2019: A tale of two live interviews

The interviews anchored by Kadaria Ahmed and titled ‘The Candidates’ have  hosted the leading candidates of the two major political parties jostling for votes in the 2019 presidential election. The Candidates’ is a form of presidential town hall meeting that is co-produced by Daria Media and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), with support from the MacArthur Foundation.

The moderator hosted the duo of President Muhammadu Buhari and Professor Yemi Osinbajo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as well as Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Mr. Peter Obi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Credit must be given to Kadaria Ahmed for proving her mettle as an ace  journalist.

However, an  assessment  of the performance  of both APC and PDP candidates in the interviews needs to be made to guide Nigerians in making the right  choice come February 16, 2019. The performance  of  Buhari and Atiku  can be adjudged in the areas listed below :

On  the ability  of the two candidates to easily understand and mentally process simple questions, read the conversation:

Kadaria: What are your thoughts on restructuring with regards to education?

Buhari: I’m expecting the press to investigate the corruption in the local government.

Kadaria : Will  you consider amnesty for corrupt persons willing to surrender loot as a president ?

Atiku: Yes, I will consider granting amnesty to corrupt persons willing to surrender their loots. I will consider drawing a line during which corrupt former public officials would be allowed to return their loot without prosecution. After then, strong policies would be put in place to prevent and fight corruption. It will be more prudent to allow looters return their assets to Nigeria tax free and invest them in order to boost the country’s economy. Whether it is moral rectitude that you want to achieve or you want to see a fast development of your country?

On the ability of the two men  to provide correct answers to questions, they said as follows:

Kadaria: Why should the Nigerian people vote for you again?

Buhari : I’ve said before that if my party nominates me, I will contest.

Kadaria : Will you accept the result of election if you lose?

Atiku: If elections are adjudged to be free and fair and credible, why not? I have lost elections before.

Another crucial area is on the demonstrated abilities of  Buhari and Atiku on up to date grasp of events across the nation and the world; here are their responses:

Kadaria: Soldiers are protesting poor treatment and are ill- equipped. What are your thoughts?

Buhari: I get situation report from the military. The military should investigate the demonstrations because they are not supposed to demonstrate.

Kadaria : What’s your definition of corruption and how did you manage  to co-own  Intels while serving as a top Customs Officer?

Atiku : Corruption is when you use your privileged position to enrich yourself, family or friends at the expense of the nation.

I did not use my position as a top government official to enrich myself. There was no conflict of interest because the existing law at the time allowed me to purchase private shares in Intels. I subsequently resigned in 1989 as a top official with the Nigerian Customs Service.

There  is also the angle of demonstrated mental alertness by Buhari and Atiku  based on the following responses:

Kadaria: What’s the solution to the conflict between farmers and herdsmen?

Buhari: We studied grazing routes from the 1st republic. Benue Governor shouldn’t ban grazing but provide routes for grazing.

Kadaria : What’s the solution to the conflict between farmers and herdsmen?

Atiku: The solution is provision of feeding lots. Although it may be more expensive to establish but it will definitely make  cows to have more milk and beef. Dialogue and nomadic education will also be reintroduced.

Clear cut plans for Nigerian citizens was equally an area in the interviews. The conversation:

Kadaria: BH targeting the military and killing soldiers. Are you worried about that?

Buhari: They choose the time to attack. We have resource limitations. BH gets  help from external forces.

Kadaria: How do you plan to lift people out of poverty if you are elected president in the 2019 general elections? Atiku : A few years ago, I set up a microfinance bank in Adamawa and I brought in someone from Bangladesh and you know they are the best in the world in that area. I told him I wanted to lift people out of poverty and I want you to dedicate 80 per cent of your loans to women. You know how many persons I was able to lift out of poverty? 45,000.

Conclusively, a nation they say  gets the type of leader it deserves. Both presidential candidates in the interviews have  clearly exposed their strengths and weaknesses. One thing that remains sacrosanct in life is the fact that nobody can give what he does not possess. Good and purposeful leadership  entails more than having a cult like and mammoth crowd of followers. An ailing nation like Nigeria deserves nothing short of a leader that is physically and mentally active and healthy to relentlessly begin the process of healing.

• Ibidapo lives in Akure, Ondo State

Share:

Read More

Ikpeazu: I took Abia shoe makers to see The Gambian President

Gov. Ikpeazu

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, in this interview, speaks on his scorecard in almost four years of superintending over the affairs of Abia State. Excerpts:

It’s been almost four years since Abians gave you their mandate. Can you tell us what has really happened within this period?

It has been three and a half years of hard work, painstaking planning, constant monitoring and evaluation of our assignments. What has made the job a little more interesting for us is that we had a clear vision of what we wanted to do and we also spent a lot of time developing strategies that will help us deliver on our mandate and some of these strategies are not classical pieces of information from the regular books of economics or development in other climes; we had to do some home grown devices and strategies to suit our peculiar circumstances in Abia.

We decided to look at how best we can deliver on our vision which is to create a better life for our people and to make Abia a destination for trade and commerce as well as an environment and ecosystem for small and medium scale enterprises. And in order to achieve this, we looked at the things we think we had comparative and competitive advantage in over other states. Prominent among them is trade and commerce because every Igbo man is acclaimed to be a good trader and in Abia, we have very successful traders better than even the Lebanese.

We also noticed that World Bank had at that time, 2015, reported the presence of over 200,000 artisans doing all kinds of things with leather and garment. So, naturally it will be a misnomer for us to ignore the impact of those 200,000 people knowing that each of them will employ at least four persons and about a million people or so doing one form of handicraft or the other cannot be ignored by any serious leader. So promotion of small and medium scale enterprises became our second pillar. Abia is blessed with one of the most fertile soils in the world. A recent study by some Brazilians who wanted to do some sugar cane farming here showed that if you throw any fruit out of the window you will get that same plant, so everything can virtually grow and flourish in our state but we don’t have all the soil in the world. I think we are one of the smallest states in terms of land area, so we needed to be careful about choice of crop and also diversify our agriculture as it were and we are also desperate about value addition as well as bringing science and technology to bear in agriculture in Abia.

So we decided to do oil palm, cassava, cocoa, rice and cashew because we just did not want to be jack of all trades. Beyond this, we have a little bit of oil in some local governments down south and we decided to also mainstream oil and gas as one of our pillars. Education became the fifth pillar because if you want to produce an agriculturist, you must educate him first. So, education is relevant in SME promotion, incubation growth, agriculture, trade and commerce and all of that; so we had to see how best we can retune our education system to suit our purpose. But the enablers that will drive the five pillars became the main issue because these are the things you need to work on and the manifestation will begin to show on the pillars.

Enablers

So, there was the need for us to craft deliberate agendas on the enablers. You cannot talk about trade and commerce without good roads to move goods and services from one point to the other.

Beyond road, security, whatever you needed to do, you need to work hard on your security architecture and make sure that you provide the enabling environment for people to do business and you attract tourists, industries into your space.

Of course, health, because if you attract a businessman and he is investing, you also imagine that he could get sick, so there was the need for us to do something about our health sector. We looked at these enablers and, from day one, we opened up roads and Abia is a state that every serious-minded person that wants to be part of governance in Abia needs to understand. A lot of people don’t seem to understand Abia culturally, geographically, socially, topographically. So, if you don’t know the history of Abia and you don’t understand Abia, you will just come and pass as if nothing happened.   But for us, we took all of this into cognizance and we did a deep research and study about who Abians are, what Abia means to them, the relationship between one senatorial zone and the other, the agric belt of Abia, the oil belt of Abia, the trade and commerce hub of Abia and all of that.

So, naturally, we said that since Aba is a very strong commercial centre, not only in Abia but the entire South-East and Nigeria, critical and strategic to the development of this country that it will be a misnomer also for us to abandon Aba and we opened up on roads in Aba. We needed to ventilate Aba. It is important to us to draw narratives of what it was then and where we are now.

I recall vividly that there was no route to Akwa Ibom from any part of Aba, therefore people from Port Harcourt couldn’t come because the Enugu-Port Harcourt highway was and still in a state of disrepair. For the Akwa Ibom channel, it was so bad it got to a point where people from Ariaria had to take their wares to Akwa Ibom because we have also painstakingly characterised the clientele of our big market.

In Ariaria, 60% of those who come to patronize them come from Akwa Ibom, Cross River axis. Of course, they include people coming from Cameroon, people coming from Cross River and Akwa Ibom and the rest 40% come from Port Harcourt and the businesses we do within ourselves from Owerri, Enugu and all of that.

Geographically speaking, Aba and Umuahia in particular seem to be at the confluence of the South-East and South-South states. So, we are at the centre of seven states and we wanted to take strategic advantage of this geographical position. And that is what gave us the idea that we have a business population of close to 30 million every day, but for you to take full benefit of that, you must be able to create access to your commercial nerve centre.

So, like I said earlier, there was no route into Aba. So we started with some roads from the Ogbor hill flank while we began work from the Aba-Owerri flank to enable people from Port Harcourt to access. We also began construction on MCC which is an alternative in-road along the Owerri-Port Harcourt axis. So, simultaneously, within the first 100 days, we were able to open Omini, MCC that we later christened Chima Nwafor. Then we opened Ukaegbu, Where, Umuola, Ehere and Umuola and Ukaegbu which had been in a state of complete disrepair for over 10 years. So the only channel through which you can enter Aba from that axis was the Umuoba road.

So, people in Ariaria were sitting hands on their cheeks for several weeks without patronage. So, whenever they were forced to take their wares to Akwa Ibom, some will have to do 2, 3, 4 trips through the bush because each time they went, their clients in Akwa Ibom will say “this is not the goods we want”. So I felt the pain of my people and decided to embark on all of these.

Getting into Aba again, the other problem is how do you access Ariaria because, for over 16 years, nobody had travelled from one end of Faulks road, Brass to the other end. The Ariaria axis, the Ifeo-obara pond inclusive belongs to the lowest areas in Aba, they are the slums in Aba. The only place that is lower is the Ife-obara side and we knew we had to contend with three things at once: Sanitation, storm water management and roads.

Someone will be quick to ask, why did we suddenly solve the problem of some of these slums that have become intractable for 20 years? In fact, at a point, we resigned to fate and said there was juju, that’s shrine around those areas. What we did was to do some proper planning to understand the terrain and began systematically and gradually to deal with the issues.

One, we dredged the waterside because we knew that was going to be the major recipient of storm water or runoff. Two, we started a policy of no drainage, no road; so for all the roads we have done in Aba, all of them have come with double arm drainage end to end and we follow up to see where the water will empty.

Three was that wherever water had sat for 20 years, we now decided to deploy cement pavement technology with also full complement of drainage. So these were our state of emergence strategy to recover Aba quickly and that is why I am proud to say today that whereas I can hardly point at any road in Aba that is more than five years old, the ones we have done have lasted from the first 100 days till now and I have guaranteed that they will outlive my tenure.

How do you build infrastructure stock?

The only way to build infrastructure stock is to ensure that you deliver quality projects that will outlive your tenure so that your successor will inherit the roads you did and then build on them because, if we all go to do roads that I consider disposable and by the time you are concluding and the next person comes, he is not going to inherit anything, so you cannot build on your stock on infrastructure that way.

There are so many roads connected to the Ife-Obara problem like Port Harcourt road, Omouma, Osusu, Urata, Ngwa and Faulks road. Strategically we chose Faulks road because of its proximity to Ife-Obara and because it leads into Ariaria quickly; so because of these two advantages we had to prioritise the road but with a special treatment.

For us to deliver on Faulks road, it took us seven months of painstaking plan. I sacked a contractor doing that road when I saw he had no solution to our problem. Then we got Setraco. When we got Setraco, we also insisted that they should post a site engineer from Netherlands who are the best in underwater management to come and give us a plan. Of course we also had local consultants based in Enugu plus the input from the World Bank and we designed that road, which comes with it 6.5kms of underground drainage with pumps, pumping intermittently along the way to waterside from Ife-obara. So as we were dredging waterside, we were also dredging Ife-obara. The strategy here is to make sure that Ife-obara is large enough to take water in its full capacity.

Engineering masterpiece

So, it is on this engineering master piece we have now laid our asphalt and that is why for the past three years that we started the road, Ama Ikonne and Ife-obara that used to be a problem are no longer a problem.

Having delivered on Faulks road with that drainage, the next logical step was to kick in with Osusu road which tangents on Faulks road because there is now drainage on Faulks road. Osusu road is now ready to go and we have started construction on Faulks road and Osusu road.

We have not done Omuma road but we are prepared to do it now. Those who may not understand the topography and the logic behind the Aba flood problem would not know that you cannot do Osusu road unless you have done the drainage on Faulks road because the drainage that is coming from Omuma road will tangent on the drainage we have done on Faulks road and it will be pumped to either waterside or Ife-obara.

So, how many roads you have done because during the debate for governorship candidates in the state, your main challenger in the forthcoming election, Alex Otti, disagreed with you on the number of roads you have done.

We have about 169 roads and we have completed over 70 of them and these are solid roads that we are sure will stand the test of time. That same gentleman had in the recent past displayed his lack of understanding of the problems of Abia because I had him compare the jobs we are doing with what is being done in Ebonyi and Imo states. Some of the roads in Owerri, for instance, are cement based; so when you see the black asphalt, you will be tempted to say this is the regular thing, no, because beneath it is 9 inches concrete with BRC and then the asphalt, so this is what we need to do. A lot of people do not have the commitment and patriotism to deliver such quality jobs to their people.

Economic City

Those who know me in Nigeria know that I am not an election politician as exemplified by our flagship project the Enyimba Economic City. That is not a project for somebody who is trying to do things to win election. That is a project for somebody who is futuristic because if I am unable to create the template for the creation of between 700,000 and one million jobs in Abia, then I am not faithful to my children and those who would seek for jobs many years after I have left; what am I going to say to them that I just did roads and went away? I am saying we have little time to plant our feet in history and if we fail today, it will be too late tomorrow. I don’t know what the rest of Nigeria is thinking but for us in Abia, we must industrialise between now and the next five years and it is achievable.

Talking about industrialisation, what infrastructures are you putting in place to achieve this in Abia?

Any person that is serious about development in any clime must have a strong baseline that you can trust. The first question is, what is in your hands because you cannot reinvent the wheel neither can you create anything? So when I inherited over 250,000 people doing all kinds of things with leather, I needed to start from that as my origin but they had four major problems; power, automation and capacity building, market and finance.

Power and finance I had no hand in them, they are with the federal government, they deal with it; so I needed to leverage on what I could and that is marketing and that is why we decided to market aggressively the made in Aba goods. It achieved two things for me; one is that I drew the attention of this federal republic to what we are doing and the things we can do. Two, l exposed our potentials and changed our narrative from a state of bad people to a state of creative people and, because of this alone, we have gone everywhere all over the world. We were able to attract the vice president as acting president to this state on two occasions and that dovetailed into the executive order that says before you buy anything from outside Nigeria, go and see if there is a place it is done here. So when the military ordered 50,000 pairs of shoes, if one of them is N10, 000, that is N500million into the pockets of those shoe makers and don’t forget the order from the Navy, the NYSC among others.

We were in The Gambia with shoe makers face-to-face with the Gambia President and we are thinking of producing shoes for The Gambian police and military. 30 of those boys have gone to China for capacity building courtesy of this government and they are now experts in the use of one machine or the other in shoe making; so automation has come. At a point, the federal government could no longer ignore the Aba people and they came with the agency in charge of rural electrification and now gas powered electricity has come to Ariaria supplying 1,000 of 34,000 shops. So all the four problems that bedevilled us: Finance, power, marketing and capacity building, we have all solved just through marketing.

And I am proud to say today that some universities have researched on that paradigm on how to use marketing to achieve their goals in terms of industrialization and they think the Abia model is unique and it is working. This has led us to a point where we now say what is the future? What are we looking at? What are we going to do between 2019 and 2023 and that gave birth to the Enyimba Economic City. We are saying we have been marketing made in Aba, the new marketing paradigm from 2019 is make in Aba, come and produce it here and that is where we are going.

Why do you think some people doubt the authenticity of the Enyimba Economic City?

Two things, selective amnesia and desperation and the third reason is worse, ignorance; if somebody is ignorant, it is incurable because before I was rating a lot of people highly but a few things that happened in the past weeks have really exposed how peripheral their thinking is. For somebody not to know that it wasn’t former Gov Sam Mbakwe that built Golden Breweries, Ohabele Oil Palm estate. For somebody to say today that Golden Breweries is moribund after seeing the pictures of the officers of the Bank of Industry talking about commissioning and you haven’t been there, you just sit somewhere in Lagos and say such, that person will ignore the presence of an elephant if he sees one.

What have you done in education?

We started by exposing our primary school teachers to a retraining programme using an Australia NGO to get what we wanted to achieve. As I speak, over 3,000 teachers have gone through that programme and it has culminated into the establishment of Abia Teacher Training Continuing Education Centre at Umuahia. About 40 of our teachers are at the verge of going to Australia for an exchange programme which the NGO is supporting also. Abia today is the only state that has achieved 420% reversal of school enrolment from private schools back to public schools through our school feeding programme where we are also employing 5,350 teachers.

The university we have at Uturu ran for three years without strike and that has moved their rating from number 90 in 2015 to the first 10 in Nigeria today.

Tell us your feats in sports and why should Abians vote for you again?

In terms of soccer, Abia is the only state in Nigeria that has two premiership clubs: Enyimba and Abia Warriors. We have other lesser known clubs like Abia Angels. When we came in, we discovered that we didn’t have a stadium that will match the pedigree and the popularity of Enyimba. The last time I watched soccer there before governor, it rained and they had to bring in mattress to soak water from the pitch, so we needed to do something about that. The stadium as big as it was then had no toilet. We did a complete turnaround starting with the turf. We had to import the latest turf in the market, semi synthetic, 95% natural, 5% synthetic and that pitch is one of the biggest in the world today and we put 32 toilets including the one for people that are physically challenged. And I am proud to say that legacy is also tied to our name. We are going to run strong on two things: The Enyimba Economic City which for us holds the promise of creating a silent but welcome revolution around industrialisation process of not only Nigeria but Africa. Two things will happen on account of the economic city, the 700,000 to one million jobs that will come, then the opportunity and the chance of our people learning first hand through apprenticeship how to do light manufacturing. I trust the capacity and capability of our people to copy technology.

How do you react to the concerns expressed by many on non-payment of salary? Isn’t this a dent on your government?

It is just an orchestrated campaign of calumny. So, there is nothing to say apart from salary. And by December 24th every worker that we paid here went home with his salary but I must admit that the local governments owe one and a half months salary. And I was the first elected governor after 2015 that did local government elections. I must also confess that I have a problem with secondary school teachers because I owe them about three months salaries or so and the major problem is that we took much more than we can bite. When we did the local government elections, we were supposed to unbundle the junior secondary school teachers because they are under UBEC. In other states, they are paid by local governments but we took them up thinking that our fortune could carry so that we can allow more money in the local government system for them to do some projects. So to them I just say   that help is on its way, that we are going to deal with it. So what you hear about salary is just propaganda. One of them said a parastatal like Abia Line, that I should go and find money and pay, why should I pay Abia Line? It is called Abia Line Nigeria Ltd, they put buses on the highway, I can guarantee loan for them. But if you get 20, 30, 40 brand new buses and you employ drivers and conductors and they drive from Abia to Lagos for ten times, pay them. Since you are not giving government the money, I will not pay them.

Share:

Read More

Morakinyo in sensation-(al) leap with fabric collage

From the application of regular art colours and radical texture in fabrics, the artist Seye Morakinyo yesterday took a leap in his debut solo show, titled Sensation-(al). The artist’s coalescence of materials, themes, style and technique form the nucleus of the show.

Interestingly, the shows, which ends on February 12, is holding at Alexis Galleries, Victoria Island, Lagos, a space that has been part of the artist’s story for close to a decade now. His works have featured in many group shows in the facility since it opened in 2011.

Like the artist’s trajectory of procedural progression, one of the works, titled, Waiting Period, shows depth in the artist execution of content. Morakinyo, whose canvas radiates lavish colours, displays how his regular observation of the environment plays a leading role in generating his concepts.

People and environment, he argued, did not exactly inspire his art, rather, “my work inspire people.” Some of the works on show such as, Feminists and Waiting Period, however, come as boost, perhaps, slight shift from the artist’s regular bold and lavish application of colours with fabric collage. Feminists brings more subtle textures in colours.

Also, the semi-silhouette lighting adds to the poetic narrative of the composite. More interesting, the artist’s modest application of space on the canvas exposes his eclectic characteristics. On values that he hopes to pass to followers of his art, Morakinyo, who graduated from the Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State, in 2005, said: “I like psychological connection between the people and reality.”

Noting that he always uses his work to educate people, Morakinyo argued that there is “more value to life” beyond money or material things.With another figurative, titled, In Search of Rain, Morakinyo captures youths seeking greener pastures. The work reveals youths moving from rural to urban setting, or it could even be those escaping from the country.

Again, like most commentators on the issue of youth migration, Morakinyo defends such action “for economic survival.”Most contemporary artists see art movements, particularly of post-impressionism era, as not really counting much in 21 century. Morakinyo seems to have sympathy for such assertion, so suggests his transitory works from one ism to another. “I have been an impressionist, painting every mundane theme ranging from the crowd to the solitary.”

And as he is currently into “more of figurative and particularisation,” expressionism still isn’t exactly his thought. “My linear work speaks volumes.” He explained how his fabric collage in canvas “expresses language of both divisionism and impressionism.”

Is Morakinyo shifting from impressionism?
“I’m an impressionist, but my work can be described as expressionism.” Founder and curator at Alexis, Mrs. Patty Chidiac-Mastrogiannis says Morakinyo’s debut solo is the gallery’s first art show in the New Year. “Showing 30 works of Morakinyo in Sensation-(al) is a way of expressing that he is one of my favourite artists.”

For the artist, life goes beyond the canvas. He visited an orphanage and got something. Titled, The Minors, it’s about his experience, particularly, empathy for the inmates. “I saw children who are fragile and facing survival.”On the grammatical structure of the theme, he explained how the coining “lay emphasis on the body organ, based on the meaning of capturing attention of the public: details of my work and use of colours.”

Still on the theme, Morakinyo’s Artist Statement reads: “Sensation-(al) talks about the impressive and captivating effect of both fabrics and colours. I intended to create excitement for viewers. It pronounces colours in its original mixture… through the fabrics assemblage and thereby creating a captivating blend.”

Reflecting on how it took him over seven years to have his first solo despite a close relationship with Alexis, the artist argued, “good thing is not done in a rush.” He recalled how participating at several of the gallery’s group a how built the energy for a solo. “After experiencing with other artists, I feel better prepared now.”

In a Lagos art environment where artist-gallery relationship is complex, Morakinyo appeared to have enjoyed the trust of Alexis. “I have seen Alexis’ credible contribution to enhance the standard of art.” He listed the gallery’s professionalism such as, certified authenticity of artwork documentation and understanding of the art market that gives the artist room for convenience on both sides.Still on his journey with the gallery since 2014, particularly in the yearly series titled, Fate and Faces and Places, Morakinyo eulogised the gallery for “celebrating the masters, strengthening the established artists and encouraging the up-and-coming too.”

Share:

Read More

One Shot Dead, Scores Injured As Thugs Invade APC Rally

At least one person has been confirmed dead while several others have been left with various degrees of injuries after some suspected political thugs, on Saturday, February 2, trunked the political rally of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa state.

The incident happened at the exact venue of the APC rally in Tungbobiri community in the Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa state where thousands of party loyalistswere present.

A source told Naija News that the hoodlums were suspected to have been hired by the opposition to disrupt the political activities of the party.

The one recorded casualty of the incident was said to be an APC member identified simply as Brave Embikoro, while the injured persons were stabbed as they thrived to make their ways out of the disaster scene.

As at the time of filing this report, only the death of Brave Embikoro has been recorded as those injured had since been rushed to the hospital for urgent medical attention.

The rally was organised on behalf of the APC senatorial candidate in Bayelsa West, Captain Karimu, at Tungbobiri community near Toru-Orua, Governor Seriake Dickson’s home town.

While confirming the incident and the death of one, the Secretary of the APC, Alabo Martins, in a brief statement, said; “A party member was killed in Bayelsa West senatorial campaign on Saturday in Tungbo Abiri.”

In their reactions to the attack which they described as ‘heartless,’ some APC members alleged that the attack was melted and sponsored against the APC by the opposition PDP the retaliate the incident that occurred during its rally in the Yenagoa Local Government Area.

This is coming recently after the sacked Bayelsa APC chairman was reinstated by the court.

Share:

Read More

Knowing the power of Jesus

Acts 8:5 “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.” Philips’ gospel message of salvation to the people in the city of Samaria, which highlighted Jesus Christ as the source of the saving grace, is the miracle that can ever happen to anyone, and He is the reason why you are still living.

The man Jesus is the Son of God that came from heaven. He was born in Bethlehem and lived in Israel. All through His life on earth, He lived a perfect, sinless and spotless life. Ultimately, His passion for saving sinners from the stranglehold of Satan took Him to the cross, where He eventually died for you as the final sacrifice meant to redeem you from sin.

Evangelist Philip knew the import of preaching the gospel and not for once did he relent in doing it. Acts 8:35 “Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.” Whether it’s a whole city or an envoy from Ethiopia, the message of Philip remained the same: Christ Jesus remains the only subject matter which saves from sin.

He is the Saviour of the world who redeems sinners from the slave market of bondage and destruction. He has come to you today because He wants to change your life by turning it around for the better.

He wants to completely make you a brand new creature that will dazzle the world through the spectacular grace of God. That is why, today, the mighty power of God will touch you and turn you into a spectacle in Jesus name!

Acts 8:6-7,35 “And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.” Any where we talk about God, the power of Jesus is activated and ready to save sinners.

Because I declare to you the name of Jesus, He is here today and salvation is accessible. You will have it in Jesus name!

Acts 8:8 “And there was great joy in that city.” Any where we preach Jesus, any where we proclaim Jesus, any where we lift up the name of Jesus, the joy of salvation is relived over again and the joy of freedom for the once captured sinner is resuscitated. That is why you need to align yourself with Jesus, the fountain of freedom, who will ignite the joy of the LORD in your life. You can have that joy and freedom today. You will have the moment you give your life to Him and it will be yours in Jesus name!

Acts 8:39 “And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.” Whether it is in Samaria or from the point of view of the Ethiopia eunuch, the encounter with Jesus brings joy to the recipient; and today, the moment you connect to Jesus, you are going to experience joy to the fullest.

To feel, know and experience the power of Jesus, you need to understand that the principle and the demand of God from humans has not changed. Get this right. Jesus has not changed. The Holy Ghost has not changed. Even the angels of God have not changed and heaven the celestial dwelling place of God has not changed. The word of God, the Bible, has not changed and the power of God, which cancels the power of sin and Satan has not changed. That is why the scriptures says in Malachi 3:6 “For I am the LORD, I change not…” Hebrews 13:8 also buttressed further that “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”

Unfortunately, the only thing that has changed is the attitude of people towards the word of God and the plan of God for their lives, family and well being. If you have the same attitude as the people of Samaria or you nurture your faith like the Ethiopian envoy and believe as he did, you will experience the unforgettable touch of God because God has not changed. And the moment you experience that supernatural encounter, the result will resonate in your family too.

Have this understanding that you can only enjoy the stockpile of joy that comes with salvation, which flows from the throne of mercy, when you make yourself available and accessible to God’s immaculate and sufficient grace richly and readily provided through the death of Jesus Christ at Calvary.

My friend, whatever your problems may be, the solution had been made available at Calvary even before you were born. Whatever your burdens may be, the power of God stationed at calvary had lifted them even before they surfaced. Whatever your challenges may be, Christ has paid handsomely for them. I know this quite well because it was Jesus that was hung at the cross for everyone. This means that nobody is inexcusable from not receiving your own fair share of God’s sufficient salvation made available for everyone. Romans 2:1 “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art…” God has made Jesus Christ the only household name resourceful enough and most capable to address your life’s challenges. That is why the earlier you come to terms with this fact, the sooner your fortune in life improves. This is because the moment the power of God hits you you will experience total and remarkable transformation.

Share:

Read More

Osinbajo: Christian group blows hot, calls for probe of crash

A religious organisation, under the aegis of Coalition of Christian Groups For Good Governance (Nigeria and Diaspora), on Saturday called on the Federal Government to commence an investigation into the crash of the helicopter carrying Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in Kabba, Kogi State.

The coalition also sought for prayers on behalf of the Vice President, who, it said, had escaped plane crash twice within seven months.

The President of COCGOG and Chairman, Congress of Northern Nigeria Christians, Rev. Daniel Kadzai, these demands in a statement issued in Abuja.

“Similar suspicious incidents have happened in the past without probe. This particular one should be thoroughly investigated,” he stated.

Kadzai recalled the case of late Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State, former National Security Adviser (NSA), late Gen. Andrew Owoye Azazi and late Assistant Inspector-General of Police, John Haruna “who lost their lives in mysterious Helicopter crashes.”

Kadzai, immediate-past President of YOWICAN – Christian Association of Nigeria (Youth Wing) said, “Till date, nothing had been said about the investigation into the Helicopter crashes of these great people. This has raised serious suspicion on the frequent crash involving top Christians in Nigeria.

“While we call on Christians all over the country to pray fervently against any form of manipulations against the Vice President, Pastor Yemi Osibanjo, we also demand thorough investigation into the cause of the crash.

“Similar suspicious incidents happened in the case of late governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State, late Andrew Owoye Azazi and late AIG John Haruna who lost their lives in mysterious Helicopter crashes. Till date, nothing has been said about the investigation, thus raising serious suspicion on the frequent crash involving top Christians in Nigeria.”

Last week, COCGOG protested against the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen by President Muhammadu Buhari, with a call on all Christians nationwide to “be at alert and await further directives”, from the organisation

Kadzai had appealed to the international community to prevail on Buhari to “toe the part of honour and reverse the ambiguous adventure.”

“From the body language of VP Osinbajo and other Christians in government, it is obvious that they are either under threat or under some powers in Aso Rock. Hence, they need the prayers of all Christians in Nigeria for spiritual deliverance,” he stated.

Share:

Read More

No other father but God (2)

Jesus castigates the natural father-child relationship as evil.  He asks: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (Luke 11:13).  Since men are deemed evil, sons of men must also be evil.

But since he says: “No one is good but One, that is, God,” (Matthew 19:17); therefore, sons of God are also good.

Jesus maintains natural relationships are bound to go from bad to worse: “Brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.” (Matthew 10:21).  He also insists natural family ties are inimical to discipleship.

Even David, speaking by the Holy Spirit, observes that man’s relationship with God is enhanced when his relationship with his parents collapse: “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take care of me.” (Psalm 27:10).  Indeed, God takes special care of those without earthly parentage, which explains why he is known as “the Father of the fatherless.” (Psalm 68:5).

If God is the Father of the fatherless, he cannot be, at the same time, the Father of those with fathers.

Lineage of salvation

Therefore, one of the requirements of salvation is that the earthly father-child bond must be broken.  The heir of salvation must take the initiative and forsake his earthly father(s) for Christ’s sake.  Jesus says: “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! No, rather, a sword.  I have come to set a man against his father..” (Matthew 10:34-35).

The earthly father-child relationship impedes the heavenly Father-child relationship.  Some cannot love God as Father because their earthly father is hateful.  Some cannot love God as Father because they already love their earthly father.  Others cannot obey the Father in heaven because his instructions are at variance with those of the father on earth.

The complexities of these scenarios lead to a rather stringent condition for salvation.  The earthly father must be repudiated completely and the heavenly Father embraced totally without reservation.

The living and the dead

When one of Jesus’ disciples sought permission to go and bury his father, Jesus objected because a true disciple cannot have any other father apart from God.  Jesus said to him: “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” (Matthew 8:22).

When a man traces his identity through his earthly father, God regards him as a dead man.  Since earthly fathers die, their children are also appointed to death.  But when God becomes our Father, we pass from death unto life. (John 5:24).  God says about us: “This my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” (Luke 15:24).

This principle is brought out in Jesus’ discourse with the Sadducees.  He says to them: “Concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” (Matthew 22:31-32).

If God is our Father, we belong to the living and not to the dead.  Thus, Jesus says to Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25-26).

Confession of salvation

The good confession that Peter made, which earned him the high commendation of Jesus, was in identifying Jesus not as the son of Joseph, but as the Son of the living God.  As a result, Jesus said to him: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:15-18).

Jesus’ church is built upon the revelation that he is, indeed, the son of God: “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” (1 John 4:15).  However, although Jesus commended Peter, he nevertheless observed that Peter himself was not yet a son of God but a son of man.  He was still Simon Bar-Jonah, which means Simon, son of Jonah.

This explains Peter’s shortcomings.  When Jesus told his disciples he must go to Jerusalem to suffer and be killed, Peter pulled him aside and insisted such a bad thing would never happen to him: “Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.’” (Matthew 16:23).

If Jesus is the Son of the living God, and the Son says he is going back to his Father, why would Peter insist this must not happen?  What good friend would deny a son the prerogative to go and be with his father?  It could only have been because Peter had yet to accept fully that God is the Father of Jesus.  He was still mindful of those things that pertain to the family of men instead of the family of God.

 Cost of salvation

The salvation Jesus provides is anathema to earthly fatherhood and all its appurtenances.  He says emphatically: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26).

If we don’t relinquish earthly fathers, in preference for the only true Father in heaven, we cannot inherit the kingdom of God.  If we don’t relinquish earthly fathers, in preference for the heavenly Father, we would not be able to fulfil a cardinal principle of salvation, which is to lay down our lives out of love for God, in order to receive the eternal life.

Jesus says: “Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 16:25).

In short, exclusively divine fatherhood is the foundation of eternal salvation.  If we were to have any other Father outside of God, we could not be saved in this dispensation of grace.  I like to put it this way.  Jesus is not the way to God.  In the Old Testament, Moses, the servant of God, was the way to God.  But Jesus is not a servant but the Son of God.  Therefore, in the New Testament of today, Jesus is the way, and the only way, to the Father.

Jesus explains this dynamic in this manner: “All things have been delivered to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal him.” (Matthew 11:27).  This explains our Lord’s categorical assertion: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6).

Share:

Read More

INEC says no going back on 2019

• To Abide By What Courts Say On Rivers, Zamfara
• Confesses Large Number Of Parties Pose Serious Challenge
• Ballot Papers, Sensitive Materials Ready
• Vows Prompt Announcement Of Result Of Presidential Poll

With two weeks to the presidential and National Assembly polls, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it is ready with sensitive and non-sensitive election materials, while logistics have also been firmed up. On deployments, the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee of INEC, Festus Okoye explained that ballot papers for the election and other sensitive materials were ready, and currently being delivered to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) offices across the country to avoid hitches, noting that the materials would be taken to state and local government offices of the commission on the eve of the election.

He said: “The commission has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with transport workers unions for the deployment and retrieval of election personnel and materials in a safe and timely manner. Resident electoral commissioners have also met with the unions in the transport sector and are perfecting issues relating to deployment and retrieval of materials in conjunction with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).

“All the state offices and local government offices of the commission are taking delivery of non-sensitive materials. The commission has delivered the bulk of the non-sensitive materials required for the conduct of the elections to states and local governments, while the remaining are in the zonal stores of the commission and will be distributed at the appropriate time.

The electoral body however, lamented that it was encumbered by the unwieldy and large number of political parties on the ballot, and the size of ballot papers, while also informing that different court orders arising from party primary elections also constitute a potent threat to its operations.A total of 73 political parties will be participating in the February 16 presidential poll, and the commission pointed out that with this number, management of the polling units would be a Herculean task, considering the number of party agents, which the law permits their presence at polling units.

The national commissioner who made the revelation during an interactive session with media executives in Lagos, yesterday, explained that it has already taken its stand regarding the litigations arising from party primaries affecting the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers and Zamfara states, which is to obey the judiciary. Okoye assured that the commission would conduct the election based on legal and constitutional stipulations, adding that it would continue to conduct its activities in total obedience to the rule of law and due process.

“The issue of voting buying, reporting elections and election related matters are also part of the challenges. The media should name and shame vote sellers. This time around, the media will be given unlimited access to the polling units, they will not be restricted in terms of doing their work,” he said.

Okoye said the electoral umpire has introduced some new innovations for a free, fair and credible poll, which includes the enhancement of the smart card readers; elimination of incident forms; introducing the use of braille jackets, magnifying glasses and assistive posters for persons with disability; validation of framework and regulations for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) voting, and sensitisation/public enlightenment efforts.

“The 2019 general elections will involve the 91 registered political parties and a total registered voting population of 84, 004, 084. The election will take place in 1, 558 constituencies and 774 Local Government Area. The collation of results will take place in 8, 809 registration areas/wards and in 119, 973 polling units and 57, 023 voting points nationwide.

“The presidential election will be contested by a total of 73 candidates, while the governorship election will be contested by a total of 1, 068 candidates in 29 states. The 109 Senate seats would be contested by 1, 904 candidates, while the 360 seats in the House of Representatives will be contested by a total of 4, 680 candidates. The 991 state constituency elections will be contested by a total of 14, 583 candidates. The 68 area council seats in the Federal Capital Territory will be contested by 806 candidates,” Okoye said.

While denying allegation of plans to shutdown the Internet during the poll raised by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Okoye said INEC is not involved with anybody to carry out such act, emphasising that it will not transmit the 2019 elections electronically, but manually. “We want to be very transparent in this poll and we want all key stakeholders to know what INEC is doing. Our resolve is to make sure that the presidential election result is announced as soon as possible, that is one of the reasons for introducing two collation officers for each polling unit.”

Share:

Read More

Bishop Akinola to Nigerians: Don’t sell your votes

Bishop Taiwo Akinola

PRESIDENT/FOUNDING pastor-General of Rhema Christian Church and Tower, Ota in Ogun State, Bishop Taiwo Akinola has again appeal-ed to Nigerians to ponder very well on their individual decisions as to who and who should lead them for another period of four years and actively parti-cipate in all processes leading to the elections.

Speaking to the media in his church, the convener of a ministerial associat-ion knowned as Christ Global appealed to all Nigerians who are qualif-ied not to sell their votes but instead they must endeavor to fully participate in the forth-coming elections, stress-ing that the time for in-difference is past.

“I both counsel and tire-lessly appeal to the Niger-ians to wake up, wise up and do not allow them-selves to be deceived or deluded by any politician. “Please make your deci-sions based on clear and right consciences, not on consciences colored with personal interests or pecuniary gains only,” he maintained.

“Those who sell their votes should know they are not only mortgaging their consciences, but also selling their future and the future of their children. In fact, they are also selling their moral rights to demand account-ability from the political class whenever they derail and disappoint the elect-orate as they often do,” he noted.

Akinola said: “Ignorance is tantamount to suicide, hence we should bring ourselves to a level of cri-tical consciousness of people and occurrences that are related to the elections. Our involve-ment should take us to the point of voting phy-sically on the election days. Please let nothing prevent you from being patient enough to cast your vote properly.”

According to the Bishop, “the responsibility is ours to remain focused, un-perturbed and clear-headed to make the right choices, knowing that the impacts of our choices today can be far reaching on our destiny and that of our children tomorrow.

“We don’t really have to be swayed by any sugar-coated mouth of any party apologetic, but should stand firm to uphold what is true, right and fair to all.

“Hence, we must get act-ively involved in acquiring facts that can help us in making informed choices. See, our choices will either make or mar us sooner or later, thus we must be very wise in all our deal-ings, especially in our choices of political lead-ership.

“My counsel here is that we all should remember that leopards don’t change their spots,” he said, not-ing that by the actions “we take at this time, we can ameliorate the conse-quences of the errors of the past and chart a new course for our great nation,” Akinola counsell-ed.

Share:

Read More

Ethiopians rule at fourth Access Bank Lagos City Marathon

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode (left); first runner up, Kenya’s Joshua Kiprotich; Winner, Ethiopia’s Sintayehu Legese; Second runner up, William Yegon and Group Managing Director, Access Bank Plc, Herbert Wigwe, during the presentation of medals at the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, yesterday.

• Nigeria’s Deborah Pam Makes history
• Road Race Has Come To Stay, Says Ambode
• As Wigwe Pledges More Support

The East Africans yesterday continued their dominance of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon with Ethiopia’s Sintayehu Legese winning the top prize of $50,000 in 2:17:24, while the defending champion, Kenya’s Joshua Kiprotich (2:18:14) and Kenya’s William Yegon (2:20:04) came second ($40,000) and third ($30,000) respectively in the men’s category.

In the women’s cadre, the Ethiopians, however, made a clean sweep of the event with Dinke Meserate clinching the top prize of $50,000 in 2:47:38 time, while Alennesh Herpha placed second in 2:48:01, as Kebena Chala finished third in 2:49:04. Both athletes got rewarded with $40,000 and $30,000 respectively for their efforts.

Gideon Goyet was the first Nigerian to cross the finishing line in 2 hours, 30 minutes to win N3 million, beating last year’s champion, Iliya Pam to second place, with a prize money of N2million.However, there was jubilation yesterday at the IAAF Bronze Label marathon as, Pam who many call the queen of long-distance races in Nigeria achieved a historic feat by breaking into the overall top female finishers.

Speaking at the occasion, the Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode said it was gratifying that the marathon was getting bigger and better yearly, adding that the competition had come to stay.“I want to say a big thank you to all Lagosians for tolerating us in the last four years because this is the fourth time we are doing this Lagos Access Marathon and it has been improving year in, year out. This year, we had 58 countries participating and over 100,000 athletes also taking part in this journey.

“The marathon is part of our administration’s initiative to use sports, tourism, entertainment, arts and culture to promote the excellence of Lagos and positively engage the youth,” Ambode said.Also speaking, the Group Managing Director, Access Bank Plc, Herbert Wigwe, promised bigger support towards encouraging the public in the adoption of a lifestyle that would promote good healthy living.

“Access Bank will ensure this marathon gets better every year, as we target world class outings till we achieve the silver and gold label rating from IAAF. “The brave spirit of the men and women that ran today represents the core value of Access Bank’s journey to becoming Africa’s gateway to the world.

“Our focus is to advance Nigeria’s blossoming drive for health and fitness. We have made it our responsibility to encourage the general public and create value for stakeholders,” Wigwe stated.One of the highlights of yesterday’s marathon race was the donation of N2.5million by Governor Ambode to an upcoming artiste, Johnson David, who was invited by Nigerian hip-hop star, D Banj, to perform on stage from the crowd.

Share:

Read More

Favourite Celeb Instagram Photos

QUOTES Every where.............

Share:

Read More

Tottenham Manager Speaks On Supporting Arsenal Against Man. City

Tottenham Hotspur manager, Mauricio Pochettino, has dismissed insinuations that he is supporting Arsenal, after seeing his team overtake Manchester City, ahead of Pep Guardiola’s side clash with Unai Emery’s men on Sunday.

Spurs brushed past Newcastle 1-0 on Saturday to move up to second, one point ahead of Manchester City.

However, despite moving 10 points clear of their North London rivals, Pochettino still doesn’t want them to do him a favor.

Asked whether he’d cheer on Arsenal to cement second place behind Liverpool, Pochettino told Sky Sports: “No! Why? Never! No. I will watch the game and won’t be on one side or another. I am going to watch the game and accept whatever the result is.

“I am only going to watch the game and I’ll be happy with the result that’s they’re going to have.”

Meanwhile, Arsenal will be gunning for a victory against last season champions to push themselves back in contention for a spot in next seasons UEFA Champions league after seeing London rivals Chelsea thrash Huddersfield 5 goals to nil.

Share:

Read More