₦airaland Forum

Gleaning Wisdom from Obasanjo’s Letters

by Deji Yesufu

In his book, My Watch, former President Olusegun Obasanjo quotes the biblical prophet Ezekiel as his central text: “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me…”

These were God’s words to Prophet Ezekiel and it forms the underlying principle behind his life and ministry. By quoting that scripture in his latest memoirs, Olusegun Obasanjo is saying that he believes that God has called him to be a watchman over Nigeria; who must issues its leaders and people warning at strategic times.

When those warnings are heeded, things will go well; when those warning are ignored, things go foul in the polity.

Olusegun Obasanjo has paid his dues in the Nigerian project and regardless of whatever failing he might have, he is worth being listened to at this time. Young Obasanjo was an engineer in the Nigerian military, when he was thrust into the centre of the violence of the civil war.

Providence made him lead the last bastion of offence against the Biafran army, and it was to him that Effiong, the person who succeeded the fleeing Emeka Ojukwu, handed over the flag of surrender. Obasanjo was busy about his duties as second in command to Muritala Mohammed when the mantle of leadership fell on his shoulders, after his boss was killed in a bloody coup in 1976.

Olusegun Obasanjo not only succeeded Muritala, he ensured that the administration’s plan for a transfer to civil rule was achieved. A new constitution was promulgated in 1978, while the civilian government of Shehu Shagari took over power from Obasanjo.

The watchman then retired to his father’s farms in Ogun State and took up the duties of a full time farmer. While at the farm, Obasanjo was watching.

In 1995, Obasanjo incurred the wrath of the then supreme ruler of Nigerian, General Sani Abacha. He was roped into a fathom coup, and was arrested by the demon in dark glasses and slammed into prison.

It was clear that he was going to be killed along with other political detainees of that time. But fate smiled on the Owu chief, Abacha died suddenly in 1998 and OBJ (as many call him) was a free man.

The administration of Abdulsalami Abubakar then handed over power to him, after he had beaten Olu Falade of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) at the polls. OBJ was President for two term, 1999-2007. He would again retire to his farm, to write his books and to watch.

Having laid this precedence, I wish to glean wisdom from three letters Obasanjo has ever written and to endeavour to glean some wisdom from them. These letters are the letter he wrote to former President Ibrahim Babangida (November 1992), the letter to former President Goodluck Jonathan (December 2013) and the letter to the incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari (January 2018).

The background to the letter to former military President Ibrahim Babangida was the occasion of the cancelation of the primaries for the two parties, sanctioned by the government of IBB. For reason best known to them, Babangida and those at the seat of power then cancelled the primaries and banned the parties.

It meant that the whole transition to civil rule was going to start all again. Events after that cancelation proved Obasanjo right, when he accused IBB in the letter of unwillingness to hand over power to civilians.

New political parties were formed. MKO Abiola of the SDP went against Bashir Tofa of the NRC. The elections were deemed free and fair, but the Babangida government will again cancel the elections and the situation plunged the country into crisis.

Babangida was unable to handle the situation and thus stepped aside for the Interim Government of Ernest Shonekan.

Mr. Shonekan would however be removed from office by Sani Abacha and thus began a reign of terror in Nigeria, which was only curtailed by the hands of providence when Abacha allegedly died of a heart attack between two Indian prostitutes.

A few months to the playing out of the whole events of 1993, Obasanjo wrote a letter to Babangida, where he took the military President to task on matters bordering on Nigeria. For those who have been complaining about OBJ’s letters to Buhari, his letter to Babangida was not as genteel as these recent ones. It was a bombshell! “I shall be blunt Mr. President,…” said an obviously fuming Obasanjo to IBB in the letter, “for the crisis we face requires blunt, forthright talk and not empty platitudes.”

Incidentally, Obasanjo wrote this letter to IBB just a month after he had been robbed of his car on the express way and the IBB government had responded promptly by replacing his vehicle and meeting his needs.

Obasanjo was not one to be taken away with such niceties, he retorts in his letter: “prolongation of military rule cannot be the answer under the present circumstances…” Thanks to Obasanjo and other pro-democracy groups, Nigeria saw an end to military rule and we began our democratic experiment all over again.

In December 2013, Olusegun Obasanjo was this time driven to write by the lacklustre government Goodluck Jonathan. This time letter was titled “Before it is too late.”

That letter is the longest open letter he had ever written. He begins by reminding Jonathan that the president would be held responsible for whatever becomes of the country.

Then he holds the President to task regarding his denial of his intentions to run another term. Obasanjo made it clear to Jonathan that the bases of his supporting him in 2011 was because Jonathan had promised to do just one term.

He however could not understand the rumours and denial around a second term bid. Then he accuses Jonathan of anti-party activities. Obasanjo ends that letter with the most vitriolic pronouncement on anyone ever. He took Jonathan to task on Buruji Kashamu. Criticizing the president for imposing a drug baron on his own political constituency in the South West.

In response to that letter, Rueben Abati, the President media assistant, wrote a piece titled: “Obasanjo’s Letter: Unbecoming, Self-serving and Highly Provocative.” That title sums up the reaction of the Jonathan government to Obasanjo’s warning.

A few weeks before the 2015 elections, Obasanjo, in a most dramatic fashion, brought out his PDP card membership and tore it into pieces. It was a symbolic action that put paid to the Jonathan’s administration. And true to it, Nigerians proceeded to the polls and voted out an incumbent from office in an unprecedented manner. Many factors led to the end of the Jonathan government. But many political pundits will also owe it to that dramatic action of Obasanjo in tearing his PDP membership. He has since resigned from partisan politics.

Then in January 24, 2018, a little after noon that day, the former president called for a press conference and released a letter on the present government of Muhammadu Buhari. A government he had influenced into power.

In comparison to the two aforementioned letters, this letter to Buhari was the shortest and the mildest. Yet, it might have received the most condemnation from Nigerians. Obasanjo titled this letter “A Clarion Call for Coalition for Nigerian Movement”.

Obasanjo begins his letters with the metaphor of the need to kill the lies of poor performance in office. He reminded the president of his poor grasp of economic matters. He warned against the continuous activities of herdsmen killers. He criticized Buhari’s nepotism and his shielding of certain fellows from prosecution on corruption. He asked Buhari to take a well deserved rest and not run for a second term. He then called all Nigerians to join hands to form a movement of a coalition of Nigerian towards providing good leadership for the nation.

The wisdom in Obasanjo’s letters is that he is fulfilling his God given duties as a watchman to a nation. In all his letters, Obasanjo has shown Nigerians the marks of his sufferings: his fight in the Nigerian civil war and his imprisonment and near execution by Abacha.

A man’s depth of suffering many times can become the height from which the wisdom of his understanding exhumes.

Obasanjo’s letters, which always come in form of warnings, have always been able to act as a deterrent for evil to come on a nation. If there is one warning that can be gleaned from this letter to Buhari, it is the call by the former President on Buhari not to run for another term in office.

Unfortunately, like the proverbial Yoruba dog destined to get lost, people end up not listening to the Owu chief. Muhammadu Buhari will bid for a second term in office in 2019 and he would be sorry he ventured on that project.

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

http://mouthpiece.com.ng/gleaning-wisdom-from-obasanjos-letters/

Explorers:
Yea, no recent picture of the baby as at the time of the report.

Has the boy been found?

Remembering Kaduna Nzeogwu

By: Deji Yesufu

January 15th is Nigerian Armed Forces Remembrance Day. It is also the day Major Chukwuma “Kaduna” Nzeogwu and his colleagues in the military carried out the first coup in Nigeria. Fifty three years ago, about the time of my writing this essay, the revolution had been completed. Notable politicians, particularly those of northern extraction, had been killed. It was not a particularly joyous moment for the mutinous soldiers because except for Kaduna town, where the revolutionaries had taken out the most influential politician in Nigeria, the Sarduana of Sokoto – Sir Ahmadu Bello, the revolution had failed in other parts of the country. Nzeogwu had been cut with a dagger by one of the guards of the Sardauna and was being attended to by a Physician. In a few moment, he would be live on radio to announce the success of his putsch in Northern Nigeria. Here is an excerpt from my book Victor Banjo on Kaduna Nzeogwu:

“Ckukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu was a Sandhurst-trained military officer. He was brilliant. He was the first Nigerian officer to be trained in intelligence. Nzeogwu was a son of a civil servant; he was born in Kaduna town and was nick named “Kaduna” because of his fluency in the Hausa language and his understanding of the culture. Nzeogwu joined the army simply for revolution. He was not sure he would survive it and so he never got married, for fear of leaving behind a widow and fatherless children. Those who knew him said he maintained a high standard of morality and was not one of those officers given to drinking or womanizing. He was a devout Catholic. Nzeogwu never hid his revolutionary ideas. He shared them openly, although only a few people knew how exactly he sought to carry them out...”

By 1963 Kaduna had met Adewale Ademoyega and Ifeanyi Ifeajuna, and the trio began the planning the coup in earnest. While the coup was successful in Kaduna, it failed in Lagos because the mutinous soldiers could not arrest Aguiyi Ironsi, the most senior military officer at the time. The coup was about to kick-start in East before the mutinous soldiers there were rounded up by soldiers loyal to Ironsi.

One might want to ask: is it worth remembering Kaduna Nzeogwu, considering that this man’s actions plunged the country into political instability and finally into a civil war? I think he is worth remembering because history has not been kind to his name. At the time when the coup occurred, many people praised the efforts of the revolutionaries; including people in the international community. A few months after the revolution had occurred, Nzeogwu’s senior in the army, Victor Banjo, who himself had been falsely implicated in the coup, said this about the coup: “These men ... were the ones who gave this country a new lease of life, and their actions were acclaimed by the people of this country and by the world...” He made this statement some six months after the coup, to show that it was not just mere euphoria that usually follows the take over of governments in Nigeria. Until the counter-coup of June 29, 1966, the Nzeogwu coup was regarded as popular and it was the reason the government of that time could not execute the mutinous soldiers.

Only recently did I learn that the great Tai Solarin named the road that led to his Mayflower Schools in Ogun State “Kaduna Nzeogwu Road”. I understand that before the coup, Nzeogwu was a frequent caller at Mr. Solarin’s home. He would usually go and listen to the sage talk about humanities and how to make Nigeria better. Most people who worked with Nzeogwu had a high regard for him. No less a person than former President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote a voluminous book on him titled “Nzeogwu”.

Kaduna Nzeogwu and Emeka Ojukwu were not friends at the period of the coup. The coup had failed to go beyond Kaduna town because Ojukwu, who was the military garrison officer in Kano, refused to cooperate with Kaduna – an officer he considered junior to him in the army. Ojukwu would later go to Lagos and join forces with Ironsi. So in March 6th, 1967, when Ojukwu released all the mutinous soldiers under his region, the East, he did not release Nzeogwu. But students of the University of Nsukka carried out demonstrations and roused public sympathy on Nzeogwu’s behalf. Nzeogwu was subsequently released but Ojukwu did not entrust any command under him when Biafra went to war with Nigeria.

The civil war broke out in earnest in the first week of June 1967. The first theatre of war was the northern region of Biafra – around Nsukka. The Nigerian troops had come in through Makurdi and were met with stiff opposition by the Biafran soldiers. Unfortunately in less than a month of fighting, many of the able men in the Biafran army had been killed. Kaduna Nzeogwu died at war around this time.

The period between 1960 and 1966 was a very tumultuous time in Nigerian history. The British had given the reign of power to the Northern part of Nigeria – a section of the country that was least advanced intellectually. And with the parliamentary system of government, which required that the Prime Minister come to the house of assembly to defend his actions and policies periodically, the Obafemi Awolowo led opposition in the House continually floored the Prime Minister and his party in debates. A Nigerian press that was equally dominated by people from Western Nigeria also brought a lot of embarrassment to the Balewa government.

To save its face, the Balewa government had to carry out a lot of high handed actions. The height of which was imposing treasonable charges on Awolowo and jailing him and a few of his supporters. The Western Region, Awolowo’s stronghold, was plunged in chaos. Out of that chaos came the January 15th, 1966 coup.

With a benefit of hindsight, perhaps unbridled courage was the ruin of Nzeogwu and his fellow revolutionaries. But he cannot be blamed for corruption, selfishness and nepotism, which happened to be the bane of the politicians of those days and today too. Chukwuma “Kaduna” Nzeogwu sought to leave a better Nigeria for all of us. His method was certainly not the right one and clearly must be denounced. He however remains a national hero for many till this day.

Deji Yesufu is the author of the book Victor Banjo. All quotation in this write-up were taken from the book. Yesufu can be reached on newdejix@gmail.com

Source: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1957249031017964&id=1505609702848568

In 1948, Prince Oladele Ajose became the first Nigerian to hold a Professorial Chair in the Country. He later became the first Vice Chancellor of the University of Ife(now Obafemi Awolowo University).

PIONEER PROFESSORS:

First Nigerian Professor of History ~ Prof Kenneth Dike ( From Awka, Anambra).
First Nigerian Professor of Philosophy ~ Prof Olubi Sodipo (From Ilishan-Remo, Ogun state).
First Nigerian Professor of Linguistics~ Prof Ayo Bamgbose (From Oyo, Oyo State).
First Nigerian Professor of French Language ~ Prof Evans.
First Nigerian Professor of Arabic and Islamic Language ~ Prof M.O.A Abdul (Ijebu Ode, Ogun State).
First Nigerian Professor of Yoruba and African Literature ~ Prof Solomon Adeboye Babalola(From Ipetumodu, Osun State)
First Nigerian Professor of Music ~ Prof. Lazarus Ekwueme (From Oko, Anambra state).
First Nigerian Professor of Theatre and Arts ~ Prof Joel Adeyinka Adedeji (State of Origin Unknown).
First Professor of Mass Communication in Nigeria ~ Prof Alfred Opubor (Nigerian-Cotonou).
First Nigerian Professor of Library and Information Science ~ Prof Mrs Adetoun Ogunsheye.
First Nigerian Professor of Education ~ Prof. Aliu Babs Fafunwa (Isale Eko, Lagos State).
First Nigerian Professor of Physical Education ~ Prof. M. Oluwafemi Ajisafe (Ekiti State).
First Nigerian Professor of Tests and Measurement ~ Prof. Dibu Ojerinde (Igboho, Oyo State).
First Nigerian Professor of Law ~ Prof Teslim Olawale Elias (Lagos State)
First Nigerian Professor of Agriculture ~ Prof. Victor Adenuga Oyenuga (Ijebu, Ogun state).
First Nigerian Professor of Animal Science ~ Prof. Gabriel. M. Babatunde (Afijio, Oyo State).
First Nigeria Professor of Forestry ~ Professor Kolade Adeyoju (Ijan-Ekiti, Ekiti State).
First Nigerian professor of clinical pharmacy ~ Prof. Nzebunwa Aguwa (Eke-Nguru, IMO State).
First Nigerian Professor of Medicine ~ Prof. Theophius Ogunlesi (Sagamu, Ogun State).
First Nigerian Professor of Nursing ~ Prof (Mrs). Elfrida. O. Adebo (Abeokuta, Ogun State).
First Nigerian Professor of Physiotherapy ~ Prof. Vincent C. B. Nwuga (Asaba, Delta State).
First Nigerian Professor of Anatomy ~ Prof. Thomas Adesanya Grillo (Lagos State).
First Nigerian Professor of Physiology ~ HRH Prof. Joseph Chike Edozien (Asaba, Delta State).
First Nigerian Professor of psychiatry ~ Prof. Thomas Adeoye Lambo ( Abeokuta, Ogun State).
First Nigerian Professor of public health ~ Prof. Oladele Ajose (Lagos state).
First Nigerian Professor of Nutrition ~ Prof Babatunde Oguntona.
First Nigerian Professor of Paediatrics ~ Prof Olikoye Ransome-Kuti (Abeokuta, Ogun State).
First Nigerian Professor of Botany ~ Prof. Eni Njoku (Ohafia, Abia State).
First Nigerian Professor of Physics ~ Prof. Muyiwa Awe (Esie, Kwara State).
First Nigerian Professor of Parasitology~ Prof. Sanya Onabamiro (Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State)
First Nigerian Professor of statistics ~ Prof. Nwoue Adichie "Chinamada's dad (Abba, Anambra).
First Nigerian Professor of Mathematics ~ Prof. Olagoke Olubummo (From Orin-Ekiti, Ekiti State)
First Nigerian Professor of Geology ~ Prof. Mosobolaje O. Oyawoye (Offa, Kwara State).
First Nigerian Professor of Computer Science ~ Prof. Olu Longe.
First Nigerian Professor of Chemistry ~ Prof. Stephen Oluwole Awokoya (Awa-Ijebu, Ogun state).
First Nigerian Professor Of Architecture ~ Prof. Ekundayo Adeyemi (Iyin-Ekiti, Ekiti State).
First Nigerian Professor of Urban and Regional Planning ~ Prof. Adepoju Onibokun(Iwoye-Ijesha, Osun State).
First Nigerian Professor of Estate Management ~ Prof. John. A. Umeh (Nnobi, Anambra State).
First Nigerian Professor of Accounting ~ Prof. Micheal A. Adeyemo (Irun-Akoko, Ondo State)
First Nigerian Professor of Marketing ~ Prof. Julius Onuorah Onah (Orba, Enugu State).
First Nigerian Professor of Insurance ~ Prof. Joseph. O. Irukwu (Eteem, Abia State).
First Nigerian Professor of Chemical Engineering ~ Prof. Sikiru A. Sanni (Ibadan, Oyo State).
First Nigerian Professor of Industrial Engineering ~ Prof. David. E. Osifo (Benin-city, Edo State).
First Nigerian Professor of Civil Engineering ~ Prof. Ifedayo O. Oladapo ( Ondo, Ondo State).
First Nigerian Professor of Petroleum Engineering ~ Prof. Gabriel Kayode Falade
First Nigerian Professor of Mining Engineering ~ Prof. Zacheus Opafunso (Ede, Osun State).
First Nigerian Professor of Public Health Engineering ~ Prof. Paul Aibinuola Oluwande.
First Nigerian Professor of Geography ~ Prof. Akin Mabogunje (Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State)
First Nigerian Professor of Psychology ~ Prof. Dennis Ugwuegbu (Orlu, Imo State).

FIRST FEMALE PROFESSORS:

- First Nigerian Female Professor ever ~ Prof. (Mrs) Felicia Adetoun Ogunsheye.
- First Nigerian Female Professor of Law ~ Prof (Mrs) Jadesola Olayinka Akande.
- First Nigerian Female Professor of History ~ Prof. (Mrs) Bolanle Awe.
- First Nigerian Female Professor of Pharmacy ~ Prof. (Mrs) Babalola Chinedum Peace.
- First Nigerian Female Professor of Psychiatry ~ Prof. (Mrs) Olayinka Omigbodun.
- First Nigerian Female Professor of Mass Communication ~ Prof. (Mrs) Chinyere Stella Okunna.
- First female Physics Professor in Africa ~ Prof. (Mrs) Deborah Ajakaye.
- First Female Professor of Chemistry in Nigeria ~ Prof. (Mrs) Modupe Ogunlesi.
- First Nigerian Female Professor of Quantity Surveying in Africa ~ Prof Olubola Babalola.
- First female Nigerian Professor of Accounting ~ Prof. Jane Ande.
- First Female professor of physiotherapy in Africa ~ Prof. Arinola O. Sanya.
- First Female Professor of Computer Science ~ Prof Adenike Osofisan.
- First female professor of Chemical Engineering in Nigeria ~Professor (Mrs) P.K. Igbokwe
- First Nigerian Female Professor of Mathematics Education ~ Prof. (Mrs). Grace Allele-Williams.
- First female Professor of Animal Breeding & Genetics in Nigeria~Prof. Adebambo Ayoka.O. Ayoka-olufunmilayo
- First Female Professor of Yoruba Studies in the world ~ Prof. (Mrs). Omotayo Olutoye
- First Female Professor of Agriculture in Nigeria and First Female Professor of Agricultural Economics in Africa ~ Professor (Mrs)
Tomilayo O. Adekanye.
- First Nigerian Female Professor of Urban and Regional Planning ~ Prof.(Mrs).Ogbazi Joy Ukamaka.
:

photo: Oladele Ajose - Prince, Professor, Patriot by Olutayo Charles Adesina

Source: Nigeria Nostalgia https://www./nigeriannostalgiaproject/permalink/2675878045786294/

Phones in Church Services

By: Deji Yesufu

A few years ago Rev. Olatunji, former Chaplain of the Chapel of the Resurrection, University of Ibadan, described how he was walking down the isle of the church once and saw people on a bench engrossed with their phones. He explained that every single person on that row was staring at their phones – totally detached from the ongoing service in church.

There is no doubt that a leading stealer of people’s attention in today’s church services are the phones they bring along with them to church. Churches are increasingly recognizing this problem and as it is usual with us in this clime, many of them are already enumerating laws to curb the vice. This article would attempt to look at various perspectives to this matter and come up with a possible solution – a middle ground of some sort.

Regardless of how we cut it, the use of phones during church services is wrong. Church is the place where redeemed persons gather once in each week to celebrate the risen Christ (who rose on a Sunday), to worship God for his salvation to sinners, to be reminded of God’s holy laws and to fellowship with other Christians. Church should always be a solemn gathering: as we contemplate a dimension of heaven, worship, here on earth. In all reality, our worship of God should take all of our attention. If the phones are stealing some of it, there is something wrong somewhere.

One reason why the phone would be taking the attention of Sunday morning worshippers at church may be for the mere fact that the person engaged in this vice (permit me to use that word) are not Christians at all. Thus the whole ceremony of “worship” is a total waste of their time and that of those conducting the service. The natural thing is for these people to get themselves engaged in a more appealing thing – their phone that is.

That our churches are increasingly filled with unbelievers is a reality that very few pastors and church leaders want to accept. The subject of finding out whether or not persons in church are genuinely converted individuals is a very thorny issues because people would rather prefer to be left alone in their unbelief. But if the Christian minister would do his work as to the Lord and not to man, he would have to confront this fact and find a way out of it. Unbelievers should not be made comfortable in church. They should either submit to the Lord of the Church or they would cease coming to church. There is no middle ground to it.

The second factor that I think might warrant the increasing use of phones in church services by people is the fact that our churches are becoming more and more a social gathering than a place where people come to meet with the living God.

When churches put premium to jokes, bale dancing, dramas, special songs, and so on, and they do not pay attention to preaching sound doctrine in a lively and gripping manner; when churches do not realize that it is the Holy Spirit that brings inspiration and power to a gathering and not marketing strategies; such churches would bring forth Sunday worship programs that may seem appealing to the flesh but are really not edifying to the souls of people. The people who may have been excited by these activities at first would later become bored by them and find other appealing things to fill their time. Most of these people would turn to their phones during services.

The last factor that I would wish to consider in this piece is the unforgivable squandering of people’s precious time by churches in the name of morning services. I honestly do not know where these idea of church services running to three or more hours came from. I was in a Methodist church in Enugu. We spent four and a half hours in church that day. I was livid. Do churches realize that time is money? Do they understand that it is possible to do a lot of important things in a short time and leave out so many frivolities and God would still be pleased? I confess at this point that it in the precious waste of my time, with endless “thanksgivings” and such like, that I resort to my phone sometimes.

What I am saying thus far is simply this: both church leaders and people are culpable in allowing the wide spread use of the phones in church services. It is high time that the basic ideologies that gave rise to a people’s gathering every Sunday be thoroughly perused and the things in them that do not glorify God nor edify men be careful cut out of services. Churches would have to come to terms with what they think is more important. If churches feel that activities that would bring her money in church services are more important than activities that would edify people, we are likely not going to be rid of this phone menace. In fact it is likely to get worse.

A church is a visible representation of the invisible work of God on earth. The head of the church is not the pastor. The head of the church is Jesus Christ. A church that understands the intricate relationship between Christ and his visible people on earth, would pay attention to the things that please our Lord. Wherever Christ is pleased to dwell, his Holy Spirit would be present. And where the Spirit of Christ is every evil work would cease.

The Holy Spirit would grab the attention of sinners and bring them into sound conversion. The Spirit would direct the sermon to be Christ glorifying and would edify the saint. The atmosphere of such a church would be electric. I can assure you that there would be nothing on anybody’s phone that would interest them in such meetings.

If the phones are dominating people’s attention in church, it is either one of two things: it is ether the people have no spiritual life in them or the church does not have the Holy Spirit at work in her midst. Or, quite tragically, both.

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

Source: http://mouthpiece.com.ng/phones-in-church-services/

Another...

There is a deluge of pictures of Nigerians on social media, countering Mr. Buhari 4+4 sign, with a 4+0 sign instead.

Nigerians would provide four fingers with a fist, to indicate that the Nigerian President is better of in Daura after June 12, 2019, than Abuja.

Join the 4+0 campaign.

Pictures from Kunle Oshobi Facebook wall.

MuttleyLaff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWkgBGK3bmI
You havent yet said what Oby said that morning, that is swaying you towards her?
Also what is your take on her reason for going to Minna, paying Babaginda a visit?
Is she kneeling to Babangida, with her kneens firmly on the floor at the end of that YouTube video?

I switch presidential candidates every week now. I trust God to have settled on one by the day of elections. No longer supporting oby.

MuttleyLaff:
You are not breaking forum rules by doing so, it just looks totally uncool "prostrating," literally.

If my tone was strong and coming off insensitive, please accept my apologies. It wasnt meant to be taken personal.

There however for your information is a "Mail Mods" button, that has a "Send E-mail Message to Religion Moderators" feature you can take advantage of, when aiming to get their attention to a post they ordinarily are not likely to see if they are not mentioned on posts.

By the way, I am looking forward to read your analysis on African Action Congress party's candidate Omoyele Sowore bid to contest for presidency in the upcoming 2019 Febuary election.

I used the "mail mode" option and got this thread to front-page

https://www.nairaland.com/4949198/blame-nigerias-woes-elites-deji

Thanks Muttley

Blame Nigeria's Woes on Her Elites

By: Deji Yesufu

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary define an elite class as “a group of persons who by virtue of position or education exercise much power or influence”. Therefore in a society people are divided mainly into two groups: those with position and those without; or those with education and those without; or those with influence and those without. Every society consist of the elite group and non elite. I blame Nigerian’s present woes on her elites and I hope that we can retrace our ways for a better nation tomorrow.

Edmund Obilo’s frequent lamentation on radio is that there is something fundamentally wrong with the black man. He made this position known to Prof. Niyi Osundare in one of his interviews in the now rested program “VOICES”. Osundare refuted the position by saying that the problem of Africa should be placed on the laps of the White Man that colonized and dehumanized us. Unfortunately the erudite Poet did not convince me and I suppose many other listeners as well. I cannot understand how after more than fifty years of independence from our former colonialists, anyone should still be blaming the White Man for our state today. I share Obilo’s sentiment that there is indeed a fundamental flaw in the make up of the black man. And I’m convinced that in this country this flaw can be traced to Nigeria’s elites.

Prof. Wole Soyinka explained in his book, “You Must Set Forth at Dawn”, that in the few years running up to our independence, he was concluding his studies in the United Kingdom. He explained that he met many Nigerian politicians who came to negotiate a successful transition with the British. He however noted one thing about many of them: their highest purpose was to sleep with white women. He wondered then how pedestrian the thinking of our future leaders, our elites, was. It was no surprise to him that barely four years into self rule the nation was in turmoil and seven years after, we had degenerated to full blown civil war.

Fortunately by God’s good Providence this nation survived the civil war and entered into a period of unrivalled wealth and bliss with the discovery of the black gold – crude oil. But typical of the Nigerian elite, we wasted away our resources, spending largely to build infrastructures (which was good) and numerous government institutions which no one paid adequate attention to their productivity. For after 15 to 20 years of establishment, many government institutions ought to have become self sustaining but rather government was still sustaining them. While the elites that ran these institutions fed fat from the proceeds that ought to have accrued to government pocket.

Corruption reigned not just among the leaders but in every place where Nigerian elites held sway. The result today is unemployment for the children of these very elites, since the fathers have eaten the future of their children. Many of my school mates have relocated to foreign countries, where they live and work in places as far away as Australia. The other outcome of eating the future of their children is that the children have taken to arms, kidnapping people, and involving in religious and economic insurgency, as we see in Boko Haram and the Niger Delta terrorists. There is also the scourge of “Yahoo boys” that taken over Nigerian major cities.

The way forward is for those of us with education, position and influence, the younger elites today, to begin to do the right things. Nigeria must kill corruption or corruption will kill us. We must begin to ensure that our institutions work. The police and the judiciary must wake up to ensure that we have functional laws and that law breakers are punished without fear or favor. Our religious institutions must begin to impart moral values in their people. They must set the tone themselves by not being lovers of money. We the elite must wake up!

In another few years the generation that bequeathed a failing state to us will die out. We can choose to leave a better Nigerian society behind for our own children. Those of us in the age group of 35-50 are the ones that can decide today what tomorrow will be like for Nigeria. If we don’t, we will have insecurity, war or a failed state in front of us. For those who believe in a judgement to come, know today that we all will be judged by God for what we did for or against this country.

A people with education and influence can today decide that rather than the downward slope we have been embarking on all these while, Nigeria can take a turn for the better. Let the elites take the blame for the state of the nation and let us take the responsibility to better it.

May God bless our efforts. May God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Have a happy new year 2019.

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

Source: http://mouthpiece.com.ng/blame-nigerian-elites/

Buhari ro'go

Timileyin Ogundare having just received his PVC today took to his Facebook page and announced: "... Buhari ro'go..." meaning "Buhari is in trouble".

Timileyin, a staunch supporter of Omoyele Sowore, is so excited about his one vote. He's confident votes like his will put the APC out of Abuja come June 12, 2019.

Source: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2311155739169895&id=100008264737265

Royalamour

Your case is bad. Really bad. And a divorce is a clear option. I however counsel against divorce BC of God's support for marriage.

You may reach me in the aforementioned email for more counseling.

Royalamour

Here's an article I wrote on Marriage generally:



Mouth Piece
THE EVANGEL
Marriage is Difficult
ADMIN OCTOBER 7, 2018

By Deji Yesufu

The attached photo is the pre-wedding picture of a couple that appeared on the front page of Nairaland this past week. Looking at the man and the woman, one cannot but think that a more perfect couple cannot exist anywhere else in the world.

The man is handsome and the woman is beautiful. The man seem to have it altogether and the woman is smiling to the glories of the future to come. The Cinderella scenario continues until you discover that marriages are contracted in a fallen world, among people with very real weaknesses; which if not managed properly would result in lifelong pain for both spouses and their families.

I saw a movie on Cable TV recently that told the story of a man and his wife. Man and wife love themselves deeply but their marriage is challenged by the fact that the wife is a high flying career woman while the man cannot seem to get his life together.

They have a daughter who loves the father but despises her mother. To cope with his frustration and his wife’s frequent absence from home, man falls into adultery many times. Wife forgives him. Wife however falls victim to a co-worker who preys on one of her vulnerable moments, when she thinks her husband is again cheating on her. She sleeps with this person. Husband learns of it; home is on fire. In the process of finding the truth, husband is killed. Wife and daughter are left alone to bury their dead.

The only attractive thing about couples is the facade of pretence that many put up for members of the public to see and think know that their home is altogether. The truth is that most marriages are hurting and many people are at a loss as to where to find help from. I would not even attempt to suggest any thing like “steps to a victorious marriages”.

All of those people who write books like those are mostly liars. There is no hard and fast rule to making a marriage work. I dare to say that only God can make a marriage work. If we realize that the success of our marriages are premised wholly on the mercies of God, we would turn to him to help us.

I think one of the greatest shock absorbers that I received in dealing with the difficulties in my marriage was realizing early enough that marriage was not going to be a bed of roses. I had understood that my own inherent evil heart would be made manifest to my spouse; therefore giving me a reason to be particularly patient with her own idiosyncrasies.

Somebody asked an elderly couple what was the secret to their longevity in marriage. The man answered by saying: “both of us are never angry at the same time…” It was a sort of unwritten rule for them: only one person is permitted to be angry at the other per time. So when one person blows hurt, the other person keeps quiet.

Yet even this method would not work for all marriages for the mere fact that all human beings are different. And in a home, couples do not pretend. They show their true colours to each other.

While I do not think that I am competent to teach anyone how to run their marriages, I think that God teaches couples how to live with each other. It is at this point that I must say that I am convinced that only a Christian marriage, where the Holy Spirit is Lord of each of the individual’s hearts, would be able to fulfil God’s purpose for a particular marriage. While I am convinced that even non Christian marriages can succeed, I think only a Christian marriage can bring God’s purposes to fruition on earth.

For this to happen, each spouse must know Christ as their Lord and their Savior. This is doubly so because marriage would manifest your heart to you and those who are sincere with themselves would admit whether or not they have known the Savior. In fact the whole process of committing one’s life to Christ is made manifest in the marriage itself.

A self willed and independent woman would realize that if Christ is truly her Lord, then the man whom God has placed over her must be respect and revered, regardless of what he may seem to have or not have. The whole process of learning to submit to her husband become her own path to salvation. The day she surrenders her independence to her husband, that may be the day she has genuinely has surrendered to the Lordship of Christ.

The same thing goes for the man: a man realizes that his freedom is now a bondage to a wife. He cannot do as he pleases anymore. If he loves Christ, he must love his wife. The whole process of loving his wife may become for him the process of loving Christ and submitting to him.

When a husband and a wife come to love and respect one another as the scriptures command, and as the Holy Spirit has taught them to do, their marriage begins to grow into the purposes that God wants for them. The biggest challenge here is that many couples would never know these lessons in their lifetime and may only begin to learn them when death has done them part.

On a positive note, however, we should be encouraged that from everything hard, tough and difficult, comes the most fulfilling, enjoyable and blessed things of life. The same goes with marriages. If couples would endure the storm and wait on God, trusting in his good purposes, they would laugh last. There are so many women today who are thankful that they remained in their matrimonial homes through the years of their husbands philandering. Those who left their homes are today regretting the decision.

Marriage may be difficult but I am convinced that the difficulty in marriages are usually only for a season. A heart steeped with faith in God would endure the hard times and come out rejoicing at the breaking of the day of joy. It is possible for the facade of joy that accompany many of these pre-wedding photos to translate to genuine joy and contentment in latter life after the couple might have endured and overcomed the difficult days of their marriage.

Deji Yesufu is the author of the book VICTOR BANJO. He may be reached on newdejix@gmail.com.

http://mouthpiece.com.ng/marriage-is-difficult/

Great thread. It should make front page

MuttleyLaff:
VBCampaign, I am just back from reading those two articles, I was impressed and pleased to read that Omoyele Sowore personally reached out to you, soliciting for your support, it just shows the conviction, sense of seriousness, sincerity genuineness etcetera of the man.

I usually read about lists of 50 people of influence here and there or around the world, and it just brought it into perpestive that Sowore considered you to be a person with influence, reader followership and power that has similar best interest of the fatherland at heart. The earlier mentioned first two, Sowore especially recognised about you and that is why he so humbly approached you.

Nigeria cant afford to miss or squander a good, promising and golden opportunity, for another 4 years of mediocrity, analogue visions, indifferences to the plagues of the nation, leadership that isnt really taking the nation anywhere to be proud of etcetera.


Quite a lot has happened since and after your two articles, structures are up, town hall meetings visits to more than 35 states, loads of interviews to sensitise him with the electorate giving and explained in detail the party's manifesto on how SPICERHEAT will tackle and address the ills of the country, plans to make the country a construction site etcetera so why did you end your support for Sowore? What are your reasons? What, at the heart of the matter, are/were his sin(s)?

I dont what to know who you'll be thumb printing on February 19 but please God forbid your choice be between PMB or Atiku

Truth is that like many Nigerians I'm at a crossroad as to who to vote for. This morning I'm just considering Ezekwesili

MuttleyLaff:
You are not breaking forum rules by doing so, it just looks totally uncool "prostrating," literally.

If my tone was strong and coming off insensitive, please accept my apologies. It wasnt meant to be taken personal.

There however for your information is a "Mail Mods" button, that has a "Send E-mail Message to Religion Moderators" feature you can take advantage of, when aiming to get their attention to a post they ordinarily are not likely to see if they are not mentioned on posts.

By the way, I am looking forward to read your analysis on African Action Congress party's candidate Omoyele Sowore bid to contest for presidency in the upcoming 2019 Febuary election.

I've written a no of articles on Swore. The last one were I ended my support for him is this one: http://mouthpiece.com.ng/apc-pdp-and-others/

You can see others by searching on the same website

MuttleyLaff:
Whats all this sucking up for front page?
It's a complete turn off ojaare.

The intent of mentioning the moderators of this forum is not to "suck up" to them. It is merely to draw their attention to a post they are not likely to see if they are not mentioned. I apologize if the practice turns you off but I have no intention of stopping it; especially where it has not been spelt out anywhere that I am breaking forum rules by doing so.

Abjay97:
Thanks for this

Thank you

Consider for front page this Sunday: Seun, Lalasticlala, Mynd44

Sin is at the Heart of the Christian Gospel

By: Deji Yesufu

A Muslim lady had died and a friend of hers pasted the following words on Facebook.

“She lived an exemplary life worthy of emulation and deserving of Jannah. After a long fought battle and (as) the time was near (for her to die), she mustered all her energy and said her last audible words ‘la hawla wala kuwwata illa billah (there is no might nor power except with Allah) repeatedly 10 times… O Allah, let (lady’s name) be deserving of Jannah and we pray it is Firdaus. Do forgive her of her sins, overlook her shortcomings and grant her Jannatul Firdaus.”

Those words are quite commonly said for the dead when Muslims die. This time, reading this one, it got me thinking very deeply about the fundamentals of the Christian faith and how, somehow as Christians, we have drifted away from them. In the same manner, therefore, Christians have been unable to commend the gospel to our neighbours. Particularly to our Muslim friends.

In this essay, I wish to compare the statement above with something the Apostle Paul said in the Bible. I would be gleaning similarities and differences in their words and then I would try to reach a conclusion. This article would be first of a many part series I would be discussing in this column as I share along the lines of the fundamentals of the Christian faith and how to make them relevant to our day.

Paul, writing to the Roman Christians and telling them about the blessing of justification by faith, stated this:

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” – Romans 4:7-8.

One clear similarity between that statement I gleaned from Facebook and the words of Paul is this: sin would be a fundamental factor between man and God, whenever we see him – which would most certainly be at the time of our death. Orthodox Christianity and Islam share the fundamental question of how God relates with sin. Sin would determine whether or not the dead would enter into eternal bliss with God in heaven or else be in eternal perdition in hell.

Despite the similarity in belief, there are fundamental differences between these two historic faiths. This article would not attempt to discuss the nitty-gritty of those differences. What I wish to do is examine only one of them in the light of the Christian message and then suggest why the Christian faith offers greater hope for both the living and the dead in this life and in the life to come.

The simple difference between that statement off Facebook and the one quoted from the Bible is this: the Muslim statement is asking for forgiveness AFTER the person is dead. While the Christian statement offers forgiveness while the person is alive.

The Christian message offers humanity genuine hope in the light of our sins. Christianity recognizes the helplessness of all human beings in the light of our bondage to sin. The Christian gospel does not wait for men to die before forgiveness of sin is sort for them; the gospel offers us hope in this life in spite of our sin. This is how it works.

All human beings, born into this world, are sinners. We are all at enmity with the God of all the earth – the one we shall all answer to in spite of our creed and religion. Nevertheless, there is a way God has offered out of sin; there is a “solution” so to speak for sin. Paul in Romans 4:7-8 tells us what becomes of sin after this solution is applied. First, the individual’s lawless deeds are forgiven. Second, the individuals sins are covered. Third, God would not count the individual’s sins against him. All of these does not happen after death; it happens while the person is alive!

Paul refers to this as true blessing. He uses the story of Abraham and how he gained favour with God to validate his point. It is said that Abraham believed God and God counted his faith as righteousness. God looked at his ability to trust him, and not his ability to do things, as his righteousness. This is the most profound truth of the Christian gospel and it is a disservice to many that these things are no longer taught in our churches.

What then is the basis of this faith in God? This faith that brings righteousness. This faith that produces a blessedness that expunges and covers sin. What is this faith about? This faith is belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. Scriptures says if you do, you would be saved (Acts 16:31). Unfortunately this is where Islam and Christianity depart from each other fundamentally. But until someone can show me that I can find hope and salvation from my sins in another way better than the one the Bible teaches, I would rather stick with a gospel that offers me hope of salvation in this life; than wait for one that suggests a possible hope to me when I am dead.

I want to end this essay with a plea: a kind of disclaimer. It is not my intention to raise up theological arguments. I am very aware that Muslim and Christian scholars have debated these issues for so long. I listened to a few of these debates myself. However, I am not sure that many of them have touched on this fundamental matter of sin and salvation.

Muslims quite rightly say, as they pray for the dead, that may God grant forgiveness to the sins of the dead. I however find this prayer unnecessary when the Bible quite clearly states that we can find certainty of forgiveness for our sins in this life and not have to wait for an uncertain forgiveness of sins after our lives are gone.

Romans 4:7-8 is a prayer I utter to God everyday of my life now. Daily I thank God for forgiving me my sins through Jesus Christ. I thank him for covering my sins – particularly those I am unable to confess readily in the place of prayer. Finally I have a relationship with God, through Jesus, which even my sins cannot spoil – God does not hold my sins against me. This is why I am blessed indeed.

One other reason why I pray this prayer is so that in health I can exercise myself in a confession that I trust God I would make at the point of my death. In my final hours on earth, I trust God to make these confessions:

“O Lord, I thank you for forgiving me my sins through Jesus Christ your Son. I thank you for covering my sins with his blood and I thank you for not holding my sins against me, both in this life and in the life to come.”

This is the blessedness of the Christian life and every human being living can partake of it.

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

Source: http://mouthpiece.com.ng/sin-is-at-the-heart-of-the-christian-gospel/

Seun, Lalasticlala, Mynd44 consider for front page

A Proper Perspective to 2019

By: Deji Yesufu

On January 1st, 1964 the late educationist, humanist and public commentator, Mr. Tai Solarin, wrote an article which he titled “May Your Road Be Rough”. He was saying in summary in the essay that difficulty is better for the human being; that the greatest impetus to innovation, production and success is hardship. So rather than join the mass of those who were wishing everyone else “a happy New Year”, Tai Solarin prayed that the year be rough for all his readers. He wrote:

“…Life, if it is going to be abundant, must have plenty of hills and vales. It must have plenty of sunshine and rough weather. It must be rich in obfuscation and perspicacity. It must be packed with days of danger and of apprehension…”

Would anyone read what Tai wrote and disagree with him? Not many people. Yet many of us still cannot bring ourselves to praying this prayer he prayed some 55 years ago. Many people would readily praise the radical Solarin mind-set and still go on from year to year, wishing everyone a “happy New Year”. Tai’s view is even a lot more radical in our day; a time that is characterized with the prevailing Pentecostal/Charismatic mind-set that is forever speaking some positivity all the time. Hoping, as they say, you will reap the fruit of your mouth.

Having said that, I would readily confess that I cannot pray Mr. Tai’s prayer for myself or for anyone else. I would not begin 2019 wishing for myself that the road that I would thread through the year would be rough. I have witnessed rough roads in my years on earth and I am not ready to experience those things again. Yet, I believe there is wisdom in Mr. Tai’s words and thus would be suggesting in this essay a middle line between Mr. Tai’s radicalism and today’s extreme positivism. I therefore think there is a proper perspective to every year that we all should have.

First, I think every man should agree immediately that there is a blessing in every difficulty and that if we would make success or progress in whatever venture we are involved in, we must be ready to take risks; such risks that could plunge us into pain. But remembering, like they say, “no pain no gain”. So there is that proper militant mind-set to face life and whatever it might bring. This would mean that we might need to hold in contempt this tendency to wishful thinking and hoping for some great year. We should keep in mind that following a dark night comes a bright morning. Some of the greatest gains we would get out of life would come from great losses.

Second, we must understand providence. Those of us who are religious see providence as God’s abundant provision to all his creation. God has not just created human being, he is also actively involved in sustaining them. Now, if we submit to the truth that God give good things, we should also not shy away from the fact that he also brings bad things towards a good purpose. The Bible quotes Job as saying “…shall we receive good from God and not also evil…?”

This means that if God is good and provides good things to all of his creation, we must realize that God may permit evil in our lives towards a greater good. If we deny this fact, we may as well deny that God gives good things to all humans also.

Third and finally, we all enter into a New Year with the hope that the year would produce more for us than the previous year(s). If this is going to happen, we must also have to do a little more than we did in the past year(s). This would usually involve greater investments, greater risks, greater commitment to work and so on. None of these would come easy. They would all come with their measure of strain, hurt and, in the words of Tai Solarin, roughness.

Therefore the person who has ventured into a year with the hope that it would all be fun, joy and bliss, would not recognize opportunities for successes all because the path to them seem difficult. The reality also is that most people who make success of whatever endeavours they are involved with are persons who have tried their hands on many other things. So if you are one who is easily discouraged and cannot endure hurt, you are not likely to make success of life.

If anyone had told me that to produce my book Victor Banjo I was going to go through that much stress, I would have thought twice before writing the book. It took me just one month to write the original transcript. But it took my editors and I another seven months to edit the book for the final form for printing. On the final week before going to the printers, I had to read the whole transcript for as many as five times in one sitting. It was very straining. It was a learning curve for me, such that I would think twice before I embark on writing another book. I am today however the better for it because I am a proud publisher of one book.

This is a reality for every other endeavour in this life. Where there is no pain, there is no gain. A proper perspective to the New Year indeed is to be open to whatever the year would bring. We should be thankful for every blessing but even more thankful for the difficulties the year may bring. We must keep in mind that at the end of a rough road are great successes, productivity and achievement.

A Merry Christmas to all my readers and do have the heart to bear with all the difficulties that 2019 would bring your way; for in the sweat is great gain.

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

Source: http://mouthpiece.com.ng/a-proper-perspective-to-2019/

Hijab Crisis in ISI and the Loss of Missions

By: Deji Yesufu

After a knock on the door of my office, she sauntered in. She appeared unfamiliar to me. Fatimah (not real name) introduced herself. She was one of the students that come around for Industrial Training at my place of work. What caught my attention about her was her outfit: she was wearing a dark clothing that covered her from the top of her head to the sole of her feet, leaving only her face uncovered. I was intrigued that a University student would be dressed like this, so I quickly struck a conversation with her.

“You are new around here…”

“Yes.”

“I learnt that what you are wearing is not the traditional hijab. That the hijab is the clothing that covers the head to the shoulder”.

“No,” she explained, “what I am wearing is the real hijab. The one that covers the head to the shoulder is an adapted one to fit the culture of the times.”

“So the Christians who are querying the use of hijab at ISI (the International School Ibadan) are right after all. If they permit the use of the shoulder reaching hijab today, Muslims would return tomorrow to ask for the toe reaching one like you are wearing.”

She kept quiet. Then she said I was being ingenious with the argument and that I was using the information she had just supplied me against the Moslems’ quest to wear hijab in schools. She said that she actually went to a Christian secondary school where she was not allowed to use any hijab at all. But that the wearing of hijab is a religious injunction placed on every growing and adult woman in Islam.

In my last essay on the crisis of the use of hijab at the ISI, University of Ibadan (www.mouthpiece.com.ng/the-hijab-controversy-at-isi/), I took a position that supported the Christians’ desire that hijab should not be used in the school. I felt that the argument for a “uniform” among students was very sound and a hijab would strike at the heart of uniform-dressing in a school. But I ended that essay by saying that the Muslims have a right to go to court and allow the laws of the land to rule on the disputed matter. I told Fatimah this and she said:

“Yes, it is in court and hopefully we would win… we always win anyway.”

The possibility of a judgement going in favour of Muslims in this matter of the use of hijab in ISI is what has prompted this essay. I would be arguing here that there is a lot more to dressing in our schools and that Christians can actually use this situation for missions, rather than a tendency to perpetuate a tradition that, in the Christians’ mind-set, is supposed to be a “Christian” manner of dressing.

The minister at the Chapel of the Resurrection, University of Ibadan (UI), the Rev. O. K. Oyelade, revealed the minds of many Christians in the University community, when in a recent admonition to church members he called on Christians to eschew violence on this disputed matter of hijab wearing at ISI. The implication of that statement is that some people were ready to use force to ensure that the hijab is never used at the ISI. That there are people who would call themselves Christians and yet accommodate such thoughts in their minds is the more reason why Christians should understand what exactly is our calling in a world of sin.

The biggest tragedy in all these is not whether or not religious people are debating over what to wear or not wear. The biggest tragedy in this matter is the loss of the spirit of missions among Christians in the University community of UI.

If, by a special work of God, ISI happens to be in fact a “Christian” school, where there is known academic excellence and where young people leave such academic environment with a greater conception of the Christian gospel: growing in genuine love to outsiders and exemplifying practical piety; if it happens that Muslims students enrol in ISI and at the close of their six year stay return to their homes confessing Jesus Christ as the Lord of their lives, while at the same time presenting to their parents WAEC results of mostly A’s; if this is what is happening in ISI, would anyone be debating over hijab? Would Muslim parents even dare send their child to that school?

The real indictment in this matter is not the Muslims who are calling to have their children wear hijab; the real indictment are Christians who have lost the true spirit of missions that birth the ISI and other mission schools in Nigeria. Where there is no abiding influence, power or fire of the Holy Ghost any other kind of evil work would be permitted to happen.

Let me say this categorically that there is nothing Christian about ISI. It may have started as a Christian school but it has since lost that vision. It is today a secular school and a secular school should indeed permit the mode of dressing that all other religious groups, whose children are students in the school, permit. It would be pure injustice to not allow this to happen.

This matter of the wearing of hijab by Muslim girls in schools would reach up to the Supreme Court of Nigeria and there is the likelihood that the Muslims would win the case. It would then mean that hijab wearing would become permissible not only in secondary schools but also in primary schools. And it would not be because anyone wishes to Islamize Nigeria; it would be because the Nigerian Christian community had since lost its spirit of missions for a party spirit of prosperity and breakthroughs.

Can this be remedied?

I think the way forward would not be to outlaw the hijab in ISI. In fact, I would counsel that the authorities of the University of Ibadan meet with the Muslim group that went to court over this matter and settle it amicably out of court. Because if this matter reaches the Supreme court, the Christian communities are not likely to receive a favourable judgement.

As they seek to bring this matter out of the civil courts, the ISI leadership would need to look closely into the matter of its foundational principles. If indeed she is a Christian school, she would need to revive her Christian tenets and pursue to imbibe them in the lives of staffs and students. Wherever light shines, darkness will be dispelled. ISI and its officials would need to have Christ back as the Lord of their school. When Jesus rules and godliness prevails, everything ungodly would flee.

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

Source: http://mouthpiece.com.ng/hijab-crisis-in-isi-and-the-loss-of-missions/

Moderators Seun, Lalasticlala, Mynd44 kindly consider for front page

Hijab Crisis in ISI and the Loss of Missions

By: Deji Yesufu

After a knock on the door of my office, she sauntered in. She appeared unfamiliar to me. Fatimah (not real name) introduced herself. She was one of the students that come around for Industrial Training at my place of work.

What caught my attention about her was her outfit: she was wearing a dark clothing that covered her from the top of her head to the sole of her feet, leaving only her face uncovered. I was intrigued that a University student would be dressed like this, so I quickly struck a conversation with her.

“You are new around here...”

“Yes.”

“I learnt that what you are wearing is not the traditional hijab. That the hijab is the clothing that covers the head to the shoulder”.

“No,” she explained, “what I am wearing is the real hijab. The one that covers the head to the shoulder is an adapted one to fit the culture of the times.”

“So the Christians who are querying the use of hijab at ISI (the International School Ibadan) are right after all. If they permit the use of the shoulder reaching hijab today, Muslims would return tomorrow to ask for the toe reaching one like you are wearing.”

She kept quiet. Then she said I was being ingenious with the argument and that I was using the information she had just supplied me against the Moslems’ quest to wear hijab in schools. She said that she actually went to a Christian secondary school where she was not allowed to use any hijab at all. But that the wearing of hijab is a religious injunction placed on every growing and adult woman in Islam.

In my last essay on the crisis of the use of hijab at the ISI, University of Ibadan (www.mouthpiece.com.ng/the-hijab-controversy-at-isi/), I took a position that supported the Christians’ desire that hijab should not be used in the school. I felt that the argument for a “uniform” among students was very sound and a hijab would strike at the heart of uniform-dressing in a school. But I ended that essay by saying that the Muslims have a right to go to court and allow the laws of the land to rule on the disputed matter. I told Fatimah this and she said:

“Yes, it is in court and hopefully we would win... we always win anyway.”

The possibility of a judgement going in favour of Muslims in this matter of the use of hijab in ISI is what has prompted this essay. I would be arguing here that there is a lot more to dressing in our schools and that Christians can actually use this situation for missions, rather than a tendency to perpetuate a tradition that, in the Christians’ mind-set, is supposed to be a “Christian” manner of dressing.

The minister at the Chapel of the Resurrection, University of Ibadan (UI), the Rev. O. K. Oyelade, revealed the minds of many Christians in the University community, when in a recent admonition to church members he called on Christians to eschew violence on this disputed matter of hijab wearing at ISI. The implication of that statement is that some people were ready to use force to ensure that the hijab is never used at the ISI. That there are people who would call themselves Christians and yet accommodate such thoughts in their minds is the more reason why Christians should understand what exactly is our calling in a world of sin.

The biggest tragedy in all these is not whether or not religious people are debating over what to wear or not wear. The biggest tragedy in this matter is the loss of the spirit of missions among Christians in the University community of UI.

If, by a special work of God, ISI happens to be in fact a “Christian” school, where there is known academic excellence and where young people leave such academic environment with a greater conception of the Christian gospel: growing in genuine love to outsiders and exemplifying practical piety; if it happens that Muslims students enrol in ISI and at the close of their six year stay return to their homes confessing Jesus Christ as the Lord of their lives, while at the same time presenting to their parents WAEC results of mostly A’s; if this is what is happening in ISI, would anyone be debating over hijab? Would Muslim parents even dare send their child to that school?

The real indictment in this matter is not the Muslims who are calling to have their children wear hijab; the real indictment are Christians who have lost the true spirit of missions that birth the ISI and other mission schools in Nigeria. Where there is no abiding influence, power or fire of the Holy Ghost any other kind of evil work would be permitted to happen.

Let me say this categorically that there is nothing Christian about ISI. It may have started as a Christian school but it has since lost that vision. It is today a secular school and a secular school should indeed permit the mode of dressing that all other religious groups, whose children are students in the school, permit. It would be pure injustice to not allow this to happen.

This matter of the wearing of hijab by Muslim girls in schools would reach up to the Supreme Court of Nigeria and there is the likelihood that the Muslims would win the case. It would then mean that hijab wearing would become permissible not only in secondary schools but also in primary schools. And it would not be because anyone wishes to Islamize Nigeria; it would be because the Nigerian Christian community had since lost its spirit of missions for a party spirit of prosperity and breakthroughs.

Can this be remedied?

I think the way forward would not be to outlaw the hijab in ISI. In fact, I would counsel that the authorities of the University of Ibadan meet with the Muslim group that went to court over this matter and settle it amicably out of court. Because if this matter reaches the Supreme court, the Christian communities are not likely to receive a favourable judgement.

As they seek to bring this matter out of the civil courts, the ISI leadership would need to look closely into the matter of its foundational principles. If indeed she is a Christian school, she would need to revive her Christian tenets and pursue to imbibe them in the lives of staffs and students. Wherever light shines, darkness will be dispelled. ISI and its officials would need to have Christ back as the Lord of their school. When Jesus rules and godliness prevails, everything ungodly would flee.

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

Source: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1919782214764646&id=1505609702848568

Concluded:

One high point of my stay in Enugu is in discovering the phenomenon called Gburugburu. Gburugburu is the nick name of the present Governor of Enugu, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. Gburugburu means “everywhere”. I understand it is a name of a chieftaincy title that he holds but it portrays in real fact the kind of person that he is. Ugwuanyi is a big fellow with a big heart. He is generally regarded as a “performing” Governor. Enugu State, since 1999, has been led by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). The party has succeeded in zoning out the governorship seat to the three Senatorial zones in the city. Ugwuanyi is from the northern senatorial zone, Nsukka. In spite of the work he has done in Enugu, he has also helped to improve the infrastructures in Nsukka.

John took me to Nsukka for a burial. It was a delight driving from the town of Opi to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, on a road that Ugwuanyi had only recently built. The commercial aspect of that city had opened up a great deal; making it easy for transporters coming from the North and Benue State, to connect through the city unto Port Harcourt.

Then there is the night life of Enugu city. I was told that Enugu is only second to Owerri (Imo State) in night party ridding. Hotel business is a booming business in Enugu. In fact there are seasons that hotels are fully booked in the city. Enugu folks love life and they live it to the fullest. There is very little crime and the people are very hardworking. There is also the booming estate business in the city.

I personally have not seen as many estates anywhere else as I saw in Enugu. It seems to me that everyone is either building a house or has built a house in that city. The city is a massive construction site. John told me that some two to three years ago, people of Eastern origin suddenly awoke to the consciousness of building their own region. So even though they do not live in these houses, except at Christmas, everyone owns a house back home in Enugu.

My book had been written around a central theme that Nigeria is better together than divided. I saw this theme play out in practical terms while I was in Enugu. Not for once was I discriminated against because I was Yoruba. In fact the very moment anyone learnt I was a visitor, everyone made efforts to ensure that I was most at home in the city.

At the Centre for Memories, were I gave my first book reading on Saturday 3rd, November, I was guest to Prof. Rena Okonkwo. She is a retired Professor of History from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She did a brief review of my book with the guests and then I was invited to speak to them. Ms. Adachukwu Onwudiwe and Ms. Florence Ugwu of the Crater Library and Publishers, coordinated everything around my literary works in the city. I remain greatly indebted to the duo.

On Saturday, 10th of November, I was guest of the Enugu Literary Society at Radio Nigeria, Enugu. Mr. Ken Ike, the Zonal Director of Radio Nigeria Enugu, was my host. He led me through a series of questions and answers on my book, as I sat before scores of guests who had come to the program that evening.

The event that evening is probably one that I would never forget. The Enugu Literary Society is a forum that holds every second Saturday of each month at the Radio Nigeria and it has writers come to talk about their books. They have students from Secondary Schools, who are interested in Literature, come also to both talk about their own writings and to listen to published writers. As I sat and watched these young people talk and ask questions, I knew that Eastern Nigeria was already sowing seeds of greatness for its future. Other regions of this country have a lot to imitate from them.

My trip to Enugu had come within a few days of my annual leave. It is the best holidays I have ever taken in my life. Enugu is a city you would want to visit or even live in. What I saw in that city is a pointer to a great future that awaits Eastern Nigeria and the whole country in the days to come. There is a sense in it that my trip to Enugu was a kind of gburugburu around Eastern Nigeria – it took me everywhere I never dreamt I would go to in that region of this country.

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

http://mouthpiece.com.ng/gburugburu-my-trip-to-enugu/

I must commend the hospitality of Enugu people and their kindness to strangers. Unlike Western Nigeria where many people tend to fear being used for fetish purposes, the few people I asked directions of in Enugu were always very gracious to help me out. My host had instructed someone to drive me from the motor park to the house. After a few minutes, I found him and then headed to my place of abode.

Enugu is an ancient city in Nigeria. It was the capital city of the defunct Eastern region in the colonial/post independence years. Since those days, Enugu city has developed considerably to a modern city state that is arguably one of the most organized cities in Nigeria. One must testify to the ingenuity of successive governors in the state that have given priority to construction of roads in the city. Enugu road network are so well done that I could say that in my ten day stay in the city, I did not meet one single hold up. The efforts of successive state governors to build Enugu is even more commendable considering that the state is not an oil producing state. They are clearly using their meagre resources very well.

Independence Lay Out, Enugu, is the heart of the city. This part of the city is a real beauty. It houses many of federal and state government buildings. I was at the Michael Opara square, right at the middle of Independence Layout, on the last Saturday of my stay in Enugu. There I met hundreds of Enugu city dwellers who had come out early in the morning to exercise, jug and to generally keep fit. It is the first time in my life to see a whole city giving premium to a vital matter of health and fitness. I was told by John, my friend who took me around to see the city, that even military and para-military personals join in this fitness work that take place every Saturday at the Michael Opara Square. Following my experience there, since arriving from Enugu, I have kept a daily fitness schedule here in Ibadan.

Continued:

Gburugburu: My Trip to Enugu

By: Deji Yesufu

My biggest ambition for the year had been to take my book, Victor Banjo, to Eastern Nigeria. I thought that if I have written a book against the cessation call by the Indigenous People of Biafra from Nigeria, there was no better place to tell the story than in Igbo land itself. So I reached out to friends in Enugu and the trip was planned. November 2, a Friday, I was on my way to Eastern Nigeria to discuss my book with the people of Enugu. This would be my first trip to Eastern Nigeria.

Prior to going to Enugu, my mind had been filled with all kinds of misconceptions about Igbo land. I had people around me who were certain that I was going to meet a certain death in the East. “How dare you go to the East and criticize Ojukwu?” I was warned. It was not that I was not afraid; I think the sheer thought of adventure overshadowed all my fears. I was however afraid of being kidnapped; so I never broadcasted my location on social media throughout my stay in Enugu, except when I was at public meetings. I would learn during my stay that kidnapping is history in Enugu.

Mentally, I was prepared for the close to ten hour trip from Ibadan to Enugu but by the time we were leaving Awka, I was beginning to get desperate. We entered the city of Enugu at about 6:30pm and the first thing that took my breadth away was looking at the vast spread of the city from the heights of the Milliken Hills. It was a beautiful sight to behold. The State Government of Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi had only recently refurbished the road that snaked through the hills at the entrance to the city and had provided lightings and barriers against cars falling off the edges. The sight of the city from that height put a hunger in me to see more of Enugu from that moment.

Oyedepo, Mbaka: A Terrible Day for Religion

By: Deji Yesufu

It was a terrible day for religion in Nigeria this past week as the overseeing Bishop of the Living Faith Churches, David Oyedepo, and the man at Adoration Ministries, Enugu, Fr. Ejike Mbaka, made various gaffes in their sermons that caught the attention of Nigerians. What might have been more tragic about these statements was that these popular charismatics ministers may not have realized the mistakes in their statements. Instead their followers have stood with them, while the pastors utilize age old silence to subdue their critics who have drawn their attention variously to these matters.

David Oyedepo, while ministering to members of his church at Otta, Ogun State, spoke of the growing rumour among Nigerians that an impersonator has taken the place of Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian President, at the nation’s seat of power in Abuja. To lend credence to his position, Oyedepo quotes Olatunji Dare article of 27th November, 2018, titled “Buhari’s Double”. Oyedepo, reading from a script, said:

“This disturbing information came from the Nation Newspaper of Tuesday, 27th November 2018, written by one Olatunji Dare, exploded with ‘authoritative assertions’, he said, claiming among others: That President Buhari had died in the U.K. in 2017, whilst he was undergoing medical treatment. HOW? That the entrenched cabal in Aso Rock had procured ‘President Buhari’s double’ in Sudan and pressed him to serve as Nigerian President. What? That the representatives of the ‘Jubril’ family having discovered the gigantic swindle, suddenly showed up in Abuja and demanded to be compensated with power-sharing arrangement at the Federal level in perpetuity plus 50% of Nigerian oil revenues for 10 years in the first instance.”

What the Bishop read was precisely what Mr. Dare wrote. What the revered minister failed to see in the write up was the satire in the whole piece. Olatunji Dare had been discussing the matter of Nnamdi Kanu and his propagating of the “Buhari Double” rumour. Mr. Dare, in his bid to make Kanu’s position sound even more ridiculous, went further to say that the family of Buhari’s impersonator, Jibril, were blackmailing the Nigerian government on the whole matter. Dare made up the satire to make Kanu’s position sound preposterous. This is what David Oyedepo read to his congregation as news!

The other gaffe that made the news in the past week was the one from Fr. Ejike Mbaka of the Adoration Ministries, Enugu. The revered Catholic Charismatic pastor did not conceal his love for money when he took the Nigerian president through his legendary caustic tongue. Mbaka said that he had prayed for the recovery of President Buhari and in return the President should have come to Adoration Ministries to “thank God”. He said no one cheats God and goes free. He warned that Buhari’s illness may return if the President did not come to him and offer thanksgiving.

While many where still in the dark as to the nature of the gratitude the President should offer, Mbaka embarks on a tirade of other political figures. He says that Peter Obi is stingy. That all he could offer his ministry was a miserly half a million naira. He said:

“(Gov. Dave) Umahi (of Ebonyi State) donated 1,000 bags of rice and 1,000 tubers of yam to us, but it meant nothing to me until he handed N10 million cheque to me and promised to build a project for the ministry. This is the type of gesture we require from Obi.”

At the end of the tirade, it was clear that pecuniary reasons were the factors that were engendering the latest statement from the popular Enugu reverend father.

These two incidents have quite unexpectedly revealed certain realities about popular figures in Nigerian religious life. Speaking on the incident, Bamidele Ademola-Olateju gave this advice on her Facebook wall: “…Good education is sweet! Read classics, great biographies & good fiction. You can’t achieve depth by reading; Rich Dad, Poor Dad…” She was saying, in other words, that if David Oyedepo was adept in reading, beyond the prosperity/faith jargon he writes, he would have recognized satire from what Olatunji Dare wrote.

The fact of the matter is that some of the least informed set of people in the country today are Pentecostal Pastors and their followers. Beyond whatever professional career they may be involved with, Pentecostals do not read anything but Prosperity/Faith theological books. At the end, they are usually wholly uninformed when it comes to dealing with other matters in the real world.

On the other hand, and quite unfortunately, Fr. Ejike Mbaka has revealed what many of us have long suspected is the underlying motive for his kind of ministry: MONEY. Mbaka spoke from the abundance of his heart, and since Catholic Charismatics are usually not the object of criticism in the religious sphere, he felt free to speak about the pecuniary undertone of his ministry. Unfortunately for him, he revealed too much.

In November this year, I was in Enugu to market my book Victor Banjo. My friends, who were taking me around to see the city, pointed out to me that Mbaka’s bottled water Aqua Rapha was the leading bottled water company in Enugu and environs. In fact it was initially named Healing Waters. But NAFDAC had a running battle with Mbaka and forced him to change the name, so that the public are not deceived to using the water for healing purposes.

Yet, the bottled water is all that Enugu folks drink. Why? They hold that Mbaka’s healing powers are in the water. Besides, the term “Aqua Rapha” is still “healing water” in Greek. That experience with Aqua Rapha remains the only let down to my wonderful experience while visiting the beautiful city of Enugu.

What is my point?

For too long we have centred our attention on Pentecostals and their use of God to make money in ministry. Very few people are commenting on Catholic Charismatics. The fact, as revealed in the latest Mbaka gaffe, is that there is practically no difference in all of them. Mbaka is in this thing for the money; just like his Pentecostal counterparts.

The lesson is simple: men’s hearts are revealed from the multitudes of the words they proclaim. The wise speak little so as to reveal less folly. The foolish utter it all to his own disgrace. It was a terrible day for religion in Nigeria with these various gaffes from David Oyedepo and Ejike Mbaka.

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

http://mouthpiece.com.ng/oyedepo-mbaka-a-terrible-day-for-religion/