₦airaland Forum

Why don't you start with putting up something of a CV here. Tell us your educational qualification, work experience and what you can do - then we carry it from there.

I'm not saying I have a job for you. Just saying this may appeal to a potential employer for your sake.

alonzoiv:
Pls, whosoever got to read this, should summarise for me. No time.

Those who will change society are those who will add solid thoughts to prevailing authorities. And it all begins with reading. So take the time to read or continue in servitude.

Sanusi and Men with Vested Interest

By: Deji Yesufu

It was my second night in Germany. I had just retired to the hotel room when I saw notifications on my phone that Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (Emir of Kano) had been removed by the Abdullahi Ganduje led government of Kano State. My heart sunk. Why do the best Nigerians seem to lose out in this business of national development; while the worst of us are the ones that triumph?

Incidentally of all the royal fathers in this country, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (SLS) has been a lone voice in asking for government to do what governments are elected to do around the world. I was doubly pained by this development because here was I in a developed country and, like most Nigerians who visit Europe for the first time, I was lamenting years of bad leadership in Nigerian; yet, the only voice that seem to have been calling for good governance had just been silenced. What a tragedy.

After reading all the news items I could lay my hands on about the emir’s removal, I went to YouTube to find that famous SLS’s Ted Talk where he spoke about confronting vested interest in Nigeria and paying the price to overcome it. It is in the light of that lecture that I wish to juxtapose Emir Sanusi with a Ganduje - whose famous video of stuffing bundles of dollars in his “babanriga” (acquiring for himself an apt nickname “Gandollar”) is what the Governor is best known for in Nigeria. It is my hope that as I do this, we all can realize the sorry situation that we have found ourselves as a people and hopefully chart a way out of it in the days to come.

In this 18 minute video, SLS tells a group of young Nigerians that those who will save this country are men who have guts: those who can overcome the fear of challenging men with vested interest in the country. It is simple: Nigeria is what she is today because a number of corrupt individuals, many of them in authority, are profiting illegally from our common wealth.

Those who will rid this country of such men, are those who will overcome the debilitating power of fear that keeps people from speaking and acting against entrenched corruption in the land. In the video, SLS talked about how his time at the Central Bank saw him bring some powerful bank CEOs to justice; slamming some of them in jail. He spoke of a certain pastor in Nigeria, very likely one of those tin-god-Pentecostal pastors with acres of camp grounds on Lagos-Ibadan expressway, who used his position to get one of the bank CEOs off the hook. In that lecture, Sanusi was simply talking about himself and what he does naturally.

A few years later, he is removed from the CBN and goes on to be Emir of Kano. As Emir, guess what he did? He challenged those who had vested interest in the Northern people’s common wealth. This brought him to often clash with those in power – particularly the Governor in the State where he was monarch.

A few months to the 2015 general elections, an investigative journalist had gotten himself into a room where the Governor of Kano State was meeting with certain men (very likely contractors on State Projects). These men had brought the governor his own share of the contract. They brought the money in bundles of dollar bills. A smiling Ganduje is seen on camera stuffing wads of cash in his large flowing clothing, popularly referred to as babanriga (large clothing) in Hausa.

It was not until one had seen that video that one would realize that those clothing had that many pocket. A few weeks after the incident, the video is published on social media. It becomes a scandal. Ganduje has the power of immunity protecting him from prosecution. Yet, the incident was embarrassing enough to stop his re-election to office. It is not clear the position that Sanusi as Emir took during the elections but he clearly did not wish to see Ganduje back in the state government house.

The state goes to the polls and Ganduje was re-elected through a slim margin. It was clear that Ganduje was hurt and one of those he planned to deal with was Sanusi, the Emir. A little over a year after returning to office, Ganduje succeeds in removing Sanusi. His sin? The emir is said to disrespect the Governor.

Since the coming of the British, Nigeria has not been able to properly define the role of the monarchy in her constitution. Because the British practiced indirect rule, a system of government where the colonialists used the existing power structure on ground to rule the masses, they needed the monarchs in the land and thus did not abrogate the monarchy.

Besides, the British people were also ruled by a Queen; so they were accustomed to monarchies operating in a government. But with independence, succeeding Nigerian governments have not been able to successfully marry the monarchy with the democratic system of government bequeathed to us by the British.

While in most cases, the monarchs have been silenced and made errand boys by those in power, in some other cases there have been clashes between those in government and the monarchs - sometimes necessitating the removal of these monarchs. SLS is certainly not the first Nigerian monarch to be removed from his seat of power. But his removal leaves a bad taste in the mouth of those who know the real stories behind northern Nigeria.

The true sin of SLS had been that he had been calling for rapid development of Northern Nigeria. SLS, at many occasions, had pointed at the wide disparity between the rich and the poor, and had called on those in power to help bridge the gap. In the process of doing this, and characteristic of the man, he had said one or two things that had displeased the government in power. Yet, this Governor, that claims SLS disrespected him, is known most of all in Nigeria for stuffing wads of dollar bills in his clothing. A clear picture of the corruption that Sanusi had been condemning.

Thus, it is not difficult for any wise observer of events in Kano State to conclude that Sanusi was removed from power because he sided with the ordinary people of Kano State. His situation is doubly sad when you consider that the government in power, the APC, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, prides itself for its anti-corruption stance.

Yet, during events running up to the 2019 elections, the President was asked what his views were about Ganduje stuffing dollars in his clothing. Mr. President replied that the state house of assembly in Kano State would handle the matter. Everyone knows that most state houses in Nigeria are in the pocket of their state governors. The removal of SLS from office renders the whole anti-corruption crusade of this government a joke.

SLS has since relocated to Lagos State and many are hoping that his brilliant mind can be better channeled to other things that will help bring development to this country. Some are pushing for him to even run for the Presidency in 2023; an idea that the man is said to refuse to even entertain. One thing is however sure for me: if Sanusi Lamido Sanusi wishes to run for the Presidency in 2023, he already has my vote and the votes all those I influence politically.

Deji Yesufu is the author of the book Victor Banjo. He can be reached on newdejix@gmail.com.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/1505609702848568/posts/2722923184450541/

Watch the video here:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrjYgEcW6WA

Coronavirus: “Apostle” Suleiman and What God Told Him

Suleiman Johnson, the Nigerian self-styled “Apostle” has said that God told him that the Coronavirus will vanish in the same way it appeared. In a video going around social media, the Auchi based pastor said that Christians have nothing to fear. That God would keep his own and the Pandemic will end in the same manner it began: suddenly.

Johnson Suleiman is not a stranger to prophecies. In fact he has both a history of failed prophecies and fulfilled ones. Suleiman broke into the Nigerian Pentecostal scene when a new year set of prophecies he gave appeared to have been fulfilled in their generality. Unfortunately for him, most of the prohecies he’s given since then have failed. Including his saying Goodluck Jonathan will win the 2015 presidential election and the one where he said Gov El Rufai of Kaduna State will die. Jonathan lost and El Rufai is still alive.

The trouble however with Suleiman's latest prophecy is that it is simply too general and simplistic for it to be regarded as a specific word from God. Why? Because EVERY VIRAL EPIDEMIC APPEARS SUDDENLY AND DISAPPEARS SUDDENLY. The whole essence behind quarantine, social distancing and sit-at-homes being carried out around the world is so that the virus may die generally and suddenly. If it no longer has new hosts to feed on, it will quieten out.

God did not speak to Suleiman. Suleiman has only postulated a natural position on all viral epidemics. Even the 1918 Spanish flu that killed 50 million people around the world also started one day and ended one day.

On a final note: Suleiman and I are not friends. We would not be friend on earth nor will we be friends in heaven – except he repents of his false gospel and believes on the Christ of the Bible. And the same goes with his listeners.

The public will do themselves a great deal of favor to adhere to words, suggestions and directions by health professionals during this Coronavirus pandemic. Please disregard comments from known charlatans like Johnson Suleiman. Thank you.

Source: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2720362201373306&id=1505609702848568

© Deji Yesufu.

Thanks Muttlelaff. I enjoyed reading that

How A Nigerian Saved Me From Cold And Hunger In Berlin By Deji Yesufu

Coronavirus, Cancelled Flights and the Appearing of an Angel

I was billed to leave Germany on Saturday morning. Our flight with Turkish Airlines was to leave Germany at 6:55am. By 6:30am there was nobody in sight at the Turkish Airlines boarding corner of the Airport.

“What’s happening”, was the expression written on everyone’s face.

A few minutes later, the people to check us in announced: Turkey has barred all foreigners from coming into their country and this would include those of us transiting through the country.

“What happened?” We asked.

Coronavirus.

This announcement was also coinciding with Donald Trump’s speech that had barred most Europeans from entering the USA.

We were told that their plane could only carry their own nationals. The rest of us were on our own.

Ha!

A lady beside me was already in tears. Me? Confused. How do I continue in this horrendous cold of Germany? What do I eat; where will one sleep; and most importantly, how does one return to Nigeria? Those were the questions on my mind when I approached one of the guys by the ticket counter and asked… He referred me to Turkish Airlines enquires desk.

By the time I got there, the place was filled with people. Everyone was asking the same question: how do we leave Germany?

At first we were told we would be refunded our monies. But, thankfully, there was another policy somersault: we would all be placed in different airlines back to our destinations – I got Airfrance. That’s the good news, which should always come first. The bad news: the earliest flight I could get was Sunday, 6am. I must wait out another 24 hours in Berlin!

My colleague was already feeling unwell. We would discover later that the cold had gotten into his chest and another two hours outside would have been sure pneumonia.

My head started to work. I remembered that I had put out a post on Facebook talking about my visit to Berlin. One person, only one o, got in touch with me privately, saying that he lives in Berlin and it would be a pleasure to meet me. That my writing inspires him. His name: Taiwo Arowoyele. I sent him a PM saying in short: “Help!”

He sent us an address not too from the airport, and in a few minutes we where in this God-sent man’s living room, sipping hot tea. My colleague drank four cups before he could recover himself.

Taiwo Arowoyele is a Nigerian living in Berlin and having trained as a Social Worker in Lithuania, he returned to Berlin to work. He also does some business by the side. Taiwo is not wealthy but he has heart large enough to share.

Taiwo settles us into a room and gave us out first and only taste of rice in Berlin. He served it with tough chicken and some good “shaki”. We just kept saying thank you.

Later in the day, Taiwo took us out to see downtown Berlin. We took the subway, branched at an eatery to munch on chips and chicken, and then we went around the city center taking pictures. It was fun. And the disappointment of the cancelled flight soon faded away. In fact I was thankful for missing that flight. For then I might not have met this angel.

Early Sunday morning, Taiwo called a taxi for us and we got to the airport early enough to meet our flight.

Taiwo had begun to follow my writing on Facebook after watching my video on tithing (it appears to me that a lot more Nigerians abroad saw that video). It is the same time Taiwo that God sent as help to us. Those of you who vilify Facebook – see how it has helped me �. As I type this, I am in Paris awaiting my transit flight to Lagos.

This is what Coronavirus has done to us o… but with this disappointment came a blessing. I return to Nigeria by the grace of God to a sure two weeks quarantine.

Shallom.

@ Deji Yesufu

Source: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2709076759168517&id=1505609702848568

(Taiwo Arowoyele is in the middle in the attached picture)

CC: Seun ^^^

INFLUENZA: A Greater Than Coronavirus

By: Deji Yesufu

When Roger Frames approached his doctor one Tuesday morning, everyone’s suspicion was that he may have contracted cold; as this was the period around Europe when many people came down with what is referred to as the “Common Cold”. His family chose not to take the matter with kid gloves though because at 83 they understood that their octogenarian father had very poor immunity and any slight infection could take his life. Besides, Roger had had a long history with Diabetes and being one who took the matter of his health seriously, he was only a stone throw from his doctor. After a few tests were run, it was discovered that Roger did not have cold; rather he had influenza or “flu”, a disease of the respiratory system that greatly resembled the common cold. He was quickly put on medication and his life was saved.

In recent times, another respiratory system disease has taken hold the world. This one is called Coronavirus. In late 2019, the Chinese government announced to the world that a new strain of respiratory virus had invaded their country leaving thousands of people dead. The city where this disease originated from, Wuhan, has been on the lock-down since this announcement. Unfortunately the disease has made its way out of that city to other parts of China, leaving thousands of deaths in its path. The first case of the Coronavirus in Nigeria was announced February, 2020, when an Italian man was tested and discovered to be carrying the disease. He has since been under quarantine and is said to be responding to treatment as administered by the Lagos State government.

But as terrible as the Coronavirus is, the influenza is even more gruesome but unfortunately the Nigerian government appears not to be paying attention to this one. As of the time of writing this essay, the number of people that have been infected with the Coronavirus is 100,383; while there has been 3,408 deaths. On the other hand, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the annual world infection for the flu is 3 to 5 million people and the rate of death being between 250 and 500 thousand. This is a number that far outweighs the Coronavirus fatality and the reason why the world should pay attention to such diseases as the influenza even as they are doing with the Coronavirus.

My attention was drawn to this matter by Prof. A. Fasanmade, a Consultant Physician with the University College Hospital, Ibadan, and a lecturer at the Department of Physiology, University of Ibadan. Prof. Fasanmade was invited by Sanofi-Adventist Nigeria, a pharmaceutical giant, to give a lecture at an event on influenza. Prof. Fasanmade had always been concerned with this disease because, as he noted in the lecture, influenza is the leading cause of death for patients with the following diseases: diabetes, coronary heart diseases, hemodialysis, pulmonary diseases, cancer, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Fasanmade, a physician of thirty five years in researching and treating of diabetes, had always advocated the use of vaccines against influenza, especially for patients with the aforementioned diseases and for elderly folks and young people – whose immunity are normally too low to combat the flu.

Fasanmade, in a personal chat with me, said that he had once approached a minister of health in Nigeria, and shared with him the need for influenza vaccines to be made available to Nigerians. Considering the fact that influenza is a leading cause of secondary death in patients battling cancers, diabetes, HIV and a host of other diseases. Unfortunately because research into this area is few, there are not enough data to show how many deaths are caused by influenza, as a secondary cause, with people with such diseases. Fasanmade told me that the minister of health said there is great reluctance on the part of government to commit scarce resources to getting this vaccines since no one is sure how deadly influenza is in Nigeria. Fasanmade however is convinced that the Nigerian government should do something fast about this, especially in the light of another respiratory disease that has taken the attention of the world. His argument is that Coronavirus is not even as fatal as influenza.

As the nation considers the option of vaccination for influenza, it should be noted that only a fraction of the population is actually in need of these vaccines. WHO recommends the following as priority on the list of those in need of the vaccines: pregnant women, children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years, persons above the age 65years, people with diabetes, asthma, chronic respiratory diseases, and HIV, and persons going on international trips. With this few number at hand, government would realize that the cost of vaccinating people against the disease is low. And with less people sick, the country would have more people available in the working populace able to add to the nation’s productivity and wealth.

There are diseases more fatal than Coronavirus and experts in the field of Medicine think that the influenza is one.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/1505609702848568/posts/2691062640969929/

Follow responses on this Facebook page:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2632640293688103&id=100008264737265

Teaching, pls

NUC vs. MDCAN - AN IMPENDING IMPLOSION

(The Reason Doctors are on Strike in Nigerian Hospitals)

When you hear of strike actions from medical doctors in Nigerian hospitals, the union that readily comes to mind is the Association of Resident Doctors (the body overseeing the welfare of resident doctors). However, there is another body that oversees the welfare of senior doctors or Consultants in our various hospitals called Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) that has almost never embarked on any strike action in the annals of the profession. Unfortunately, as at the time of this writing, this body of professionals have embarked on a strike action beginning from Monday, 25th of February 2020 and the duration of the strike is indefinite because MDCAN had previously undergone a warning strike after several pleas to avert the strike, yet the authorities still refused to bulge.

At this point, many questions would be rising in the minds of readers: why have these senior doctors chosen to go on strike and who are these “authorities” MDCAN is protesting against? This article intends to supply answers to all of such questions.

MDCAN has embarked on an indefinite strike to protest a recent directive by the National University Commission (NUC) which is asking senior medical doctors who already possess Fellowships in the field of medicine, to henceforth enrolled into PhD. programs as an additional prerequisite for their career advancement in the Universities where they teach. The said directive was published in a communique to all medical postgraduate schools in Nigeria. It reads in part:

“…after exhaustive deliberations at series of meetings held between the Commission (NUC) and the management of National Post Graduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN), stakeholders unanimously agreed to introduce PhD. programmes in the Clinical Sciences in the Nigerian University System, for the postgraduate training of interested medical practitioners and for their career progression, especially for those in the academia.” This communique was sent out on the 24th of December, 2019.

This directive follows an earlier publication by the NUC which had provided guidelines for appointment of academic staffs in the Universities in Nigeria. In stating the minimum academic qualification for anyone who will teach in the Universities, they wrote:

“All academic staffs are expected to have the terminal degree of PhD. For academic staffs in the Clinical departments of Faculties/Schools/Colleges of Medicine, the Fellowship of the National Post Graduate Medical College of Nigeria and/or the West African College of Surgeons/Physicians is currently accepted as the terminal qualifications, instead of PhD. However, no promotion shall be made to the level of senior lecturer and above even for those in the clinical departments of Faculties/Schools/Colleges of Medicine without PhD from 2025.”

The aforementioned and particularly italized and bolded words are the grouses that MDCAN has with NUC. They are worth examining on close quarters:

First, MDCAN is indeed a stakeholder in NPMCN and they readily agree that they had joined the NUC in series of meetings where the matter of PhD in the academia were extensively deliberated upon. But MDCAN never, at anytime, “unanimously agree” with any of the stakeholders, let alone NUC, that the PhD. programs be introduced into Clinical Sciences in Nigerian as their highest qualification. The position of MDCAN, throughout the deliberations, was that the Fellowships that doctors obtain, which brings them to the position of Specialists and Consultants, exceeds the regular PhD. obtained by anyone in Nigerian Universities because the curriculum which an average Consultant must have passed through before acquiring the Fellowship also encompasses research. Thus it is superfluous to again begin to ask doctors with Fellowships to obtain PhDs before they can be promoted in the Universities.

Secondly, the communique had initially stated correctly that the Fellowship was a terminal qualification for doctors, not PhDs. But, inline with its published guidelines, it went further to state that doctors with such Fellowships will no longer be promoted in the Universities by 2025 except they obtain PhD.

This position calls into question the age old wisdom and practice that had limited doctors highest qualification to Fellowships and it also disregards the unique style of training medical doctors undergo as against other professionals in the academia. Doctors are primarily professionals that attend to patients. The nature of their job is hands-on, and not so much research based. Doctors cannot reach the epitome of their career until they have undergone extensive training in an aspect of their field in hands-on practical works with patients. This is the reason why the Fellowship, which demands five to seven years (depending on the speciality) in residency training in the teaching hospitals is their highest qualification. Residency training is also accompanied with the writing of two rigorous examinations (a part one and part two exams), and the submission of a final thesis. These standard not only equate in demands with PhD training but even exceeds them.

The NUC communique had rightly stated that PhD. programmes in Nigerian universities require a minimum 52 credit unit of course work. They however disregard the fact that the Fellowship training come with a minimum of 204 credit units. This is almost four times the credit units required to obtain PhDs.

Besides, the records show clearly that doctors with Fellowships produce more academic research works than other professionals with PhDs in the Universities. A list of most published scholars in Nigerian universities reveal that doctors with Fellowships and without PhDs are the leading published scholars in Nigeria. Prof. Adesola O. Ogunniyi of the University of Ibadan is a doctor without a PhD but with fellowship. He is the third highest publisher of researches in Nigeria. Prof. Emmanuel Adoyi Ameh is the seventh and he also does not have a PhD. Out of the 28 researchers listed in that paper almost 70% have only Fellowships and no PhD.

The current position of the NUC to impose PhD. as the highest qualification on all academic staffs in the Universities in Nigeria, including doctors, is not a well thought out one because it is a well known fact that medical graduates from Nigeria are in high demand in countries like Canada, United State of American and United Kingdom leading to an alarming brain drain of young doctors in the health sector. This new guideline is a sure way to further deplete our health sector of her best brains because our senior doctors would also be forced to exit the country in droves and it is hoped that NUC will heed the cry of MDCAN and withdraw those guidelines placed against doctors practicing and particularly teaching their profession in our Universities.

At the moment, the strike action is limited to universities, meaning MDCAN members have withdrawn their services by not teaching medical students and other ancillary students in the teaching hospitals. However, if NUC refuses to withdraw this unsavoury directive, MDCAN would be forced to extend its strike action on hospital services. This would bring a total collapse of services in Nigerian teaching hospitals and innocent patients would be at the receiving end because by extension, their mentees resident doctors will not be taught or supervised. This will lead to total collapse of the health sector and with the threat of Coronavirus and Lassa Fever epidemic breathing down our necks in Nigeria at this time, the country faces an avoidable implosion.

This is the reason MDCAN is using all available channels to air their grouses and it is hoped that those who have ears to hear will listen.

© Deji Yesufu (Yesufu is a Public Analyst. He can be reached on newdejix@gmail.com)

Bros. You don't have a problem. May God bless your home.

Maybe When the children arrive, she'll loosen up.

Call them and tell dem say them try ...

The American army gave the world the internet...

The Nigerian army gives us bottled water.

We try...

The E. A. Adeboye Tweet

By: Deji Yesufu

At first I regarded the whole matter around E. A. Adeboye's tweet of advising his “son” to fire a lady, all because the gentleman found her attractive… I found the whole thing a storm in a tea cup.

I am not an Adeboye fan and this situation could have afforded me another opportunity for attacking the pastor. But I am gradually loosing appetite for that venture these days. Besides, I was almost sure that the supposed Twitter handle was a cloned one (these pastors are too antediluvian to engage social media, I thought). I was wrong; even Punch reported it on their online medium. It is true: Adeboye typed those words.

So my interest in this matter was kindled when, in a discussion today, somebody pointed out that it was very wrong for Baba to advise the sacking of a lady for the mere fact that his son in the faith couldn’t bridle his lust. Is it a crime to be attractive now? Will Adeboye advise the sacking of his own daughter if she was in the shoes of that lady? The conjectures are endless and I have no intention to add to them. I would be looking at the issue from another perspective.

Note that attraction between sexes in work place environment is NORMAL. One would think that Adeboye, with his experience, would know that the number one calling of Christian men is knowing how to handle their bodies in holiness and sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:4-5).

Of course one would not be surprised that Adeboye would counsel the pulling out of the eye that sins – as long it is not his eyes or those of his sons involved. Jesus taught that it is the sinner that should sever his arms or eyes in cases of temptation, not the other way round. Christian men would not sack their secretaries; they should rather deal with their flesh. If Adeboye will fail in a mere ABC of sanctification, I suspect he is failing in many other areas too.

A little over a week ago, I got into a social medium debate on this dicey matter of side chics. I counselled that our ladies could do better in keeping their husbands from the strange woman. I said little about the role of the man because that post was intended to counsel women.

I am not sure I have found greater opposition to a position I’d ever taken on social media before, as I found with that thread. I pulled down the thread. It appears that in this matter of infidelity in marriages, women have borne the greater burden. And Adeboye is not lightening those burdens for them. He is now advising their sacking.

Christian men are expected to be Christian first of all in all that they do. Our Christianity will be tested at home and even much more in the office. The strange woman will appear and we must say no to such vain lusts. If the Christian man fails in this basic pursuit of sanctification, we has every reason to doubt the genuineness of his salvation.

Which brings me to my grouse with E. A. Adeboye. It is not his pedestrian counsel of sacking a lady for his son's sins that I have issues with. It is neither his false humility and make-belief simplicity. My grouse with Adeboye is that this man doesn’t preach a Christian gospel and his sons are not born again. Nay, I have every reason to doubt Adeboye’s own conversion itself. Thus when a man is devoid of true Spirit wisdom, he would have no qualms recommending light medicines for serious ailments.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/1505609702848568/posts/2616029838473210/

The Side Chic

For those who have not seen the video, an older woman is seen accosting a younger woman, very likely at the Ikeja Mall. From the words of the older woman, who happens to be the only speaking, one can tell that the younger woman is the side chic to the older woman’s husband. The younger woman is visibly embarrassed and her silence is actually not golden but a betrayal of her culpability.

When she would not respond and attempts to leave, the older woman assaults her. Pulls her wig and drops it on the floor. The younger woman attempts to leave; people are seen cautioning the older woman; the younger woman, seeing she has become the but of instant videos for Vloggers, flees the scene. The older woman is hot on heels.

While the video made the rounds on social media, it was the comment by a man on Twitter that brought my attention to it all. He had said if his wife were ever to try that nonsense with his own side chic, the side chic would be upgraded to the status of a wife. Incidentally, on my timeline, there were both comments for and against his position. I am neutral. This article, however, is just some random thoughts on side chicing.

Well, Abu has seen quite a lot at this gate called Facebook. I believe I learnt the term “side chic” here. One lady told me that she’s a side chic to a senior officer in the Nigerian civil service. My jaws simply dropped. By the way, the same lady is “happily” married. So those who are breathing fire and brimstone on Men for keeping side chics should know that there are “side guys” too in some instances. But let’s limit our talk to the chics.

It was also on this dial that Abu was told of a guy who had a side chic at the office. The relationship went well until, for some reason, they had to part ways because the man relocated. Some twenty years later, in the middle of gisting with his wife, he discovers that his wife knew of his relationship with the side chic all along and said nothing of it back then. He was shocked. He later summoned courage and asked her why she did nothing then, and the wife said “ where is she now….” In other words, I knew it was a fling. It would pass. It did pass. Mr. Man is nearing sixty now and wholly contented in the last one standing. His wife.

Here is my position.

I think more women lead their husbands to side chicing than any other thing. Take the matter of the Ikeja Mall ladies, clearly the older woman has issues. Even if her husband was guilty, accosting that lady that way would win greater sympathy for the side chic and further alienate her from her spouse. At worst, she should have settled it with her husband in private. Or, perhaps, her nagging is the root of the man finding solace outside.

I agree that men should discipline their libido. But after a man has worked hard, provided for his family; only to return to a woman in the house who is bent on snuffing out his soul, would you blame him if he finds comfort in Delilah's laps?

I am thoroughly convinced that women are the author of the state of their homes. If you want peace, give your husband peace. If a man goes after a side chic, play the game: be a better chic to him at home. Win your man back. Returning tit for tat will not solve the matter. The man will move on and you’ll be left to rue your chances.

For the wise woman, having your man is a win-win situation for you. If your husband is disciplined, be thankful and do not take it for granted. If your husband is not, take it as a challenge. You will laugh last. All the side chics will come and go, and guess who will remain: you.

Sheath the sword, older woman, it is not worth the fight.

© Deji Yesufu.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/1505609702848568/posts/2576069972469197/

For whatever it is worth... From Ibadan

Concerning New Year Prophecies and Declarations

I begin this piece by wishing everyone on my timeline and all who will read this a HAPPY NEW YEAR. I sincerely pray that the year will be good to you. That you will fulfill your goals and heart desire. Most of all I pray you will find peace with God through Jesus Christ and that you’ll be a blessing to humanity which is God’s creation.

This piece is both a lamentation against New Year prophetic declarations and it is also a prophetic declaration over you as I “received” a word from God for all of you just this morning. First let me tell you how God spoke to me this morning.

For many years now, I believe since 1998, I have developed a discipline of just reading the Bible through, Genesis to Revelation. When I started the discipline I used to cover the whole Bible two or three times a year (I don’t use a Bible reading plan and I am not recommending mine to you – I am simply telling a story). I could spend a year or more reading the Bible through.

Most of the time when I read scriptures like this I get nothing. In fact I become afraid that I am just fulfilling all righteousness. But I keep at it bc some days comes, God uses this Bible reading plan to speak directly to me. I believe he did this morning.

My reading this morning was Jeremiah 14-17. It is a long text and I’ll wish that you will find time to read it. The text, like most of Jeremiah’s writings, describes God’s unhappiness with Israel. Rather than wishing them well, he condemns the whole nation for their sins.

In chapter 14:13-16, God takes on prophets who are prophesying lies to Israel. They were telling people that all will be well with them (in the New Year) when they ought to be telling the people to repent of their sins.

In chapter 15:1-4, God says even if Moses or Samuel were to intercede to Israel, his mind to bring them to destruction was made up. God says he had destined Israel to four types of destruction: pestilence, sword, famine and captivity. (BEWARE OF PASTORS WHO WILL TELL YOU THAT THIS IS A YEAR OF PROSPERITY AND BREAKTHROUGHS)

In chapter 16:1-4, God destroys family plan: he tells Jeremiah not to marry or have children. Because children and pregnant mother’s will be killed in the coming destruction.

In chapter 17, God says all these will happen because Israel had sinned against him.

Many years ago while I attended a Charismatic church in Ibadan, the pastor said this at a New Year gathering: “some people will say is it possible for God to always declare only good in the beginning of year?” Then he replied: “Our God is good and only wishes good on his people”.

Friends, that’s a blatant lie. God is good, yes. But in the texts I just listed, God wished EVIL on his people.

There is no such thing as new year or new month prophetic declarations in the whole Bible. It is a lie. It is men producing a word from their hearts, when God has not sent them. God’s sufficient word to humanity is scriptures and these are the words of scriptures:

Repent of your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus. If you don’t whatever may be the outcome of your life on earth; your eternity is bleak.

For the Christian, pursue righteousness, holiness and love, and God’s good will shall come to pass in your life (good or evil – it will all work out for good).

For the church: God calls false churches, lying pastors and evil prophesies to come to an end. If you don’t stop, God will judge you: in this life and in the life to come. Your errors will become more obvious to many and God will rid his elect from your congregation. You will grow bigger – filling your churches with unbelievers. Your churches will become more beautiful; but so shall your condemnation become more fearsome. REPENT!

There is no such thing as new year declarations in the Bible. Is it not coincidental that Pastors who will not celebrate Christmas are the ones leading the parade for New Year gatherings? Stupid people. You’ll rather belittle the day of the birth of our Redeemer and then celebrate a New Year that has no precedence in scriptures. Deceivers!

2020 will be whatever it is destined by God to be. Those who walk in the path of righteousness and truth will find God’s help even if the storms come.

I personally pray that things will be better for Nigeria this year. I pray that Boko Haram will cease to exist this year. I pray that false pastors will be exposed the more this year. I pray that young graduates will find entrepreneurial opportunities this year and grow rich with time. I pray that it will be well with all that wish well for others. I trust God to expose all frauds in Nigeria.

And that’s the point of my New Year “declaration”: we can only pray that things will be well. God has not put any word in anybody’s mouth to declare anything. If we would declare at all, we should declare God’s words as written in the Bible. Alone.

Amen.

© Deji Yesufu.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/1505609702848568/posts/2556128794463315/

"Kongi" goes to prison... Where "The Man Died".

Throw Back Thursday.

Evangelicals’ Support of Donald Trump

By: Deji Yesufu

On Wednesday last week, the House of Representatives in the United States Congress passed a resolution impeaching the 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump. The impeachment process would be the climax of a battle that has gone on between the US President and the House of Representatives, led by the Democrat – Nancy Pelosi. Prior to this, Trump had undergone a tumultuous tenure with the House determined to make Trump’s first term in office impossible. Immediately he was elected into office in late 2016, the allegation that was levied against him was that he had collaborated with Russia to undermine the US electoral system and that this was the impetus for his victory at the polls.

After months of investigation, reports from Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, showed that Trump was not guilty as charged. That storm had barely died down before the Democrats brought forth allegations that Trump had abused his oath of office by asking the Ukrainian government to investigate Joe Biden’s son on corruption charges. Biden is running to be President on the Democratic Party’s ticket in 2020 and, Democrats argue, Trump’s getting a foreign country to investigate him was Trump seeking to cast Biden in a bad light before voters and this was an abuse of office. This is why Donald Trump was impeached.

Unlike impeachment processes in other democracies, being impeached in the US Congress is not automatic removal from office. The House of Representatives are the ones who impeach a President and they then make recommendations to the Senate, who sit in a trial over the President and decide whether or not the President should be impeached. In the US today, the Senate is controlled by the Republicans and an impeachment trial brought to them by a House led by Democrats has a 99.999% chance of not sailing through. In fact as of the time of this writing, Nancy Pelosi has refused to send the impeachment proceedings formally to the Senate. She knows that it would be a waste of time. The Democrats have said that though they are sure the impeaching of the President of the US will not remove Trump from office, they are content with the fact that he would only be the third President in US history to be impeached and that this is likely to stain his re-election bid in 2020.

In all of these debates on impeachment, one voting block has found itself in the middle of political punches. These are the evangelicals. Evangelicals are Christian Protestant body of churches that hold to biblical values which they contend are the values that the founding fathers of America believed in. These evangelicals are almost always Republicans because the Republican Party, although wholly political, still holds to basic Christian values that Evangelical uphold. History has it that while the Democrats supported Slavery at some point, Republicans always opposed it. It is also on record that Republicans supported many civil rights campaigns that ultimately ended segregation of blacks in the USA.

America today is becoming increasingly godless, as Christianity is continually regarded as an antediluvian concept – and the leading purveyors of these ideologies are the Democrats. All of the basic values of righteousness which that country was built on has been thrown out of the window. The Barack Obama Presidency, a Democrat, was at the forefront of this war against Christianity. In his time the American government became increasingly secular, with all basic Christian practices thrown out of the window. Christmas became a mere holiday. “God” became “world”, and all kinds of liberal thinking crept into government. While American Christians, mostly Evangelicals, could bear with some of these things, two things they could not bear were the increasing acceptance of homosexuality and abortion in America. Under Obama, homosexuality reigned supreme. It flourished so much that the LGBTQ community became tyrants in the society. State sponsored abortion programs were everywhere and America was descending into the dregs.

When Trump ran for office, he was clearly not a righteous man. Donald Trump had baggage that many would be ashamed of identifying with him. Yet he had one thing going for him: he was not a Democrat and somehow he made a commitment to uphold basic Republican values. When Americans would go to the polls in 2016, the voting Evangelical block voted massively for him and he won. Immediately he entered into office, Trump removed all of Obama’s idols from the White House and replaced them with biblical things. He stopped state sponsored abortion programs and stopped government’s open support for LGBTQ communities. For these alone, the Evangelical block are genuinely thankful. When the news of his impeachment came forward, it was the evangelical block that stood the most against his removal.

The question often arise: if Trump has all these moral baggage that he has, why does the evangelical block, with all their claim to gospel integrity, still support him? The answer is simple: Donald Trump represents a party that condemns the twin evil destroying the American moral fabric today. These evils are abortion and homosexuality. It does not matter who runs on the Republican Party ticket, as long as they pro-life and they discourage the flourishing of homosexuality in society, evangelicals would support such a party.

This writer is an evangelical Nigerian. Someone would ask: what is your business with American politics and their religion? Plenty. America is the leading supporter of Christian missions in the world today. While the American government may not invest a dollar in missions, the Evangelical community in America does. In fact they invest massively in mission outreaches to various communities and countries in Africa and whatever affects them will ultimately affect us. If the liberal ideologies of the Democratic Party takes over America today, that nation would be sold to unrighteousness and the words of scriptures would be fulfilled on them: righteousness exalts a nation and sin is a reproach to its people (Proverbs 14:34). It is righteousness that brought America to where she is today and sin will bring her down. If America goes down, mission support to African countries will deplete also and this will affect outreaches to unreached areas here. So America’s politics is our own politics also.

One is glad that Trump’s impeachment will fail. In fact since it appears that Donald Trump thrives in controversy, then these impeachment proceeding, rather than affect his chances in the 2020 bid to be President for a second term, might actually be the catalyst that would launch him to a second term in office. If this happens, you can predict those who would be the happiest: American evangelicals, of course.

Deji Yesufu is the author of the books Victor Banjo and Half a Millennium. He leads a Reformed Bible Study group in University of Ibadan every Saturday morning.

http://mouthpiece.com.ng/evangelicals-support-of-donald-trump/

Goshen360:
There's nowhere scripture divided the law into 3. The law is a whole package. If you have scriptures where the law was divided into these 3 Categories kindly bring it up. CHRISTIANS are not under the law, including the 10 commandments.

When Christians do the "thou shall not" it doesn't mean they are obeying the 10 commandments. It simply means, they are doing the life of God which was then in place before the thou shall not was given....e.g, where was thou shall not commit fornication or adultery before Joseph flew flee from his master wife, where was thou shall not before Noah, Enoch and Abraham walked upright before God...?

I want to say upfront that there's nowhere scriptures divided Moses laws into three. The division is theological. It is a result of centuries of study. You may accept or refuse this but this is my theological position and it safe.

Now consider these scriptures:

Romans 3:29 Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: 3:30 Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

My main concern is verse 31. What does Paul mean by "establishing the law"? Another version calls it "upholding the law".

Second:

Romans 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet... 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good... 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

Now this is removing verses from their context but you'll admit that Paul puts a positive twist to the law there. Question: why does Paul say the law is not sin? Why is the law holy? How does Paul delight in the law?

I provide these scriptures to prove that while Paul will speak of abolishing the law in one hand, he speaks of upholding it in another.

We see that Paul saw circumcision and Jewish Sabbath keeping as laws abolished. These were clearly civil snd ceremonial laws bc these were laws for a nation and the temple, resp. In Christ there are no Jews and there is no temple.

Yet, he upheld all the ten commandments that included things like sexual purity, not stealing, worshipping God not idols, etc. Bc in Christ we still live morally. If not we would be immoral and this is what we accuse hypergrace of - immoral living in the name of Christianity.

The OP is right and I endorse much of what is written there. Hypergrace is heresy. Let me make my point by sharing a story relevant to Nairaland and even Goshen360 who I see has joined this thread.

Many years ago, Goshen360 and I joined a couple of others to organize a Conference on Nairaland which we called GRACE conference or something of that nature. There we postulated the gospel of grace and enjoined it on our listeners.

It was only years after that I realized that I had teamed with hypergrace individuals to do that conference. I had joined the hypergrace team to condemn tithing. I don't know what I was getting myself into.

Now, I cannot go into the details of the error of hypergrace but the opener has done much of the work. Let me just give nuggets:

1. Christ had died to redeem the elect. In the process we are saved from the law.

2. The law we are saved from is the ceremonial and civil lawd of Moses. We are still under the moral law of Moses, which is largely depicted by the ten commandments.

3. While Christians are not under law, we are still expected to keep the moral law. Which when expounded will exceed even the ten although the ten will form a natural heading for all of them.

4. Christians law: Law of Love = Ten commandments = A million other laws which the Holy Spirit dictates to each of our hearts daily as we work with God.

5. Christians are not lawless. They are lawful persons.

6. Because we are still under law, our failures of these laws, sins, are still alive and well. Thus requiring a lifetime of repentance and faith from us.

7. Our only joy and confidence is the perfect righteousness of Christ which we hold in one hand, our justification, and we labor on to attain perfection in the other hand, which is our sanctification.

Peace.

ALPHABASE:
IS HE RELATED TO AISHA YESUFU

No relations of Aisha Yesufu

Omoyele Sowore’s Stupid Revolution


By: Deji Yesufu


No people in the world ever did achieve their freedom by goody-goody talk and moral suasion: it being an immutable law that all revolution that will succeed must begin in blood, whatever may answer afterwards – Mark Twain

It was a slightly chilly morning one day in 1991 when my parents entered the office of an American immigration officer. They had come to discuss the possibility of having their four boys go live in the United States of America. Mother had been in the USA since 1988 when she went to do a Master’s degree program in photography. By the time she concluded her program in 1990, she was unwilling to return to Nigeria. Back then, Nigeria was actually not a country to return to because the “Maradona”, General Ibrahim Babangida, was still not sure whether or not he would be handing over power to a civilian government. Coupled with the fact that Babangida had just recovered from the bloodiest coup the Nigerian state had ever witnessed—the Gideon Orkar coup, the uncertainty was too great. So, while Babangida played ping-pong with the future of the country, the economy was nose diving.

Mother would not return to such a country. My siblings and I lived with our father in Northern Nigeria. Dad had visited mother for a prolonged period from 1989 to 1991 and that visit had resulted in another baby sister, Doyin – a young woman I have never met even up till this moment that I am writing this. Our younger sister, Wumi, eventually got the favour of the American Immigration and joined mother and father in 1991. My three brothers and I were left behind in this hell of a country called Nigeria. It was in a desperate move to relocate us from Nigeria that my parents had visited the US immigration officer.

After the initial greetings, my dad went straight to the crux of the matter: “How can the boys join us in America?” The situation was dicey. The youngest boy at that time was nine while the oldest was fifteen, but we were not offered the immigrant status that Wumi enjoyed. Mother was desperate.

“What can you do for us,” she asked plaintively.

The immigration officer looked at her and smiled. “Madam, your children will be fine, even if they have to live the rest of their lives in Nigeria.”

“But I don’t want them to live in that country…,” Mother protested.

Dad was silent.

“But you say they are four boys?”

“Yes…?”

“Boys have a greater tenacity for survival than many of us parent credit them with.”

“It appears you did not get our point: we want our children out of that country.”

“Is Nigeria at war presently?”

“No. Why did you ask?”

“Because even if that country was at war, your boys will survive. In fact, it is boys their age that are known to fight in battles when countries go to war.”

“My children will not be fighting anybody’s war.”

With that statement from my mother, the meeting was about over. Daddy told my brothers and me that story one day after he returned from the USA. Does this story have any relevance to Sowore’s stupid revolution?

In August 2019, Omoyele Sowore and a host of other youths decided to embark on a nationwide protest which they titled “Revolution Now”. Days before the protest began, Sowore made some utterances, the video recording of which was widely shared on social media. He stated that these were not going to be mere protests; he and his fellows were committed to making the nation ungovernable through their street protests. They were seen making graffiti on the walls of public buildings. A day to the commencement of the protest, Sowore was picked up by men of the Department of State Security (DSS). He was in detention for 125 days. After a judge had threatened the DSS with contempt of court, Sowore was released last week Thursday only to be rearrested the following morning. There was outrage from many Nigerians because the DSS sought to arrest him right inside the courtroom.

The social media went agog. Many people who cared little about the activist’s words in the past felt that the action of the DSS was a desecration of Nigeria’s democracy. A security outfit under the Presidency had invaded another arm of government, the judiciary. In one of the debates that I got into while discussing this matter on social media, a lady described the revolution that Sowore was leading as a “stupid” revolution. I knew immediately that whenever I would express my opinion on Sowore’s arrest, I would have to title the article “Sowore’s Stupid Revolution”.

The natural inclination is for most people to forget things and that is why history is an extremely vital aspect of our lives today. We have a lot to learn from history. Nigeria is not a divinely instituted state. The whole geographical contraption that is called Nigeria was put together by the British who also instituted the system of government we run today. The Nigerian people have chosen to remain within this geographical context only because we believe that our staying together is better than our shattering up in pieces. If we would, however, stay together, certain minimums must be in place. One of such is good governance.

Omoyele Sowore and his cohorts, like other Nigerians, have rights within the constitution of the country. They have chosen to exercise those rights to make their views known to all. Sowore left his base in the United States of America and ran a political campaign to be President in 2018. He started sensitizing the Nigerian people of his willingness to run for President a whole six months before political campaigns began. He put his all into the effort. When the nation went to the polls and the votes cast for him and his party were counted, they amounted to a meagre 30,000 plus. Sowore felt that he had been robbed. He felt that the same system that robbed him had also been robbing other Nigerians of their rights to the basic necessities of life. Sowore’s protest, or revolution like he calls it, is NOT stupid. Sowore has only put into action what many of us have in mind.

We should remind ourselves that democracy was not always the system of government in this country. We once had military rule. In fact, at some point in our national life, the military had ruled this country for no less than 75% of our years as an independent state. It was the Nigerian people who fought, tooth and nail, to return the military to the barracks. The likes of Omoyele Sowore led the campaign then. If democracy, as we have it, is not delivering on its promises, it is the same Nigerians that must call for a change. The means to change will come in many names. Sowore has only chosen to call his campaign a revolution. And seeing the manner with which the state is clamping down on a legitimate protest, I wonder whether all of us shouldn’t be joining in this protest.

It has been almost thirty years since my parents visited that immigration office in the United States of America. The four boys my mother sought to find refuge for in America are still in Nigeria battling to survive. Mother died in 2006. Daddy turned seventy July this year. My sisters are all grown up and married, living with their families in the US. My brothers and I are all in our forties now and we have still not gone to America. We have been waging a war of survival here in Nigeria and yet our story is just one of millions in Nigeria; in fact, we would consider ourselves privileged. We are not yet where we hope to be though. If we would get there, it is certain that we would have to make certain sacrifices that young men and women make in order to better their lot in their countries of birth. This is what Obafemi Awolowo and Nnamdi Azikwe did in the 1940/50s. This is what Beko Ransome-Kuti and Femi Falana did in the 1990s. This is what Omoyele Sowore and all young men in this country must do today. It is young men, with strength, that fight wars for the betterment of their nation. Again, the context of the fight would take many names. Sowore has chosen to call his “Revolution Now” and this revolution is not stupid.

Deji Yesufu is the author of the books Victor Banjo and Half a Millennium. He leads a Reformed Bible Study in the University of Ibadan every Saturday morning.

Source: http://mouthpiece.com.ng/omoyele-sowores-stupid-revolution/

Much Ado about Witchcraft Conference

By: Deji Yesufu

The Center for Policy and Research, University of Nsukka (UNN), Nigeria, organized a conference with the theme: “Witchcraft: Meaning, Factors and Practices”. The conference held between November 26-27 and had keynote speakers from all over the nation come to discuss the subject of witchcraft. Days before the conference commenced, there had been much debate on whether or not the conference should hold. The organizers of the conference were accused by members of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) of planning a conference where witches and wizards would be invading the sacred city of Nsukka in Enugu State. There were also some protests, as Christian bodies called upon the authorities of the school to ensure that the conference did not go on. Reacting to these criticisms, the Director of the Center where the event was billed to hold, Prof. Egodi Uchendu, said:

“Freedom of speech is a fundamental human right. CAN and others are free to express their opinions, just like we have the freedom to have an academic conference on witchcraft.”

http://mouthpiece.com.ng/much-ado-about-witchcraft-conference/
To be fair to the organizers of the conference, the conference centered on an academic discussion on the phenomenon on witchcraft. Some of the resolutions that proceeded from the conference was that there were no such thing as witches. That witchcraft was the invention of an age that was superstitious and unenlightened. Science has proven that most of what many regard as witchcraft manifestations were basically natural occurrences. While I may not agree with everything that was said in the conference, I cannot but help to see a bigger problem from this situation.

17th century United States of America was a society that was steeped in beliefs in witches and wizards. The famous Salem witch trials in Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693 left no less than sixteen women burnt at the stakes, after they had been alleged, tried in court and executed for claiming to be witches. Evidences that were gathered after these women were killed showed that there were strong indications that they were innocent. A wave of remorse enveloped those societies and the killing of witches stopped.

It has been discovered that superstition and lack of education are not the only factors that contribute to this tendency for calling people witches. One other leading factor is hardship. When a people have been plunged in economic difficulties, they find a way of releasing their frustrations on others. One way of doing this is by indiscriminately calling people witches and bringing swift judgment of death on them. The Nigerian situation is doubly worse. People are not only dealing with harsh economic realities, they also have to come to grasp with the false teachings that are proceeding from the pulpits of those who call themselves pastors in this clime. The leading culprit in this matter is the man at the helm of affairs of the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries: Pastor Daniel Olukoya.

Olukoya invented a new kind of Christianity. This Christianity is not only Pentecostal, it also has a rabid commitment to deliverance. Olukoya teaches his adherents that the devil and his demons are in every situation of life and they are possessing every human being – no matter the idiosyncrasy that person may manifest. Olukoya teaches his people that everything can be solved by deliverance (in Jesus name). The natural consequence of such world-view is to see the devil everywhere; in everything; and possessing everyone. This is the sought of mindset that the folks who protested the conference at UNN are possessed with.

My position is simple: there are indeed works of darkness still existing in our world today. There are people who have given themselves to such evil and demonic activities, that they are possessed by these very demons themselves. I am however confident that these people are few in our world today and they are largely harmless. The real problem in our society is not the presence of witches but the prevalence of ignorance. Such ignorance that is further heightened by pastors who refuse to gain knowledge for themselves.

The fundamental problem with those who spend their time opposing conferences on witchcraft is a theological problem: a tendency to forget the heart of the Christian gospel. It is good to remind Christians that Jesus Christ died and rose again to redeem men from sin as taught in Matthew 1:21 (and not to act as a shield against evil spirits and witches). This is a fundamental fact that is lost on a kind of Christianity in Africa that sees the church as a means for protection against animist beliefs in demons and spirits that Africans have always held to. Prior to the coming of Christianity to the continent, Africans have always held to an animist belief of good fighting against evil in the atmosphere. And that the sole goal of every man was to get good forces to help overcome evil forces. When Christianity came, it was quite easy for them to begin now to use the name of Jesus (instead of the name of Sango or Obatala) to defeat the evil spirits around them.

These scenarios are often seen in Nigerian movies where a problem arises and after all is said and done, a pastor is implored to come and ward off the evil around. The pastor comes, prays and all is well. So, the tendency to use God as a talisman is the main deficiency in many theological beliefs in this country. This is their train of thoughts: since witches and wizards are termed evil, then anyone that is promoting a conference to discuss these issues is also promoting evil and must be resisted.

If however these churches understand that the gospel is not pursuing evil forces around, to defeat them so that people can live happily ever after; if we understand that the gospel seeks to help us realize our debt before God (sin) and to turn to Christ who alone can pay that debt, we would realize that witches and wizards are not the issues that are paramount to the Christian. With or without witches and wizards, the Christian man would achieve God’s purposes for him. If a witch were to afflict a Christian, such an evil providence would only act to help fulfill God’s will for him (2 Corinthians 12:7). So, for example, if a Christian is plagued by, say depression, which may have been instilled by a witch. In the long run, the Christian will overcome the depression and possibly become an authority in it to help others overcome depression. The devil is God’s tool and not his rival and enemy in that sense.

If Christians today understand this, we can busy ourselves with teaching and propagating the gospel. While we could even benefit from intellectual discourses into metaphysical phenomena like witchcraft. It sure wouldn’t hurt anyone; rather it stands to add to the body of knowledge of God’s wonderful creation.

Deji Yesufu is the author of the books Victor Banjo and Half a Millennium. He leads a Reformed Bible Study group at the University of Ibadan every Saturday morning.

Source: http://mouthpiece.com.ng/much-ado-about-witchcraft-conference/

MuttleyLaff:
VBCampaign, this your latest piece hin get as it be ooo. If to nobi say, I personally know you and know you truly to be really are a moG after God's heart, I would have typed na one of dem "na dem na dem" gang members, lol. VBCampaign, you honestly mean well, however there are quite a few holes in your write-up filled with presuppositions, assumptions and looking at things with wishful and even biased eyes. For example, as regards the latter, there's nothing the matter with being a millionaire pastor. That just right there, is being biased. What of if everyone else is a millionaire, lol, hmm?.

I hear you Muttley

Thanks for the support as always

Why You Should Pay Your Pastor Well

By: Deji Yesufu

Recently I made an appeal for help for a minister friend of mine from Eastern Nigeria. Somebody used the occasion to vilify me; saying that since I have been known in the past for criticizing wealthy pastor, why should anyone offer me any help now. He said that he is happy I am seeing that pastors also need money. Thankfully I did not have to respond to him because someone else had done so. I realize now that it would take time for people to understand my position on religion; hopefully my articles in this column will continue to shed light on matters relating to my views on the Christian faith.

I wish to make it clear that whether I am appealing for help in ministry or I am advocating good remuneration for pastors, as this piece would soon outline, I still remain a strong antagonist of a kind of Christian ministry that has pervaded much of Nigeria. I maintain that Christian ministers cannot be millionaires. The phrase “millionaire pastor” is an oxymoron and all who today can be described in this manner are thieves and robbers. If you have eternity to pursue, I would beg you not to put your spiritual life nor those of your household under the cover of such a pastor. You will be raped; you will be defrauded; and you would be lucky to come out of such organizations alive. Such organizations that such men oversee are not Christian; they are den of thieves. Having made this point clear, I will nonetheless proceed to make an advocacy for good remuneration for pastors.

Before we can even talk of the pastor’s pay, we want to talk of the church’s finances. A church should have two kinds of leadership: a spiritual leadership and a managerial leadership. I suspect that the ministry of deacons in the Bible in the first century churches was its managerial leadership. Today, however, people choose to rather have a church board that has a member of the church as its chairman. The spiritual leadership on the other hand consist of the pastor leading other ministers to oversee the spiritual life of the church. The managerial leadership is the ministry of deacons or those of the chairman leading other members of the church. A situation where the pastor is also the overall chairman of the church is not ideal. Churches must mature to a point where members of the church can handle the administration of the church.

It is the administrative arm of the church that regulates the church’s finances. They are the ones that should be signatory to the church’s account and they are the ones that should pay the pastor his salary. This administrative arm of the church are the ones that should be able to regulate the church’s finances. Churches should not run mainly on member’s giving. The reason is because most of the time, members are developing spiritually to the point of understanding that their giving should be part of church life. And no one has the right to breath down the neck of another, demanding for monies in form of tithes and offering. People should be freely motivated to give. And the best way to get people to give is for the leadership, both spiritual and managerial, to lead by example. So the biggest donors to church finances should be the leaders. Then the leaders must be able to find other Christian organizations that believe in the missions to support what they do. It is only after this is done that people can be enjoined to give.

If by God’s grace a church is able to overcome the laborious process of setting a financially viable chest, the next step they must take will be to agree on a proper remuneration for the pastor.

First, we must realize that it is to the congregation’s advantage that a pastor works full time in ministering to them. Where this is not possible, it should not be enforced. But a congregation that has a part-time pastor will suffer for it because his attention will be divided between his service to the church and whatever other business he does.

With a full time minister, the next thing the congregation wants to do is to agree on a “living wage” for that pastor. A pastor working full time will be giving himself to the study of the word of God to deliver both on Sunday and other service days, he would also be giving himself to prayer (Acts 6:4). Both of these ministries (word and prayers) are very important for a spiritually viable church. Besides this, there is the job of counseling church members, attending to ceremonies involving church people, witnessing to unbelievers in the society and setting out plans to help grow Christian witness in the community. Any congregation sustaining a pastor in full time ministry is adding to the spiritual vitality of their community and even to those of their unborn children.

The minimum wage for any pastor in Nigeria of today should be N150, 000 a month. Any congregation that cannot pay their pastor that amount has no business setting up a local church. They would do well to either close down or join forces with other congregations, so as to have at least one pastor in full time service; instead of, say, two. Pastors being paid as much as half a million in Nigeria is also not too much either, if the congregation can afford it. The important thing is that the man of God is delivering on what he is being paid to do. Maybe the reason church people are not too concerned with what their pastors are delivering to them is because many of them are not contributing to the finances of the church from which the pastor is paid. If they are doing this, all hands will be on deck to see that the pastor himself meets the high standard of ministry that is required of him.

Another reason why pastors should be well paid is because churches should be concerned with getting the best minds to Christian ministry. Gone are the days when those who go to seminary are those who could not enter university or could not get a job elsewhere. The ministry should be for the best minds. If the pay is good, the best minds would be attracted to it. Yes, the matter of sacrifice cannot be removed from a man’s calling. But the man who is called to ministry is already sacrificing on many fronts. If his remuneration is ok, sacrifice on other fronts would be a lot easier and lighter.

One of the things we should understand is that what we have as far as church gatherings in Nigeria is concerned is not the norm. We have way too many churches but because many of these churches are not even doing what they are called to do, the number of churches in this country, serving people in a biblical manner, is a lot lower. I am looking at a biblical church here and because there numbers are few, people who find them should be able to commit resources to them to make them thrive. We must be concerned about building ministries and churches that would last the time of evil in our days because the days will come when it might be impossible for our children to find living churches to go to. If we however make the sacrifice today to build good churches, through sacrificial giving, we can be sure there would be churches for our grandchildren to be discipled in when we are long gone from the scene.

Deji Yesufu is the author of the books Victor Banjo and Half a Millennium. He leads a reformed Bible Study at the University of Ibadan every Saturday morning.

http://mouthpiece.com.ng/why-you-should-pay-your-pastor-well/

Mryacks:
Have I read a more aptly captured article like this in a long time? Not sure...very good work...well done !

Thank you

Chiggsglover:
You made lots of sense, I was curious about the video but watching it is the classic porn, lol. that's why I love Redeemers university, such a thing happened then, they simply enrolled her to their correctional facility for a year where those with issues of drugs and other misconduct are taken care of, this lady ended up coming back to her studies after a year and convocated.

That's good

Evangelical Thoughts on Wole Soyinka

Prof. Wole Soyinka should be one of Nigeria’s most accomplished personalities. His accomplishments are the results of his own works and are genuinely meritorious. Soyinka won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986 – the first African to do so on pure merit. As a humanist, he has remained steadfast to his personal commitment to bettering the lives of people all around him – especially the Nigerian people. His humanist beliefs have led him to champion the course for a better Nigeria through various activisms. Even till now, the Professor would very willingly join protest groups on matters germane to his heart.

Wole Soyinka has been protesting for a long time. He broke into national reckoning in 1965 when he held up a radio anchor with a gun and made them play a tape of his own reading of the results of the Western Region’s elections – to the chagrin of the Akintola Government. Justice Kayode Esho will later discharge and acquit the young Soyinka. Wole Soyinka has since gone on to help inaugurate a Road Safety program for the country, which has helped to curtail the high rate of vehicular accidents on our roads. From an account in his Memoirs: You Must Set Forth at Dawn, one could guess that among Soyinka’s greatest accomplishments will be fighting the Sani Abacha despot and seeing that man’s end.

A brief article like this is insufficient to chronicle Wole Soyinka’s achievements and I do not intend to do that at all. Rather I want to express in writing my evangelical thoughts on Prof. Wole Soyinka. I had thought to write the great man an open letter but I feel so terribly inadequate to address him directly that I will rather do so indirectly through my personal musing, or if you like, daydreaming, about a Christian Wole Soyinka. I understand that Soyinka is neither Muslim nor Christian. Judging by what I’ve read about him, I believe that the Prof is a traditional worshipper of one of the old Yoruba gods – probably Ogun.

In his writings Wole Soyinka can be seen as someone who is very conversant with the Christian religion. His native land of Egba was one of the earliest budding points of Christian missionary activities in the early 20th century and young Soyinka, who was exposed early to Western education, would certainly have gone to Church. Soyinka refers to his mother as “The Christian”. I suspect she might have been a devout Christian and must have instilled in the young Soyinka some basic Christian values. I have not read any account of where and how Prof. Wole Soyinka finally renounced belief in the Christian God but it certainly must have come at some point in his life.

An account in his Memoirs reveals his disdain for many Christians and their hypocrisy. As the account goes, Soyinka has a collection of images somewhere in his house. Each of these little images represents one of the African gods. When he needs to relax or gain some inspiration for his writing, he would go and sit among these collections and meditate. They were quite a number but he knew each of them well enough and where they stood. About that time, 1968-70, Soyinka had been incarcerated by the Gowon Government for his role in the Biafran crisis. After he was released, his first port of call was his collection of images. Lo and behold a number of them were missing. Before he went to prison, Soyinka’s younger brother was beginning to profess to be “born again”. Soyinka was suspicious of him but said nothing. Eventually it was discovered that it was this “Christian” brother of his that had looted his collections and sold them to a foreigner. Reading this account in the book, one could discern that Soyinka was still hurt from that incident. No wonder his disdain for Christianity.

Another account of Soyinka’s encounter with Christianity was his famous media debate with Prof. Muyiwa Awe. Incidentally I met Prof. Awe through my wife and we visited his home in Ibadan in 2009. He was also at our wedding. Soyinka, Awe and five others founded the Pirate Confraternity in University of Ibadan in the early 1950s when they were undergraduates. The humanist tendencies that have driven the Professor’s actions up to now, were the driving motives behind the formation of that confraternity. Unfortunately it has led to many cult groups on our campuses and this was the crux of the debate Soyinka had with Prof. Awe.

Prof. Muyiwa Awe had become a Pentecostal Christian and had joined a committee in the University of Ibadan to help end cultism on the campus. Up till his death Pastor Awe, as I knew him, had a ministry for exposing cults. At some point, Awe and Soyinka got into a media war on this matter of cultism. Awe had suggested in a write up that certain elements, which himself and other founders of the Pyrate Confraternity had instituted at the founding of the group, were at the root of the violence among cult groups in the country. Soyinka responded by denying that fact. The media exchange between the two went on for quite a while.

These are the challenges that I find myself faced with as I nonetheless endeavour to present the gospel to a humanist. It might help my discussion here if I begin by stating that the God of the Bible is a humanist (John 3:16). Humanists do everything for the good of humanity: God sent his Son Jesus to redeem humanity. Some humanists believe there is no life after this one and so we will do well to live this one well enough, and leave behind a better world. Well, Christians do believe there is a life after now but they are also committed to leaving the world better than they met it, thus the Christian championing of education, health and a just society. Christianity also broached the idea of a communal society. In the historical book of Acts, the Bible records that the first Christian group lived together in a community and had all things in common (Acts 4:32). While humanists are not necessarily communists, they share in this socialist idea and we see in Acts that it is Christians that first started healthy socialism.

Despite the aforementioned, humanists have many differing points with Christianity. There is no point spending time to list them here for a debate since all religions and philosophies will always propose a certain first principles that their adherents cannot compromise on. For example, Islam considers the Qur’an as God’s revelation to humanity while Christians regard the Bible as that revelation. Except God proves either of these first principles false for either of these adherents there can be no meeting point. In spite of this challenge, I will take the chance of looking at one problem with humanism – one challenge that all humanity shares; It is the humanist’s self-righteousness.

If one were to ask a humanist why he does not consider Christianity as a religion he may wish to practice, it is likely he would respond by saying that there are very little Christians do that he does not do. In fact where Christians have been known for their hypocrisy and moral failures, humanists have triumphed. A typical example is the subject of our discussion today, Soyinka. What other person, Christian or otherwise, have done more to better the lives of Nigerians? I will willingly admit there is none. In fact I alluded to that fact in the beginning of this article.

But therein lies the challenge with self-righteousness. If the Christian message is ever relayed correctly to anyone, it usually states that human good is not sufficient to merit God’s approbation. This is the essential difference between the Christian faith and other religions, including humanism (If humanism can be called a religion). Every religion upholds its good works to earn divine approbation. In a sense, Christians uphold their unrighteousness to earn divine approbation. This is the crux of the theology of men like Apostle Paul, who taught that all men have sinned and come short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). And lest the Jew will glory in his covenantal relations with God and his ability to keep the Mosaic laws, Paul says even the Jews were equally sinners before a just God (Romans 2:23).

Therefore to earn divine approbation, the Christian admits his sins, his failures, his self-righteousness, his idols and his total unworthiness. It is in the light of these that he repents and confesses the righteousness of another – the righteousness of the Son of God – Jesus Christ. This is the biblical concept of grace: partaking of God’s largesse for the unworthy. Not based on one’s merit but on the merit of another, even Jesus. When the humanist presents his good works before God, the Christian Bible teaches that he would be condemned. For God is too holy to behold unrighteousness. Because even if a man were to possess a billion good deeds but has just one sin along with them, he stands condemned before a holy God. Therefore obtaining God’s approbation must come via a righteousness that is outside of us. This is the Christian gospel.

I end this discussion with the story of my encounter with a man. He was born a Muslim. He got converted to evangelical Christianity in his youths. He yet again practised the white garment religion at some latter point. But the moment he was sixty years old, he realized the end had arrived. He took a sincere look through his odyssey with various religions and converted back to Islam. I suspect that he must have remembered the religion of his childhood – a religion free from all hypocrisy and decided on that. I said that with the hope that Wole Soyinka may consider the religion of his parents, Christianity, and make a commitment to Christ in the twilight of his life. May the God of heaven, with whom nothing is impossible, grant that the Professor consider this request in the privacy of his hearts.

These are my evangelical thoughts on Wole Soyinka and may God bless these words on the hearts of all sincere readers. Amen.

© Deji Yesufu

Deji Yesufu is the author of the book Victor Banjo. He leads a Reformed Bible Study at the University of Ibadan every Saturday morning.

Source: http://mouthpiece.com.ng/evangelical-thoughts-on-wole-soyinka/