe the answer lies in what Mr. President left untouched in his speech yesterday. It does not matter who ordered the shooting of the protesters, the responsibility for the safety of the lives of Nigerians lies at the feet of the President, who is also the commander in chief of the Nigerian army. This is the reason why a few hours after the shooting of those young people, former presidential aspirant of Democratic Party in the United States, Hilary Clinton, stated in a tweet that Buhari should stop killing protesters. And in response to the outcry of the international community, the President of Nigeria said in his speech yesterday that the international community should not delve into matters that concern a sovereign state like Nigeria. In other words Mr. President is not ready to answer the question regarding who directed the shooting of protesters. He clearly did not touch on the subject of the Lekki Killings because he did not see himself as accountable to the Nigerian people. The best way for the President to have absolved himself from the killings on Tuesday was to have spoken on the Lekki Killings and explained to the Nigerian people that the people who authorized the shooting are being investigated. Since he did not touch on it, he leaves the public to reach any conclusion they wish to reach on the matter.

One aspect of this protest that many commentators have tried to downplay is the north/south dichotomy of it. Unfortunately the more we ignore it, the more it stares itself in our faces. Since the protest began, northern youths have refused to join. In fact while people in the south have been calling on an End to SARS, pockets of protests were going on in the north asking government to continue with SARS. Besides this, in Abuja, counter EndSARS protests were going on alongside the EndSARS protests. Some protesters were even attacked in the process. A little investigation into these counter protests reveal that many of those involved in it were paid. Suddenly (if the report by Omata is true) a bastion of soldiers led by a northern officers, open fire on protesters who are mostly from southern Nigeria. While indeed we should not bring in religious and tribal sentiments into this matter, it cannot be easily ignored. If Kano State was experiencing the same thing that Lagos State experience in the past few days, will the President of Nigeria give a speech and not mention the sad event that led to killing and maiming of young Nigerians?

It need to be said here that some of us may have earned the right to speak like this because we put our lives and reputation on the line to see Muhammadu Buhari come to office. We told people that Buhari was not a religious or tribal bigot. We explained that with Buhari in power this country will know greater security, peace and development. We explained that Buhari will abolish corruption. Today, we have been put to shame. Even if this administration has no idea on how to solve the problem of incessant insecurity in the country; if they do not know how to end corruption and revitalize the economy, they can at the least leave this country the way they met it. This government owes it as a duty to explain to Nigerians who ordered the killing of young Nigerians at Lekki Toll Gate on Tuesday 20th October, 2020. While we await their explanation, I appeal to all Nigerians to be law abiding and to maintain the peace.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/the-question-the-president-failed-to-answer-in-his-broadcast/

Ending SARS Pastors in Nigerian Churches

By: Deji Yesufu

I have had a few people request my opinion on the EndSARS protests that has enveloped most of Nigerian cities and even spilt over to Nigerians in diaspora; with youths calling on institutional reforms in the Nigerian Police and where, at the moment, the protest demands are ever increasing – and government, at Federal and State levels, are falling over themselves to meet the demands of the protesters; so as to, at the least, ease the bludgeoning anarchy in the land. To be sincere, I lacked very little inspiration to write on the subject. Two or three times I began but never could conclude them because the ideas I was sharing were not resonating with even me. I knew that there was a dimension to this protest that has not been touched. Today as I drove my children to school the idea came: what about the SARS in Nigerian churches? This idea came as I was ruminating over a thorny situation in my extended family that has been exacerbated by the doctrine and practices in some Nigerian churches. The EndSARS protests offers me an opportunity to talk about “ending SARS in Nigerian churches”.

The incident that precipitated the current EndSARS protests was the extra judicial killing of a Nigerian youth in an unnamed city in the country. Two youths had been arrested by SARS officials and with the incident captured on camera, a police officer drew out his weapon and blew out the brains of one of the boys. EndSARS therefore began on the whole premise of the extra judicial killings of young Nigerians by SARS officials. What many people do not realize is that in killing a man the worst that can be done to him is to bring an end to his physical being; his soul is still alive and well. Those of us in Christian ministry, while we are concerned about the body the souls of men is our ultimate concerns. Our Lord Jesus said that we should not fear those that kill the body; rather, we should fear Him that can kill both the body and the soul (Matthew 10:28). My grouse with the manner Christian ministry is led in Nigeria is that the peculiar doctrine that is taught in many popular churches in this clime are doctrines that cannot save the soul of men when their physical bodies are dead. There are many churches in this country that preach doctrines that claim to offer some good to the physical bodies of men, but they are essentially ruining their souls – by leading them to an eternity without God and without Christ.

This weekend I sat with my brother-in-law and he asked me point blank: What exactly are your issues with these churches? Why are you no longer a Pentecostal Christian? What is the heart of the Christian message? I responded by saying that my grouse with these churches is mainly on the matter of doctrines but that doctrines are not taught in isolation; doctrines lead ultimately to the way people live. If the way of life of a people is haphazard, ungodly and one that does not bring a good report to society, we have all the right to question the doctrine that these people are taught. One of the ways that you know that the doctrines these churches teach is not Christian is that these doctrines are damaging homes all around. So to respond directly to his question, I made the point that while historic Christianity has always taught that Christ died to save men from their sins alone (Matthew 1:21, Luke 24:47, Colossians 1:14), Pentecostal/Charismatic doctrines teach that Christ died to save men from sin and from sickness and poverty. This evil addition, “and”, is what renders the doctrines that these men teach as false and it is what is producing the false fruits that we see in the lives of professing Christians in this country. While SARS may be destroying the bodies of our young men in Nigeria, Pentecostal/Charismatic pastors are destroying their souls. This is essentially my argument in this piece.

Historic Christianity has always been concerned about family life. Christianity recognizes that the family is the smallest unit is any given society. A stable society exhumes essentially from stable family units. For this reason Christianity pays great premium on the matter of a godly marriage that should produce godly seeds. Christians are taught not to marry non-Christians. The matter of compatibility in fundamental beliefs is essential for a Christian family structure. When a Christian man leads a Christian woman to the altar, we rejoice at the prospect of a godly addition to society. The next thing that is essential is that a Christian home is led by a strong and godly father that is ably supported by a godly woman. The man must love his wife and the woman must be submissive to her husband – this is the gospel demand on the home. As Christian men endeavor to possess a single eye outside, work and provide for their homes, the wife must endeavor to be led by her husband. Unfortunately what we find in our churches are lopsided situations. While lip service may be given to godly marriages, emphases are not paid to the matter of a converted life among Christians in the congregation. Churches that teach people that health and wealth is the Christian goal will not have a place for the vital matter of the conversion of the souls of their congregants. This leads ultimately to young men and women getting married but where either the two parties are not converted or one party among the two have not met the risen Lord. Then we begin to have professing Christian men living like devils in their home: having concubines and beating their wives. The wife, on the other hand, may not know the virtue of the sanctity of her bed and be open to extra marital affairs. When there are crises in the home, the couples take their issues to pastors who themselves are either not trained in counselling or who are not converted themselves. As I write, there is a rising epidemic in family lives in Nigerian churches and many of them are covering up the situation with their music noises. But some of us who are still connected to these churches are seeing the effect of false doctrine ravaging many families. But while family life may be disrupted, the worst is yet to be seen of these churches. If people are not converted they will die in their sin and they will live an eternity without God and without Christ. Now that is the worst case scenario.

There is that story in 1 King where Ahab asks a prophet who will lead the war against an enemy group and the prophet said the young men in the country (1 Kings 20:14). When a nation goes to war, it is young men that are deployed to the field to fight. When there is a need for change in society, it is young people that should lead the effort. We remember that the Arab Spring began from the self-immolation of a Tunisian Youth – who had become frustrated with happening in his country. What most Nigerians remember about the end of the first republic in this country was that the Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa, and others were killed. They forget that it was young military officers that got frustrated with the way and manner governance was being run and they took laws into their hands and then executed the country’s leaders. The nation was plunged into a 30 month civil war, but we should always remind ourselves that it was young men that pulled the trigger that began the whole crisis. In other words a nation takes it youth populace for granted at her own risk. The beauty of the EndSARS protest is the fact that it has been led, so far, by unknown faces and the systematic manner in which they are carrying out the protest show that the brains behind it are enlightened individuals who have capacity to lead the nation themselves. The Nigerian government will ignore these young people at their own risk.

When I criticize churches like this, I am asked to go and open my own church. Unfortunately the whole idea of “opening my own church” is the very thing that is ruining gospel preaching in this society. The church does not belong to one man; the church belongs to a people. These people at some point will covenant together to become a people of God. These people then will elect from among themselves a minister; or employ a minister to lead the congregation. But ultimately the church belongs to them and they will choose what direction they wish that church will go. The best a minister can do is to guide the direction the congregation will walk by his preaching from the pulpit.

In the last seven years, I have sought to raise such a congregation in the city of Ibadan. My efforts have failed twice now but I have not relented. Recently a group of six of us, young men and women, came together and decided to enact a gospel church in Ibadan. We are still in the throes of electing a name for this congregation and also finding a location for it. But when our effort come to fruition, it is going to be a gospel church where the truth of God’s word as stated in the Bible is taught faithfully. This idea is also being birth by young people – youths. It is our response to the phenomenon of SARS in Nigerian churches. It is our way of bringing gospel life to society. Again, when God wishes to bring change to society, he employs the youths. While the EndSARS protests are seeking change in the political life in the country, my friends and I (young people) are pursuing to see change in the church. We are working at the moment at renting a place of worship and will soon begin a faithful proclamation of the word of God every Sunday. I use this medium to invite you to join the work if you are interested in seeing change come to gospel preaching in the Nigerian church environment.

The EndSARS protest is wisdom from God. I am totally confident that the Lord who has begun this good work will bring positive fruit out of it. We would see change come to our policing system in this country. We would see changes in our political life. Change will come to our nation Nigeria. May this youth inspired movement also inspire other youths in the Christian church in our nation to see change come to gospel life in their congregations also. Amen.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/ending-sars-in-nigerian-churches/

GIANTPLUSHUB:
Quite sad

Indeed

CC: Lalasticlala, Seun, Mynd44

“How Oghenovo Died to Police Brutality” – Mute Gadin (Sister)

On the 15th of June 2019. My brother came to visit us. He never said it but I sensed he was trying in his little way to fill the void my sister Eguono left when she passed. His visits were really comforting even if I never said it to him, he knew and always made sure he came to spend the weekend with us. We would just sit and talk unending about Eguono. On sundays, He would drive us to church and then on mondays, to school. Before leaving back to his place .

But that weekend was different, he did not come on a Friday as he usually would, but called and promised to be there on Saturday which he did. As usual, he drove me to do my shopping for the week, we got home and had lunch(as in we actually sat on the table to eat together ). Hmmmmmm.

When we were done, he spent quality time with the twins running around and all. Took Some of Yabo’s toy cars and got them working (Yabo loves cars) replacing batteries for those that needed change and charging some. When he was done, he left to the guest room to nap a little.

At about 4pm, I was going up to my room and we met half way and he was all dressed up. He said he needed to attend to something so he had to leave.

Something did not feel right but I just thought it was me being selfish about who was going to drive me around the next day. Anyway, when he was leaving , because we did not want the kids to cry , he had to sneak through the back door to avoid all the drama. I saw him leave and for some reason I wasn’t happy. Looking back now I wish I insisted on him not going.

Normally, he would call to tell me he was home and if he didn’t I would call . somehow , I got busy and forgot to call.

At exactly 9:11 I got a recorded message he had sent . I listened to it but could not make sense out of it. It was an argument he was having with some people obviously at the station not wanting them to know he was recording.

I called immediately and was relived when he picked. He said he had boarded a taxi but unfortunately he landed in the hands of the people they call “ one chance”.

From what I was able to deduce he had struggled with them and actually found a way to get to the police station with the conviction he was going to be safe there . But guess what? The tables turned.
Ghenovo assured me he was going to call me back as soon as he was out of the police station and I had nothing to worry about and that he had actually called a friend to come over to be with him.

After an hour, when I did not get a call from him, I called but it rang out. . I then tried calling one his friends to please go check at the masaka police station where he was but unfortunately he was out of town.

While I was still trying to get the number of the friend he said he had called to be with him, Ghenovo’s number began calling me. This was around past midnight.

When I picked, it was not Ghenovo but his friend crying and saying I needed to come over as Ghenovo was on the floor foaming in the mouth and they had refused him to take him to the hospital.

I managed to get another friend to get there and he also met the same situation and in fact the first friend was also detained. I pleaded to talk to who was in charge in the station and the police office in charge refused to talk to me. In my frustration I asked him to put his phone on speaker and I was screaming at the top of my voice while crying that I had just buried my sister and If anything happened to my brother I will fight this to the end. It was at that point they allowed his friend to take him and thankfully a family friend had driven all the way to take him to the hospital.

My long epistle is not easy to write as a lot happened in between and the wound is still very very fresh.

I hardly sleep because the scene of my brother fighting even in his unconscious state while at the hospital is something one cant forget in a hurry. When he eventually came round, it was hard for him to speak and he I could see he was still upset . I did not allow him tell me what he encountered although he demonstrated how he was hit on his mouth because it was still swollen. (An action I still regret). I tried reassuring him that we were going to follow up as soon as he felt better. It was clear that he was so upset with what happened. The night before he passed, he cried so profusely. It was really heart breaking but I concentrated on him being in a place of forgiveness and peace.
Truth be told the police failed him. The police failed us as a family.

A place he ran to be safe ended up being a place he was tortured and eventually died at the hospital after days of the trying to keep him alive.

My brother wasn’t perfect but he did not deserve what he went through.

How can my family ever feel safe when it comes to the police? I cringe anytime I have to come face to face with one. How do we move on when we still have unanswered questions?

#police reform is truly necessary for the county.

#i say no to police brutality

Postscript: This story was taken from Mute Gadin Facebook Page and published with permission from her. Mute tells me privately that they never did uncover what happened between Oghenovo and the police. But it is likely that when he arrived the Masaka Police station with the “One Chance” people, those people turned the table of accusation on him. Probably while protesting his innocence, the police attacked him physically. Mute also explains that he might have been made to ingest the mosquito repellent he had asked a friend to bring to him while in detention. Oghenovo’s lungs failed a few days into his admission at the hospital and he died from his inability to breathe.

Incidentally, I grew up in ABU, Zaria, staff quarters, with Mute Gadin and her other siblings in the 1980/90s. This family had only just lost another sibling just six months before their kid brother perished to police brutality. #EndSARS now.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/how-oghenovo-died-to-police-brutality-mute-gadin-sister/

Anas09:
Muslims took Islam to the west thinking to convert everyone Westerner only to have their sons and daughters exposed to apostasy.

In their countries, their children stay in Islam for fear of being killed, but thats not the case in the West.
The biggest mistake they wld do is to start kilking Christian Apologists.
Christian Prince is wrecking havoc and turning spool many away from Islam using their very koran.

Their sons will leave Islam enmass if they kill someone like David Wood or the Apostate Prophet.

Islam is very fragile right now. Internet is not helping them.

Let the media try as they may, it won't work. Many Ex Moslems are still coming out to expose the lies of Islam.

Fact

sagenaija:
The morals of a man of God should ordinarily be expected to be higher than those of the followers. Not Mohamed's.

As an example to be followed, there are many 'privileges' Mohamed enjoyed which his followers cannot emulate. As a result there are many things Mohamed did that his followers cannot follow as examples.

As a prophet there were issues with his operating in the office of a prophet. Of course the Islamic definition of a prophet may be different from what the general understanding is.

Islam's books do not help matters. Both the Koran and Hadiths have contradictory statements such that one can find an opposite position for any issue in the books. As a result Moslem apologists use this to argue with opponents, picking whichever position they choose to confuse the unsuspecting opponents.

Many Moslems have to CLOSE their minds to difficult to understand and difficult to follow portion of their books and also to some of Mohamed's reasoning and actions to be able to hold on to or remain in Islam.

True

Islam: Blood on the Apologists’ Dance Floor III

By: Deji Yesufu

Here is one fact that I have discovered on Islam that is quite uncomfortable and I sincerely invite my Muslim readers to explain these things if they choose to write a rejoinder to this piece (I will publish the most well written). On the level of their revelations alone, Muslims and Christians can continue to debate the veracity of their religion till thy kingdom come; there will apparently be no end to the argument. But there is one fact of the two religions that is wholly incomparable – I will soon come to this. Note that this two religions are monotheist. The two religions claim to worship an unseen God. The two religions have personalities that revealed them to the world. For Christianity, it is Jesus Christ. For Islam, it is Mohammed. Mohammed occupies such a central position in Islam that one who wishes to be a Muslim must say the Shahada. This confession has a phrase in it that declares that one who will be a Muslim must regard Mohammed as God’s prophet. So, we can agree that the two religion shore up two personalities: Jesus and Mohammed. This is where things begin to get interesting.

By biblical account, Jesus Christ was the perfect man. He was the God-man, who took up flesh and lived uprightly in all his 33 years on earth. Scripture reveal that Christ lived and died and rose again to obtain eternal redemption for God’s people. The central message of the Qur’an also acknowledges the ministry of the Christ. However, there was the need to bring a new revelation from God, according to the Qur’an, because the Christians and Jews had corrupted their own revelation: the Torah and the Bible. Mohammed, the last prophet, therefore was given the true revelation from God. The problem is this: Christ lived an upright life but Mohammed did not live quite an upright life. Going the records of the life of Mohammed as recorded in various trusted hadiths, it was said that the Muslim greatest example did the following:

Mohammed married Aisha at the age of 6 and consummated the marriage with her at the age of 9. This is the reason why child bride is not a big deal in Islam, at least not until recent times.

Mohammed was a violent man. The concept of Jihad was taken directly from his life works. Mohammed did not only fight to defend himself; he also fought offensive battles. In fact Mohammed was killed after he was poisoned by a woman, whose family the prophet and his followers had destroyed in a battle. Many argue that Boko Haram and ISIS are the true followers of Mohammed.

Mohammed orchestrated the divorce of his own adopted son from his wife. Mohammed would eventually marry this lady.
Mohammed had 13 wives, while he prescribed 4 wives for his followers.

Mohammed placed no limits on the number of women his followers could have sex with – as long as these women were spoils of war.


Mohammed received revelations from the devil and thought these revelations were from God. These verses were later called the “satanic verses”. Writer Salman Rushdie had a death sentence placed on his head for writing on this subject in the early 1990s.

Mohammed slept with 9 of his wives in one night.

I confess that the lists are endless and the records of these events are taken from trusted hadiths. You will understand how important the hadiths are when you realize that the Qur’an cannot be understood besides the hadiths. The hadiths give Qur’anic verses a context. It is the hadiths, not the Qur’an, that tell Muslims to pray five times a day. It is these hadiths that tell of these sordid acts of Mohammed. When Nabeel Quereshi began to investigate Christianity, he discovered that the religion was an upright religion; birth by a perfect man – Jesus Christ. He then used the same standards of investigation on the Qur’an and his faith fell apart. We can understand why this will happen – especially after one has found out that the main figure in one religion, Jesus, was perfect; while the main figure in the other religion was not. If one were to put the two religions side by side, and one is to be honest with onself, you cannot but bow to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This was what led Nabeel to Christianity. And I hope it might lead many Muslims reading this piece to reconsider their religion and hear out the gospel message.

One of David Woods friends, Vocab Marlone, the guy who plays Mohammed in the “Mohammed Boom Boom Room” series, has gotten his YouTube channel demonetized. He no longer earns anything from YouTube adverts. Wood has been raising the alarm of the systematic persecution of Christian apologists by the Western Media. The narrative that Islam is a religion of peace has been sold to the West and anyone that speaks to the contrary has his channel or medium shut down. Wood has since left Facebook because the social media forum continually blocks his posts of Islam. Hatun Tash, a Turkish lady who came to Christ while living in London, has made it her ministry to reach out to Muslims there. She goes to a place called “Speakers’ Corner” and debates Muslims there. Recently Hatun discovered as many as 39 different Arabic Qur’ans sold all around the world. She has since taken her discovery to Speakers’ Corner and on many occasions, she has been assaulted and had to be rescued by the police. In fact the police have told her that her life is in danger. Robert Spencer speaks of how the venue of a cartoon drawing contest was taken over by Jihadist, who stormed it – shooting into the crowd. His life was spared but others were killed. David Wood’s life is continually being threatened on social media and he speaks jokingly about a Jihadist chopping off his head one of these days.

It is important that Muslims will understand that their is no criticism that there religion is undergoing today that Christianity has not gone through. The West, which originally was Christian, is largely secular today because the myth of religion has been defused there – or so they say. Those who are Christians in the West today are Christians because Christ has revealed himself to them through his word. Islam would have to trust the new direction that religious criticism is going in our world today. They would have to understand that the life of Mohammed and the revelation he brought, the Qur’an, will come under scrutiny. If they spend their time defending their faith, they may have something left to salvage. If they however take the easy part of violence and kill off their critics, they would have blood on the apologists’ dance floor but it would not immune their religion from the mass of apostasy that is already hitting it. Islam underwent new scrutiny following the 9/11 attacks on New York City. The narrative that the religion is a religion of peace was brought under question. How a religion claims to be peaceful and at the same time has so many adherents that choose to settle scores with violence is the question that Islam should answer in our day and time.

Series is Ended.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/islam-blood-on-the-apologists-dance-floor-iii/

Attached photo: Mohammed Hijab

Islam: Blood on the Apologists’ Dance Floor II

By: Deji Yesufu

In the Muslim vs. Christian apologists’ world, there are common arguments that the two sides present to each other. One of such arguments is the fact of the veracity of the revelations given to Christians and Muslims in the Qur’an and the Bible. After the coming of higher biblical criticisms of the 18/19th centuries, Christians have come to understand that our Bible suffers from the thorny matter of variants in its reading. The truth of the matter is that every document of antiquity suffers from this matter of variants. The original texts of the Bible were written on Papyri. These were materials made from plants that people used as writing material in the first century. The truth is that with time, these materials grow old and are destroyed. Thus, Christians of old preserved their scriptures by copying from the originals. In the process of copying, mistakes will be introduced into the text. Sometimes copiers added their own thoughts to the text. So that through a period of 2,000 years the original words of the apostles could have been distorted. Higher Criticism proved this fact and it led to millions renouncing Christianity in Europe in the 18th/19th centuries. However, theologians have discovered that even though we do not have the original writing of the apostles today, we have thousands of copied manuscripts from the second, third and fourth centuries. All of these manuscripts can be compared with each other and the most likely original statements of the apostles can be constructed out of them. Besides this, the church fathers of the 1st and 2nd centuries wrote copious amount of treatises and quoted the New Testament so often; such that we can reconstruct the whole New Testament from the writings of the fathers. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has also helped to prove the veracity of the Old Testament scriptures. Christians came into the 20th century with greater confidence in the veracity of their scriptures and thus we have people affirming the inerrancy of scriptures today.

Islam, on the hand, had maintained a theory that the Qur’an, although a document of antiquity, and even younger than the New Testament by 700 years, has been miraculously preserved by God. They say that there is not one Arabic Qur’an in the world that is different from the other. They say there is no variant in the Qur’anic manuscripts. While scholars, who have investigated this claims in the ivory towers, have found this to be untrue; the narrative of the Quran’s perfect preservation has continued to be told to Muslims all through the centuries. Something however happened two months ago, that changed this whole saga. A Muslim scholar by the name Imam Yasir Qadhi came on the YouTube channel of Mohammed Hijab. Qadhi studied at Cambridge and is quite versed in the Qur’an. Hijab pressed Qadhi to answer the question on the matter of the Qur’an’s perfect preservation. At first, Qadhi said that this matter was not to be discussed in public. Eventually he admitted that “there were holes in the narrative” that says that the Quran has been perfectly preserved through the centuries. He admitted that the Qur’an had variants; just like any document of the antiquity (Watch a “holes in the narrative freestyle” here).

This statement threw the apologists’ world into frenzy. Muslims were calling in and saying that they were losing faith in their religion. Hijab pulled down that video from his site but it had already been recorded by Christian apologists. Qadhi will eventually pull down his own video too. This past week, Imam Qadhi announced that he was leaving social media to face his ministry squarely. Admitting that the Qur’an had not been perfectly preserved brought a lot of embarrassment to Muslims around the world. Mohammed Hijab was particularly targeted by many of his colleagues; he even lost his job as an apologist with the organization he was working for. He would eventually begin to let out his frustrations on Christians and former Muslims who are now atheists. One former Muslim, now an atheist, called Apostate Prophet, who is a friend to David Wood, would come under Hijab’s attack. Hijab took the Apostate Prophet’s wife pictures off social media and began to make derogatory remarks on her – using sexual suggestive words, he urged his followers to find the lady and rape her. David Wood, the maniac that he was, took it personal and warned Hijab to take down the tweets. Hijab did not. In one of the videos Wood made a month ago, he took a page of the Qur’an and ate it up. He has since begun to take pages of the Qur’an to make into figurines of pigs and other symbols abominable to Muslims. Hijab has stopped attacking Apostate Prophet and others but Wood has carried on with his ventures. Recently, the matter of doxing came into the apologetics world. Some Muslims would trace the physical home address of Christian apologists and broadcast them to their fellow Muslims on social media, with the hope that these people might be attacked in their home and maybe killed. This is why I fear the coming of blood on the apologists’ dance floor in the world of Christian/Muslims apologetics.

On a personal note, when I began to criticize some practices in Christianity, I got a number of Muslims who hailed what I was doing. I was never comfortable with this but I felt that Christians needed to hear me out. Largely, I am done criticizing Christians. I am spending my time now to teach Christians who care to hear the things that are right. On the other hand, I have been making veiled criticism of Islam in the past few months and the reaction has not been very good. My Christian friends used to tell me that Christians could handle criticism better than Muslim; I am just finding that out now. It appears that the way Muslims deal with their critics is not by engaging the arguments but by killing off their opponents or shutting them up. All the Christian apologists that engage Muslims on YouTube continually report messages sent to them by Muslim threatening their lives. My own life has not been threatened and I do not know how long it will take for the first death threat to come.

Concluded in the third part.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/islam-blood-on-the-apologists-dance-floor-ii/

Attached photo: Al Fadi, David Wood and Sam Shamoun (L-R)

Islam: Blood on the Apologists’ Dance Floor I

By: Deji Yesufu

Reaching Muslims through apologetics has not been a ministry option I considered until I received a message from Korede Olawoyin, who requested I come to his channel and speak on Islam. I told him that I did not know much on the subject but that there is a perspective on Cessationism that can help to prove the falsehood of Islam. Although hindered by poor internet connection, I was able to make a case for the falsehood of the Islamic revelation that came through Mohammed by pointing Christians to the words of Apostle Paul in Galatians 1:6-9. My argument was essentially this: God has given us a final revelation through Jesus Christ and that revelation was articulated for us by his apostles. The final revelation of God to humanity is Jesus and his words in the Bible. Paul, incidentally in that Galatian scripture, stated that even if an angel was to give anyone a revelation different from what he and other apostles have preached, that person should be accursed. Almost 600 years after penning those words, Mohammed began to receive revelations from an angel in a cave in Arabia.

Prior to my invitation by Olawoyin, the only Christian apologist, whose arguments I listened to on Islam, was Dr. James R. White. Dr. White utilizes a method of argument that is very gentlemanly. In fact I suspect that he is often invited to debate in mosques because he hardly rocks the Muslim’s boat. One Christian apologist, Christian Prince, criticizing Dr. White’s methodology, called him “Mohammed James White”. The message is clear: James White is too chummy with Muslims and his manner of reaching them is causing little offence and at the same time bringing little results.

Three months ago, I stumbled on another Christian apologist, with a ministry to Muslims on YouTube. His name: Dr. David Wood. David Wood utilizes unconventional methods at reaching Muslims and as a result hundreds of Muslims around the world are coming to faith in Jesus Christ through his ministry. Wood is a diagnosed sociopath. When he was 18 years old, and not yet a Christian, he took a sledge hammer and bashed his father’s head in – while the man was sleeping. Prior to that incident, Wood’s life ambition was to become a serial killer. He was ultimately arrested and slammed in jail – while at the same time psychiatrists had diagnosed him as a sociopath/psychopath. While in jail, David Wood encountered the gospel through his bunk mate, who was a Christian. After doing time, Wood went on to college and grabbed a degree in Philosophy. He would eventually get two Masters and a PhD. His interest in reaching Muslims came about when he befriended Nabeel Quereshi in college. Through a four year period, Nabeel and David challenged each other to prove the veracity of each other’s religion. They had some kind of signed pact that whoever’s religion proved true, was the religion that both of them would eventually adopt.

For three years, Nabeel examined the biblical claims on Jesus and came to the conclusion that indeed a historical Jesus once lived and died and rose again. He also discovered that the gospel, as recorded in the Bible, was true. He however said that although he has proven that Christianity was 90% true, he still regarded Islam as 100% true. David Wood now challenged his friend to use the same standards with which he investigated Christianity, Christ and his claims; that he should use the same standards on the Qur’an and Mohammed. In less than a year, Nabeel’s faith was shattered. He went into crisis of faith and emerged a Christian. Then David and Nabeel began to take their discoveries and share them with Muslims on the internet. Nabeel’s book “Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus” became a bestseller and has become a tool for reaching Muslims around the world. The two friends opened a YouTube channel, called it Act17Apologetics and use it to witness to Muslims around the world. Nabeel eventually took up employment with the Ravi Zacharias International Ministry (RZIM). Unfortunately, at the height of his ministry and fame, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died in September 2017. He was only 33 years old.

When Nabeel died, some Muslim apologists sought to spite David and him; thus they made the remark that Nabeel “was seeking Jesus and found cancer”. This statement, and other remarks made to spite his friend’s death, led David to begin some kind of unconventional apologetics. He made 30 videos of approximately 10 minutes each, that he called “Islamize Me”. In these videos, David and two of his friends set out to become Muslims. They decide to take the Qur’an’s literal commands each day for 30 days. At the end of the odyssey, the guys are thoroughly disillusioned and they decide to return to Christianity. A lot of the things that those videos portrayed about Islam and Mohammed looked very untrue; except that David and his friends got their instructions from the Qur’an and from trusted hadiths. The videos were satirical and funny but whoever watched them got the message. Dr. James White criticized the videos, saying that they were not “Christian” ways for reaching people with the gospel. But, for me, those videos unveiled a dimension on Islam that I had never known. I would be listing some of those facts in the third part of this series.

Then David Wood was invited to debate Mohammed Hijab. Hijab is a young man from London and a Muslim apologist. The debate had Hijab breaking all the rules of modern debates and leading him to shout David down and portray him as someone who did not know enough on Islam to debate on it. Many Muslims regarded Hijab’s grandiloquence as his winning the debate. David Wood would not allow the matter to die down. It led him to begin to produce another video series he titled “Mohammed’s Boom Boom Room”. In these videos, Mohammed meets with different personalities in the world. Again in a satirical and comical manner, the true Mohammed is unveiled. Along with these videos, Wood is also making short videos explaining Islam to his viewers. Most of what he discusses in these videos are the findings that he and Nabeel discovered on Islam as Nabeel transited from Islam to Christianity. On the Acts17Apologetics YouTube channel, you will find other apologists like Sam Shamoun, Christian Prince, Hatun Tash, Vocab Marlone, Robert Spencer, William Craig, Jay Smith, Al Fadi and others. All of these people are reaching out to Muslim, presenting the gospel to them. The most interesting part is that thousands of people around the world are turning to Christ in the process. Wood’s methodology may be unconventional but the mere fact that people are coming to the Lord in the process, is proof that God’s hands are on top of this man.

Continued in Part 2.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/islam-blood-on-the-apologists-dance-floor-i/

Attached photo: David Wood

Dear Nigerian Parent

By: Deji Yesufu

Samuel is 26 years old. He is a Nigerian that lives in a suburb of Lagos with his parents. Samuel was not the particularly bright child among his siblings so that at his age the only job he has been able to get with his lean qualifications is the job of a waiter in a hotel in the area he lives in. But with the coming of COVID-19, Samuel lost his job and has not been able to lay his hand on something to do for a while. To take his mind off his troubles, Samuel visited a nearby “viewing center” to watch a Liverpool match – he is a Liverpool FC fan. The game ended a few minutes to 11pm. Samuel arrives home to find his father waiting for him in the living room with a chain in his hands. Samuel’s father gives him a thorough beating; telling him that he is not supposed to be walking outside this late and “by the way, if you have work to do you will not be running around watching football matches”, he bellowed. Samuel published his story on Nairaland (https://www.nairaland.com/6149871/26-dad-still-flogs-me) with title “At 26, his Father still flogs him” Samuel is suicidal.

Yesterday I got a call from a longtime friend. Unlike Samuel, my friend has managed to make a life for himself. In fact he has relocated to Belgium with his family and is just about building a solid home state for himself. My friend, Kabiru, is the first son of his family and I witnessed how his parent put in a lot of resources for him to get some of the best education this country can provide. Now that he is in Europe, Kabiru’s plans center on raising a family, while at the same time assisting his siblings to find their feet back in Nigeria. It all looks fine and good, except that Kabiru’s parents think he can do more than what he is already doing. Kabiru father’s all time dreams is to have his own jeep. Kabiru, on the other hand, wishes to have his parent come to Europe and get their health examined. He thinks the matter of a car will still be realized; especially when you understand that it is only a healthy parent that can drive a car. Kabiru manages to bring his father and mother to Europe for a visit, following the birth of their youngest child. They get their health examined; Kabiru’s father is diagnosed with some life threatening diseases. Kabiru’s fears are confirmed. The father is stabilized and life continues.

Unfortunately after staying a few months, Kabiru discovers that his parent had simply come to Europe to lounge. His wife gets no help in the house with taking care of the baby and she has to divide her efforts between work, cooking for her in-laws and taking care of the infant. The situation deteriorates. Kabiru speaks to his parent about the matter. They are angered that he dares to raise his voice at them. They move out to another relative’s home. Kabiru’s father develops some health complications while at this relative’s place. Kabiru is not informed of the situation and cannot provide the insurance he had purchased for their visit. Bills mount up and they are eventually sent to him to pay off. Kabiru’s parents and sibling cut-off communications from him. Kabiru has been paying the health bill of his father for the past 18 months. A bill that could easily have been taken care of by the health insurance he purchased – if he had been informed in time of the illness.

A few months ago, an OAP in Ibadan, Ronke Giwa-Onofuwa, raised the question of the unhealthy expectations that Nigerian parents place on their children. Her discussion centered on how a child balances the matter of providing for his immediate family, who are usually young and providing for the parent. I was actually unhappy with the direction that discussion was going because it appeared that the OAP and her guest were saying that children do not owe their parents any responsibility to help them: whatever they get from their children; they should live with it and not demand more. I felt this sort of thinking was wrong and that it ate at the root of a Christian and cultural norm of one providing for his parents – particularly when they are old and cannot fend for them. However, a closer examination of the issue, and in the light of some other stories I have heard, young Nigerians are beginning to imbibe the Western attitude of discarding their parents at old age because of these parents overbearing demands.

I have come across a discussion on how many Nigerian children allow their parent on their social media listing. The almost unanimous position was this: you never allow your parent on Facebook. Somebody said she had blocked her mother forever from Facebook and there is no way she would be allowing her back on that space again. I have blocked my own father three times and he somehow manages to talk me into getting him back on my listing. Unfortunately he is again breaking our unwritten rules and I am thinking of blocking him again – this time it would be final. What is the issue? It is the matter of ideologies. Ideas rule the world. And parents must settle the fact that they cannot enforce their own life ideas on their children – especially when those children are adults. There is an age to teach a child life ideas; if you failed to do it at that time, you cannot begin to enforce those on him now that he has a wife and children. I am perfectly aware that my children may discard my Christian worldview when they grow up. This is why my priority for them at this age while they are young is to imprint the gospel in their hearts and spirit. But even more than that, I hope to live out an exemplary life before them such that my life speaks more than words to them and they would have no choice but to imbibe my ideologies when they are grown up. The Bible commands that we should train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is grown up he would not depart from that path. If a parent teaches a child an ideology and lives out those ideas in an upright manner, that child will imbibe those ideas. There would be no need for Facebook spats between them when they are grown.

What are my talking about in this essay? I am writing to all Nigerian parents and I am asking them to give my generation some space.

My generation came with a peculiar challenge. We are the generation that saw the past glories of Nigerian riches. Then we saw Tunde Idaiagbon’s War against Indiscipline; and then Ibrahim Babangida’s austere times; and we saw many coups. When we finished from school, we had no jobs waiting for us; unlike our parents. Some people wonder why my generation are the ones railing against religious oppression in the churches. It is because when we began to earn our salaries, tithes and offerings were not that easy to give to churches; as it was for our parents who had so much on them, they were forgetting wads of Naira notes in taxis in London in the 1970s. My generation met no white collar jobs and we have had to create jobs for ourselves and for others. At the moment, we are providing for our families and also working hard to provide storage for our retirement; so that we do not have to depend on our own children too. One parent that I know enjoys at least two pensions, in Nigeria and abroad, and they are still requesting that their children send something to them. Talk about entitlement mentality. I have not met any child that wishes to discard their parent or watch them suffer at old age. At the same time, parents must be reasonable and considerate. Nigeria is in desperate times and my generation has the immense duty of directing this country out of the mire that our fathers plunged us in and at the same time must provide for these parents and our children. We all can be considerate.

I am aware that a rejoinder, Dear Nigerian Child, may be brewing in the minds of some Nigerian parent. Let the debate continue; that is the essence of a national dialogue. As we discuss resource control and restructuring, let us also talk to ourselves about the healthy boundaries we should give ourselves as parents and children. I now end this essay with a word of encouragement for Samuel.

At 26 years of age, I had just finished NYSC. I would consider myself someone who is bright and so I did not have any challenge getting qualifications through school. But Nigeria did me in because I went into the University at age 17 and graduated at age 25 – Nigerian lecturers added two extra years to my five year course through incessant strikes, while I added an extra semester because of a carry-over. At age 30, I was still living with my uncle and I remember crying myself to sleep on my thirtieth birthday – moaning my situation. All of that changed when I got married at age 33 and got a “reasonable” job that same year. Things got better from that time on. Even though I would not consider myself a millionaire today, at least I am no longer living with my parent and I am not suicidal. I am adding to national development through my essays and I hope that I would see the Nigeria of my dreams. At 26, dear Samuel, you can still get a University degree and get a job and build a life that would make your father proud of you. Hang on there; young man. Hang on there Nigerians of my age. Everything good will come.

(All events relayed in this essay are true but names and places have been changed.)

Nigeria @ 60: Shey na like dis we go dey dey

By: Deji Yesufu

About this time last year, I commenced a writing project that gave me the opportunity to condense the history of Nigeria’s nationhood from 1900 till date in one piece. My book “Victor Banjo” had been a summary of one man’s life from 1960 to 1967; so I reasoned that I could do the same with the story of Nigeria spanning some 120 years. My take away from that work was that Nigeria had indeed moved forward. We may not be where we want to be but we are definitely far away from where we started from. One of the major mistakes that commentators make when they talk about Nigeria is to refer to some “good old days”. The truth of the matter is that things are a lot better in Nigeria today than they were in the past. If we rue the “good old days” of a strong naira, we should not forget that much of that period, the 1970s, had Nigerians living under the harshest military rulers in our history. This is not to talk of the incessant coups and the instability that these events brought to our national life. Then some people talk about our great founders and rue the visionary leadership they brought to government. We however forget that the incessant bickering between Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Sir Ahmadu Bello is what led to the demise of the first republic, the coming of the military and the thirty month war that the country waged – a conflict that is still much unresolved in the minds of Nigerians. In my estimation, Nigeria is living its best times at the moment. What we can hope for is for better days; I would however not agree with commentators that things were better yesterday than today. They were not.

Regardless of what any of us might think of yesterday in relation to today, there is still the challenge of nationhood in our hands. There are 200 million people living in this country today and the country has almost as many opinions on how to move the nation forward. Thankfully the system of governance in modern times will not allow for a plurality of leadership that would have millions of people lead a country; we would have to make do with one leader, while the rest of us simply state our opinions with the hope that they can get to the ear of some person in authority who can implement them. While we all cannot lead this country, we all can do something: we can do our little bit in the little corner where we exist and see these things build up to making our country great. In fact this is what makes nations thrive; everyone doing the right thing in their own little corner and all of these adding up to a flourishing nation as a collective. While corruption exists among people in places of authority in this country, the greater corruption is perpetuated by Nigerians themselves. You may read up my little commentary on the recent investigative efforts of Fisayo Soyombo on the state of the rail system between Kaduna and Abuja. Obviously, the people perpetuating these horrors are not our so called leaders but Nigerians themselves. As long as we have a culture of corruption thriving amongst ourselves, we would continue to have the nation that we have today and we had better not point fingers at anyone. Or else the one finger you point at somebody, still shows four more fingers pointed at yourself. A new Nigeria will begin when every other Nigerian begins to do the right thing in his own corner.

If we can ever get to the point where every Nigerian is committed to a collective good, we can then begin to look up to having visionary leadership over us. Right now, Nigerians must stay content with the fact that we a leadership that has no drive, no imagination, no vision and no regrets for its lack of leadership acumen. It is the leadership that we all deserve but a people produce the leaders they get. The mistake has been done and we must have to bear with this leadership for another three years. The good thing is that the country has sufficient inertia to drive it through these times. I am positive we will survive this present leadership. I only hope that we do not make the mistake of putting into power people who have no zest for governance in 2023. The take-away from this present government will be that Nigerians now know the type of personalities that should never govern them again. Another thing these times has provided us is the progress we have made in our democratic processes. We have seen an incumbent removed from power in this country in 2015. Recently, we saw the phenomenon of god-fatherism fail in Edo State. We are beginning to have younger persons run for public office in the country – a case in point is Oyo State that had its two leading candidates in the 2019 gubernatorial election men in their 40s. I am hoping that the leadership of Nigerian will pass on to youthful, energetic and visionary persons in 2023. This will be an addition to our democracy and it would be a great victory indeed.

As I approached my computer to put this piece together, I saw that the Nigerian police was again stalling the “Revolution Now” protests that Omoyele Sowore and other young Nigerians were embarking on. Thankfully there have been no reports of arrests but some of the protesters were hindered from engaging in what is clearly a peaceful protest – something that is acceptable in every nation that pays even lip service to democracy in the world. I still think the Nigerian government continues to attract attention to Omoyele Sowore and his supporter when they continue to prevent lawful protests. One thing government in more developed climes have learnt is that if they give opportunity to people to vent their frustrations through protests, particularly when those protests are peaceful, the tendency for these same persons to embark of violence is reduced. But when you clamp down on every kind of protest, people have their ways of eventually getting their voices out and these could lead to violence, loss of lives and an embarrassment to government – further discrediting the government in power. I do not think that Nigeria should still be stifling protest at 60; or else one begins to wonder what we have learnt through our histories.

This article is not celebrating Nigeria at sixty; I am rather asking us to consider, in the words of one of our hip-hop singers, “shey na like dis we go dey dey?” Is this how we wish to continue our national life? Have we learnt anything from our failures? Does our government see where they have not gotten things right and plan to make amend? Do the governed plan to begin to do things differently; rather than the attitude of taking advantage of a failed system for one’s own gain? Is this how we wish to continue for another sixty years? Events like a nation celebrating 60 years of its existence should occasion its people and leaders much soul searching. There is no doubt that there has been much lost opportunities and resources in our past but thankfully there is a future we can all look up to with a lot of optimism. Nigeria’s greatest resource is not oil but its people. The mere fact that Nigerians go abroad and excel is a pointer to the fact that if its people have just a little enabling environment, this country can become the greatest nation on earth. So, we need not despair; rather, we can hope for a better tomorrow.

Happy 60th Anniversary, Nigeria.

Long live our fatherland.

Amen.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/nigeria-60-shey-na-like-dis-we-go-dey-dey/

padi94:
Too long

One other point in the essay too. Nigerians continue to be cheated bc revolutionary investigations come in reports that are too long for them to read.

Fisayo Soyombo: What Does a Country Do with all these Investigations?

By: Deji Yesufu

Fisayo Soyombo is a household name in Nigerian journalism. It however appears to me that we are all wasting this young man’s efforts; perhaps some other country that appreciates investigative journalism could poach him and use him to better the lot of their nation. Fisayo will be the first person to jettison such an idea – it remains a suggestion that he may still implement whenever the opportunity comes to him and if Nigeria continues to waste his efforts.

Soyombo came to my notice after his dare-devil investigation of the Nigerian police that nearly cost him his life. Soyombo had instigated his own arrest and was shut up in detention with the sole aim of reporting the fraud, extortion and bribery inherent in the Nigerian Police system. He went into detention with his camera on him – unfortunately this was what gave him away. Even with the camera in their hand, some of the policemen there could not figure out what he was doing – they were that plain stupid. Fisayo’s cover was blown in prison a few days into his detention but this had followed his being savagely beaten by an officer on duty. It does not matter the undercover work, the sheer thoughts of enduring such beating would have made many (including this writer) own up quickly as to what brought them there; but not Fisayo. Soyombo’s cover was blown open and everyone knew he had come to investigate happenings in the Nigerian Police. He would eventually be released but not after efforts had been made to neutralize him in detention for daring to do such a thing. Unfortunately nothing came out of that investigation.

Fisayo seem to have a liking for the Nigerian Police. I don’t blame him. The truth is that if one wants to document real life corruption, a trip to an average police station in this country will be more than helpful. One day, Soyombo sought to find out how much it would cost to smuggle a stolen vehicle across Nigerian. He drove a car without plate number or any registration paper from Abuja to Lagos; and also went from Lagos back to Abuja. For the two trips, it cost him N46,000. That investigation revealed so much: faces of corrupt policemen were taken; videos of police officers taking bribes; etc. Yet there appears to be no effort by the Nigerian police to curb extortion of motorist on our roads; nor has there been any move to reform the police system in general. This is the reason why sometimes I think that Fisayo is simply wasting his time with Nigeria.

There were some investigations he did into the Nigerian medical systems too. Fisayo invaded Nigeria’s mortuary and revealed the sorry state Nigerians find themselves when they die. That report was terrible and it broke my heart because everyone of us will die and the thought of what fellow Nigerians will do with our corpse is not what one wants to imagine. Someone may say that when living Nigerians are not being taken care of, why do we begin to bother ourselves with those who die. I cannot agree more but we must do something with these investigations. In another occasion, Fisayo admits himself at “Yaba Left” – a famous psychiatry center in Lagos, Nigeria. His findings were horrendous. I am not sure whether things have improved in that institution and I would not be surprised if things have simply continued as usual.

The latest investigation by Soyombo, published just yesterday, is concerning the corruption and rot in the rail system that the Nigerian government has managed to restore back to the country. Only recently, President Buhari and the minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, commissioned the new rail system between Abuja and Kaduna. Pictures flooded the internet of Buhari and Amaechi riding the train in first class coaches. The train stations themselves were built to taste and everyone felt that this was a new beginning in the transportation system in the country. In fact, we had all been looking forward to a similar commissioning of the Ibadan/Lagos rail system – before Fisayo unveiled his can of worms. The rail system that was only recently commissioned has been taken over by corruption. Because the express way between Kaduna and Abuja has become largely unsafe, most travelers prefer to use the train. In the process the volume of users of the train had gone. Then came in corruption also. Tickets that should sell for N1,500 end up being sold for N4,000. Even at that price tickets are still not available. Fisayo reports on how police and military men connive with workers at the station to hoard tickets and sell them at black market rates to people. Yet, we have a government in the country and nothing is being done. I would be heartbroken if this report simply goes the same route that the other investigations by this great Nigerian man go: government does nothing with it. I think there are reasons why Soyombo’s investigations are not hitting the mark and I would use the rest of this essay to discuss them.

Soyombo’s investigations reveal that the architects of Nigeria’s problem are Nigerians themselves. The next time you gather with your fellow Nigerians and they begin to blame government for the woes of this country, pull out a report by Soyombo and show them. Nigerians are their own enemies. In all the investigations that Soyombo carried out, you can see Nigerians taking advantage of the lull in the system. It is true things are not the way they are supposed to be but Nigerians need to know that nothing will get better until everyone of us begin to make the effort to fix things in our own little corner.

Soyombo, in a Facebook post, which was actually not an investigative effort, declared that he had removed himself from the national grid. Why? PHCN had continued to bring estimated bills to his house and every effort to get a meter has failed. It appears that some electricity workers would rather have Nigerians without pre-paid meters, so that they could take advantage of the system. This means that PHCN workers will still have the opportunity of collecting bribe monies from people in different localities who use power without paying. I know this for a fact because in recent weeks, government increased electricity tariff. In my neighborhood, the cost of electricity went as high as 110% . This has led to me shouting myself hoarse in the house, calling on my children to switch off light bulbs they are not using. My deep freezer is almost on total lockdown now and the pumping machine is used very sparingly. Yet, my neighbors use power as if it is about to go into extinction. While we have changed all our bulbs to energy savers, people use 100 watt bulbs freely in their shops and they leave these lighting points on all day. It is obvious that folks like these are not paying electricity bill; they are the ones that bribe PHCN officials when they come to cut-off their power lines. Obviously, all these persons and the PHCN people are not government; they are fellow Nigerian bent on milking the country dry. When government cannot recoup its investment in power, it increases tariff electricity. But this only causes for the circle to begin again: Nigerians would cut corners; they will bribe PHCN workers; and folks like us, good Nigerians, will be the ones paying for the electricity everyone is using. Nigerians are there number enemies.

Another reason why Fisayo’s report has failed to hit the mark is because of government ineptitude. Here again, what I have in mind is not Muhammadu Buhari or the ministers working under him; but the ineptitude of government agencies that should handle these reports and work on them. I am talking about civil servants. One thing we must understand as a people is that there is nowhere in the world where a President or even his ministers do everything as far governance is concerned. The best that they can do is to put policies in place that would allow for the smoot functioning of society. Government would still have to rely on agencies, mostly manned by civil servants, to do their jobs. No matter the investigation Soyombo carries out on the police, the inspector general of police will still have to take the initiative and set up machineries within the police to curb extortion and bribery in police stations. I do not know how many times road blocks have been abolished in the country; yet they still keep coming back. The truth of the matter is that road blocks have their place in a society like ours. I have seen the stolen vehicle of a friend recovered by the Nigerian police at a road block here in Ibadan. It is rare but these things happen. The road blocks are not the problem; the average Nigerian police need to understand that it is simply morally wrong to collect money from people on the road. If a policeman is gifted with cash, that is another thing entirely. But to cock your gun and aim at a motorist, forcing him to part with money is armed robbery. Buhari will not do this for us; neithe will the inspector general of police. Each police station in the country must have a head that would say to his officers that cases of extortion will not happen under his/her watch. When this happen, these evil report will dwindle. I am again going back to the whole issue of Nigerian owning their problem and seeking to fix it in their own little corner.

Then there is the matter of our moral compass as a people. I would never understand how Nigerians are so incredibly religious, yet we are known around the world for all kinds of ills and evil. When people despise religion because of the way religious people behave, one cannot blame them. Some of us who have investigated the kind of religion we practice in this country, particularly the Christian religion, have discovered that the base morality that Nigerians manifest in public starts actually among the clergy. There is the need for a total overhaul of religion in this clime and there is the need for religion to begin to manifest in the way our people behave.

Finally, one other reason Fisayo investigations may not be making a difference is that it has not brought sufficient embarrassment to Nigeria. And here I blame our leaders. Sometimes one want to believe the testimony of Prof. Wole Soyinka who says that it appears Nigeria has no leadership. Apparently until something brings this country a great deal of embarrassment, no one sees the need to attend to it. If Soyombo’s report had been published in an international newspapers, maybegovernment would have done something about it. Soyomobo’s investigations are sponsored by online news portals. The recent was done by BuisnessDay. If the Punch, Vanguard, The Nation, and other leading print Medias take this report and serialize them, things will change in the country. But probably because of competition between media houses, and forgetting the advantage of a united front, they ignore each other’s works and we all continue to suffer for it.

A few days ago, Soyombo joined the reporting team of the BBC in unveiling what really happened at a blast that occurred in Lagos last year and that led to the death of a number of people. The report indicted the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC) but, as usual, the matter will die a natural death. No one will talk about it until the next explosion occurs and more people die.

Why does Fisayo Soyombo continue with his investigation despite the fact that government and Nigerian behave as if they do not exist? I don’t know. But I have the feeling that this good Nigerian possess an optimism that some of us have and that has made us to continue in the shores of this country despite opportunities to flee. “Everything good will come…”, my good friend and another journalist, Edmund Obilo, will always say on his radio station. The blessing of life is that death comes. There is an old guard that is gradually being eroded from the scene by the arm of death and they are being replaced by “a new breed without greed”, like Tunde Bakare will say. These men and women, a few of them, will take position in this country and they fix will this country. Soyombo’s reports are written and they will outlast all of us. A new generation will take them and use them to bring about a better Nigerian. While this generation may do nothing with Soyombo reports, another will. Optimism is what keeps Soyombo in business; it is what keeps a few of us in this country doing what we do.

Source: https://textandpublishing.com/fisayo-soyombo-what-does-a-country-do-with-all-these-investigations/

(Note: There are links to the original investigations refereed to in this article in the source link above)

Fisayo Soyombo: What Does a Country Do with all these Investigations?

By: Deji Yesufu

Fisayo Soyombo is a household name in Nigerian journalism. It however appears to me that we are all wasting this young man’s efforts; perhaps some other country that appreciates investigative journalism could poach him and use him to better the lot of their nation. Fisayo will be the first person to jettison such an idea – it remains a suggestion that he may still implement whenever the opportunity comes to him and if Nigeria continues to waste his efforts.

Soyombo came to my notice after his dare-devil investigation of the Nigerian police that nearly cost him his life. Soyombo had instigated his own arrest and was shut up in detention with the sole aim of reporting the fraud, extortion and bribery inherent in the Nigerian Police system. He went into detention with his camera on him – unfortunately this was what gave him away. Even with the camera in their hand, some of the policemen there could not figure out what he was doing – they were that plain stupid. Fisayo’s cover was blown in prison a few days into his detention but this had followed his being savagely beaten by an officer on duty. It does not matter the undercover work, the sheer thoughts of enduring such beating would have made many (including this writer) own up quickly as to what brought them there; but not Fisayo. Soyombo’s cover was blown open and everyone knew he had come to investigate happenings in the Nigerian Police. He would eventually be released but not after efforts had been made to neutralize him in detention for daring to do such a thing. Unfortunately nothing came out of that investigation.



Fisayo seem to have a liking for the Nigerian Police. I don’t blame him. The truth is that if one wants to document real life corruption, a trip to an average police station in this country will be more than helpful. One day, Soyombo sought to find out how much it would cost to smuggle a stolen vehicle across Nigerian. He drove a car without plate number or any registration paper from Abuja to Lagos; and also went from Lagos back to Abuja. For the two trips, it cost him N46,000. That investigation revealed so much: faces of corrupt policemen were taken; videos of police officers taking bribes; etc. Yet there appears to be no effort by the Nigerian police to curb extortion of motorist on our roads; nor has there been any move to reform the police system in general. This is the reason why sometimes I think that Fisayo is simply wasting his time with Nigeria.



There were some investigations he did into the Nigerian medical systems too. Fisayo invaded Nigeria’s mortuary and revealed the sorry state Nigerians find themselves when they die. That report was terrible and it broke my heart because everyone of us will die and the thought of what fellow Nigerians will do with our corpse is not what one wants to imagine. Someone may say that when living Nigerians are not being taken care of, why do we begin to bother ourselves with those who die. I cannot agree more but we must do something with these investigations. In another occasion, Fisayo admits himself at “Yaba Left” – a famous psychiatry center in Lagos, Nigeria. His findings were horrendous. I am not sure whether things have improved in that institution and I would not be surprised if things have simply continued as usual.



The latest investigation by Soyombo, published just yesterday, is concerning the corruption and rot in the rail system that the Nigerian government has managed to restore back to the country. Only recently, President Buhari and the minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, commissioned the new rail system between Abuja and Kaduna. Pictures flooded the internet of Buhari and Amaechi riding the train in first class coaches. The train stations themselves were built to taste and everyone felt that this was a new beginning in the transportation system in the country. In fact, we had all been looking forward to a similar commissioning of the Ibadan/Lagos rail system – before Fisayo unveiled his can of worms. The rail system that was only recently commissioned has been taken over by corruption. Because the express way between Kaduna and Abuja has become largely unsafe, most travelers prefer to use the train. In the process the volume of users of the train had gone. Then came in corruption also. Tickets that should sell for N1,500 end up being sold for N4,000. Even at that price tickets are still not available. Fisayo reports on how police and military men connive with workers at the station to hoard tickets and sell them at black market rates to people. Yet, we have a government in the country and nothing is being done. I would be heartbroken if this report simply goes the same route that the other investigations by this great Nigerian man go: government does nothing with it. I think there are reasons why Soyombo’s investigations are not hitting the mark and I would use the rest of this essay to discuss them.



Soyombo’s investigations reveal that the architects of Nigeria’s problem are Nigerians themselves. The next time you gather with your fellow Nigerians and they begin to blame government for the woes of this country, pull out a report by Soyombo and show them. Nigerians are their own enemies. In all the investigations that Soyombo carried out, you can see Nigerians taking advantage of the lull in the system. It is true things are not the way they are supposed to be but Nigerians need to know that nothing will get better until everyone of us begin to make the effort to fix things in our own little corner.

Soyombo, in a Facebook post, which was actually not an investigative effort, declared that he had removed himself from the national grid. Why? PHCN had continued to bring estimated bills to his house and every effort to get a meter has failed. It appears that some electricity workers would rather have Nigerians without pre-paid meters, so that they could take advantage of the system. This means that PHCN workers will still have the opportunity of collecting bribe monies from people in different localities who use power without paying. I know this for a fact because in recent weeks, government increased electricity tariff. In my neighborhood, the cost of electricity went as high as 110% . This has led to me shouting myself hoarse in the house, calling on my children to switch off light bulbs they are not using. My deep freezer is almost on total lockdown now and the pumping machine is used very sparingly. Yet, my neighbors use power as if it is about to go into extinction. While we have changed all our bulbs to energy savers, people use 100 watt bulbs freely in their shops and they leave these lighting points on all day. It is obvious that folks like these are not paying electricity bill; they are the ones that bribe PHCN officials when they come to cut-off their power lines. Obviously, all these persons and the PHCN people are not government; they are fellow Nigerian bent on milking the country dry. When government cannot recoup its investment in power, it increases tariff electricity. But this only causes for the circle to begin again: Nigerians would cut corners; they will bribe PHCN workers; and folks like us, good Nigerians, will be the ones paying for the electricity everyone is using. Nigerians are there number enemies.



Another reason why Fisayo’s report has failed to hit the mark is because of government ineptitude. Here again, what I have in mind is not Muhammadu Buhari or the ministers working under him; but the ineptitude of government agencies that should handle these reports and work on them. I am talking about civil servants. One thing we must understand as a people is that there is nowhere in the world where a President or even his ministers do everything as far governance is concerned. The best that they can do is to put policies in place that would allow for the smoot functioning of society. Government would still have to rely on agencies, mostly manned by civil servants, to do their jobs. No matter the investigation Soyombo carries out on the police, the inspector general of police will still have to take the initiative and set up machineries within the police to curb extortion and bribery in police stations. I do not know how many times road blocks have been abolished in the country; yet they still keep coming back. The truth of the matter is that road blocks have their place in a society like ours. I have seen the stolen vehicle of a friend recovered by the Nigerian police at a road block here in Ibadan. It is rare but these things happen. The road blocks are not the problem; the average Nigerian police need to understand that it is simply morally wrong to collect money from people on the road. If a policeman is gifted with cash, that is another thing entirely. But to cock your gun and aim at a motorist, forcing him to part with money is armed robbery. Buhari will not do this for us; neithe will the inspector general of police. Each police station in the country must have a head that would say to his officers that cases of extortion will not happen under his/her watch. When this happen, these evil report will dwindle. I am again going back to the whole issue of Nigerian owning their problem and seeking to fix it in their own little corner.



Then there is the matter of our moral compass as a people. I would never understand how Nigerians are so incredibly religious, yet we are known around the world for all kinds of ills and evil. When people despise religion because of the way religious people behave, one cannot blame them. Some of us who have investigated the kind of religion we practice in this country, particularly the Christian religion, have discovered that the base morality that Nigerians manifest in public starts actually among the clergy. There is the need for a total overhaul of religion in this clime and there is the need for religion to begin to manifest in the way our people behave.

Finally, one other reason Fisayo investigations may not be making a difference is that it has not brought sufficient embarrassment to Nigeria. And here I blame our leaders. Sometimes one want to believe the testimony of Prof. Wole Soyinka who says that it appears Nigeria has no leadership. Apparently until something brings this country a great deal of embarrassment, no one sees the need to attend to it. If Soyombo’s report had been published in an international newspapers, maybegovernment would have done something about it. Soyomobo’s investigations are sponsored by online news portals. The recent was done by BuisnessDay. If the Punch, Vanguard, The Nation, and other leading print Medias take this report and serialize them, things will change in the country. But probably because of competition between media houses, and forgetting the advantage of a united front, they ignore each other’s works and we all continue to suffer for it.

A few days ago, Soyombo joined the reporting team of the BBC in unveiling what really happened at a blast that occurred in Lagos last year and that led to the death of a number of people. The report indicted the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC) but, as usual, the matter will die a natural death. No one will talk about it until the next explosion occurs and more people die.

Why does Fisayo Soyombo continue with his investigation despite the fact that government and Nigerian behave as if they do not exist? I don’t know. But I have the feeling that this good Nigerian possess an optimism that some of us have and that has made us to continue in the shores of this country despite opportunities to flee. “Everything good will come…”, my good friend and another journalist, Edmund Obilo, will always say on his radio station. The blessing of life is that death comes. There is an old guard that is gradually being eroded from the scene by the arm of death and they are being replaced by “a new breed without greed”, like Tunde Bakare will say. These men and women, a few of them, will take position in this country and they fix will this country. Soyombo’s reports are written and they will outlast all of us. A new generation will take them and use them to bring about a better Nigerian. While this generation may do nothing with Soyombo reports, another will. Optimism is what keeps Soyombo in business; it is what keeps a few of us in this country doing what we do.

.

Publishing information on the scandal around Ravi was very heart breaking. But I realize that Christians possessing these information will only help us guard ourselves against the evil of the times.

Another thing is that Christianity is not like other religions. If others cover up their malfeasance, we don't. Why? Because Christianity cannot be destroyed by the failure of one man, a few men or even all Christians. The Church is sustained by Christ!

If all Christians apostatize today, God will raise up stones to worship him.

We give the true state if things in the Church. We bear our shame. We use it as a means to get better.

That's the difference between mere religion as Image123 will have Christianity look like today and gospel truth/life as we advocate.

MuttleyLaff:
I am sure Image123 my dear good and beloved brother knows that VBCampaign and I aren't gloating over or high fiving each other over "Dr" Ravi's misfortune stroke of mishap(s) and doctorate credentials with question mark(s) at the the end of his name instead of letters. Here is the thing, nobody gives a damn about his alleged moment of succumbing to a weakness, what we are trying to achieve from sharing this information about the scandal involving salacious pics and Cambridge University embarrassingly saying they dont know about him, is for the body of Christ readership, learn that there are hyenas out there, who will not hesitate to have you for breakfast/lunch/dinner, the very moment you let your guard down.

If atheists want to take pleasure in that episode of his life, so be it, he brought it upon himself, besides if he knew he has no skeletons to hide or nothing to be ashamed of, why not let it go the full course of the law, have him exonerated and vindicated that way, instead of dashing for an out of court settlement with a None Disclosure Agreement; NDA clause, hmm?

I am sure you know Ted Haggard, he too, is a well known personality, known by the highest and the lowest. Little wonder what he was getting up to

The crime about VBCampaign's posts and mine, is that we dare to point out that the king was naked, as in that the emperor apparently had no clothes on. In case of a husband having an affair outside the marriage, the wife is the last one usually to know. It is well.

I endorse this 100%. I no longer have energies for publishing long debates on Nairaland. This position has stated my thoughts clearly... I'll like to add though:

PastorAIO:
The hypocrisy of ‘Christians’ is second to none. Ever ready to overlook the crimes and repulsiveness of some while super eager to condemn others. That’s how some are ready to die for trump calling him god’s Cyrus etc. While in their eyes Obama was the Antichrist.

Everything they do just tallies with whatever prejudices they were already harbouring. Nasty prejudices. They thereby use Christianity as a tool to facilitate their nastiest inclinations instead of a tool to help them rise and become better people.

"...the hypocrisy of some Christians..." I hope you meant to say

MuttleyLaff:
How convenient.



[img]https://s8/images/ObamaMuttley.gif[/img]

So a man cant anymore, legitimately accuse a pastor, if he thinks the pastor has abused his position of influence in a counseling relationship to further his own business interests and those of his family by obtaining loans and investments from the plaintiff, hmm?

God bless you Muttley... Image123 cannot change

Image123:
Lol, complete coc.k and bull from a known extortionist and blackmailer.

Really? What about this??


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vTB15azb0A

PastorAIO:
Nope. But I acknowledge that different theists have different beliefs different from mine. Hence YOUR kingdom.

.

Noted

PastorAIO:
So you admit that there is bad news in your kingdom. Well done.

Are you an atheist now? Referencing "your kingdom". I knew this handle from way back Nairaland

Further thoughts on the scandal...

https://textandpublishing.com/the-ravi-zacharias-sex-scandal-my-thoughts/