Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has asked members of the Miyatti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria to send their representatives to join theTask Force set up to get rid of roaming cows in the federal city.
The minister, who had a meeting with the group in his office today, Monday, stressed that the government would not sit down and watch cattle roam about on the street of Abuja, struggling with vehicle and human traffics.
He insisted that herdsmen must move their cattle out of the Federal Capital City because there is no way, such animals can co-habit with the residents.
He added that even for safety reasons, cattle should not roam on the streets and highways in the city, saying: “you have to understand that when Abuja Environmental Protection Board says cattle should not roam the city, it is not because they want to prevent cattle breeders from raring cattle in the FCT. Basically, it is just for safety. It is for safety of your cattle and above all, safety of the citizens.
“In a modern city, it’s not possible for animals and vehicles to move together on the roads because this could cause accidents which in some cases could be fatal, and it is our duty to protect lives and property.”
Muhammad Bello asked the Association to nominate some of their members to serve in the Ministerial Task Force Team on Environment under the Chairmanship of Squadron Leader, Abdullahi Adamu Monjel to ensure that there is smooth communication between FCTA and the Association.
“You can give him some number of educated young men in your communities who will be part of some of these Committees so that they will be able to communicate.”
The minister said that the FCT Administration has identified new grazing reserves that will cater for their requirements.
“A total of 33,485 hectares have already been earmarked for grazing reserves to cater for about 7 million herds of cattle comprising of Paikon Kore – 8,500 hectares, Karshi – 6,000 hectares, Kawu in Bwari – 9,000 hectares and Rubochi in Kuje which is 9,985 hectares.”
He said that the critical issue is compensation for the farmers that are there but assured that his Administration will work together with the National Assembly to resolve that amicably.
The Minister said that the Administration may reach out to the host communities to work out a situation where compensation does not have to be in monetary terms because of the large expanse of land involved.
“Nothing should prevent the communities that are there and the Fulanis living together because you don’t always have to move people away.”
The Minister thanked Miyatti Allah for its support to the FCT Administration and also to the Federal Government and asked them to continue to support the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Earlier, the Chairman of the FCT Chapter of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Malam Yahaya Isah promised to continue to interface with the government to promote peaceful co-existence.
He assured that his Association will enlighten the members not to breed their cattle on the streets and highways of Abuja again. [myad]
Hillary Clinton sought Monday to cement her lead over Republican White House rival Donald Trump, looking to conquer swing states including Florida and Ohio where early voting has already begun.
With barely two weeks before Election Day, Clinton and Trump are blitzing the nation’s crucial battlegrounds where the race will be won or lost November 8.
But voters in Chicago, Charlotte, Miami, Cleveland and Las Vegas are already going to polling stations to cast ballots — with initial indications suggesting a surge in early voting among Clinton’s Democrats.
No less than 37 of the 50 states provide in-person voting in advance of the big day, and all offer some form of absentee ballots by mail.
“We’ve got to get people turning out. That’s the most important thing we can do,” Clinton said Monday on WZAK radio station in Cleveland.
In 2012, fully a third of all ballots were cast in advance, according to the Census Bureau. The Clinton campaign is counting on an even larger early turnout this year, as it expands its efforts to mobilize committed and undecided voters alike, particularly in swing states Florida, Nevada and North Carolina.
“It is possible, because there is so much access to early voting, that we could build an insurmountable lead in those keys states before election day,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said this month.
Some six million Americans have already voted, according to election expert and University of Florida professor Michael McDonald.
“Nothing can go wrong now. My vote’s in,” Hannah Widlus, 61, told AFP after casting her ballot for Clinton at a Chicago polling station crowded with morning voters.
Normally she would not vote early, but Widlus said she was eager to do so in part because of “the circumstances of the current election,” which she said “has been made a mockery of this year.”
Early ballots are not counted until Election Day, but a look at who is requesting or casting them shows gains for Clinton, particularly in Nevada, where her ground game is prodigious, and in Florida, where Republicans usually dominate early voting.
“At a comparable time in 2012, registered Republicans had a lead of 5.3 percentage points over Democrats in returned mail ballots” in Florida, McDonald wrote in Monday’s Huffington Post.
“As of Saturday, the Republican lead was 1.6 percentage points.”
Campaigning for Clinton in Las Vegas at the weekend, President Barack Obama drove the advance voting message home: “Everybody has got to vote early,” he said. “That’s how we won in ’08. That’s how we won in 2012. That’s how we’re going to win in 2016.”
– ‘We’re winning’ –
Most polls put Trump a few points behind Clinton in Florida. Trump was hosting two rallies in the state Monday, while Clinton campaigns there on Tuesday and then Wednesday, her 69th birthday.
“The truth is I think we’re winning,” Trump said at a farmers’ roundtable in Boynton Beach, Florida, adding he believed he was ahead in Ohio and Iowa.
“We’re doing great in North Carolina,” and “I think we’re doing great in Florida, I think we’re going to win Florida big.”
Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway appeared to contradict her candidate, admitting Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “we are behind,” but nevertheless insisting that the race was not over.
“We’re not giving up. We know we can win this,” she added.
Clinton, the former secretary of state vying to become America’s first female president, leads the Republican real estate mogul nationally by about six points according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls. She also leads in most battleground states.
A new national ABC News poll showed her leading by 50 percent to 38 percent — her highest score since the race to succeed Obama began.
Conscious that winning the minority vote will help lead her to victory, Clinton meanwhile campaigned Sunday at a mainly black church in Durham, North Carolina.
Obama narrowly won the southeastern state in 2008, but lost it to Mitt Romney four years later.
Clinton is now pulling out all the stops to try and win it back, returning there Thursday with potent surrogate Michelle Obama. It will be the first joint rally for the former and current first ladies. [myad]
Prophet Ade Okeowo of Word of Liberty Evangelical Ministry, Ikorodu, Lagos State, has predicted that Nigeria will soon experience a turnaround as prices of commodities will crash in no time.
He specifically mentioned that God told him that the cost of bag of rice and fuel, will be drastically reduced.
He made this revelation in a chat with news men during which time he asked Nigerians to stop casting blames on President Buhari, as he needed time to fix the country.
“That’s what God has revealed to me. Listen to me attentively; I am not speaking my words but God’s. Now, people buy rice N25, 000 per bag but God told me that we’re going to buy a bag of rice as cheap as N5, 000. A US dollar will exchange for as low as N150 and fuel will sell for as low as N30 or N40 per litre. That’s what God said will happen in this country.”
Asked if his prophecies will come to pass during Buhari’s administration, the cleric said: “God didn not tell me that one, but He revealed to me that all of these and more beautiful things will happen after all the pains, but Buhari’s efforts will lead to that.
“Nigeria will be forced to a stage of break up but God will intervene.”
The Prophet further noted that Buhari is not to blame for the economic woes.
“We should not blame anybody. People should not even hold Buhari responsible at all. From what God has revealed to me, He sent Buhari to Nigerians as an angel.
“God has also revealed to me that Buhari shouldn’t be worried, that everything will soon be alright. God showed me that Nigeria is like a second hand car (Tokunbo). We all know that if you buy a second hand car, it’s surely not in a perfect state. You will be fixing this today, that tomorrow until it’s fully fit. And it’s not something that will be done overnight.
“We all need to understand that if we want the country to move forward. Buhari is the one buying all the spare parts to repair the damaged car called Nigeria. By the time he completes the repair, the vehicle will move and everybody will enjoy it. That’s just the parable of Nigeria’s situation now.
“Everything will soon be alright. There are many Josephs that God is going to use to uplift this country, and Buhari is one of them.”
Recalling the other prophecies of his that have also come to pass in recent times, the Prophet said: “I predicted the Olympic soccer final. I said Germany would defeat Nigeria, it came to pass. I even said it’s going to be 2-0. I said the gold medal was for Brazil, they all came to pass.
“I predicted President Jonathan would lose the 2015 presidential election, a lot of people didn’t believe it. Even some prophets almost bet their lives on it that Buhari would lose, but it was revealed to me that Buhari would win and he won.
“Even, God revealed to me that no matter what other governorship candidates in Oyo do, Abiola Ajimobi will emerge victorious and it came to pass. I still have a message for him.”
The father of two concluded by saying: “God told me to warn Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State to beware of the way he chose his commissioners so that they will not destroy his government.
“Also, Governor Amosun of Ogun State should be careful of some people in the state, because some of them are hell bent on destroying his government as well.” [myad]
Dangote Group, one of the biggest employers of labour in the country outside the government, belonging to Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has fired 48 members of staff.
The sack was said to have been made up of 36 expatriate and 12 Nigerian workers from the group’s headquarters and one of the subsidiaries, Dangote Cement Plc. Though no official of the group was willing to speak on the matter, it was however gathered from highly placed sources that the decision to sack the workers was not unconnected with the current high cost of running business in the country occasioned by the unavailability of foreign exchange and the unprecedented hike in the naira to dollar exchange rate.
It was further gathered that the huge amount in foreign currencies being paid to the expatriate workers had become a burden on Dangote due to the steady depreciation in the value of the naira and the difficulties of raising enough dollars.
Consequently, the industrialist, according to sources, decided to replace the expatriates with Nigerians, who have acquired the requisite experience on the job, as paying them in naira will be less problematic. For the affected Nigerians, it was gathered that most of them have disciplinary issues, which made it easy for the group to do away with their services.
Meanwhile, the Group Head, Corporate Communications, Dangote Group, Tony Chiejina, said he could not speak on the development. However, in a letter signed by the President/Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, dated Thursday, October 20, 2016, the firm stated that it was constrained to take the “tough” decision as economic factors had affected the cost of production.
The letter, which was titled: ‘Recent Retirement Exercise,’ however, appreciated those affected for their contributions to the growth of the group. [myad]
Creditors have complained against the appointed liquidator for Nitel/Mtel, Otunba Olutola Senbore, to the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) and the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC).
In a petition, signed by a representative of the creditors, Mr. Sebagen Henry Noboh and dated October 20, 2016, the Creditors complained about what they considered to be lack of accountability in the payment of their claims.
According to them, the Liquidator has paid only 16.5 percent of the amount stated in his offer letters to individual creditors, leaving a balance of 83.5 unaccounted for. The offer letters, dated May 12, 2015 were personally signed by the Liquidator.
They added that the 16.5 percent was paid to them in two installments of 15 percent in May 2015; and 1.5 percent in July 2016, an interval of 14 months.
At issue is the N51, 648, 643, 000 proceeds from the sale of the core assets of Nitel/Mtel to Natcom Consortium for $252.25 million by the last administration.
The Consortium had fully paid up since March 2015, but the creditors are still struggling to get their money from the Liquidator, more than 18 months after he received the money.
The Liquidator had fixed the amounts payable to each of the about 300 creditors based on available funds, in line with the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 1990.
One of the issues raised was the decision of the Liquidator to be paying them in piecemeal, stating that it was in clear violation of provisions of the CAMA Act.
They expressed fears about the safety of the funds and the probability of the Liquidator releasing the 83.5 percent balance without intervention from the relevant monitoring agencies.
Also affected are the various consultants to the creditors whose cheque the Liquidator has refused to release, despite legally contracted agreement documents said to be in his possession.
The petition added, “We urgently seek the intervention of the FRCN for independent examination of the Liquidator’s account records, because he has remained evasive since July.
“We also believe that the outcome of PACAC’s investigation might give President Muhammadu Buhari a clue into certain tendencies that have cast doubts on the credibility of the exercise.
“Findings by the two bodies may as well form the basis for appropriate follow-up action with the relevant economic and financial crime law enforcement agencies.
“For now, we can only appeal to FRCN and PACAC to expedite action on this matter before it is too late. We are afraid the safety of the funds in custody of the Liquidator is highly threatened.” [myad]
The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, has announced that the National Judicial Council (NJC) has found some of the judges currently under investigation guilty of corruption and their names forwarded to the President for him to dismiss them.
He emphasized that some of the affected judges have already been investigated by the NJC, which found some culpable and recommended to the President for their removal from office by dismissal or retirement.
Justice Mahmud said that the call by the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Abubakar Mahmoud to suspend the judges who are currently under investigation, was unnecessary and hasty even as he said that the said judicial officers are still being investigated by the DSS.
He appealed to Nigerians not to lose faith and confidence in the Nigerian judiciary, adding that despite the current misunderstanding between the National Judicial Council and the Directorate of the State Services (DSS), the Judiciary still maintains cordial relations with the other arms of government. [myad]
The economic recession seems to have brought with it or has taught people on how to marry to some kind of idle talks which they carry around all over the country. If you walk into any place where there are two or more people discussing today, what you are likely to hear are the same idle talks, most of which you may not be able to place properly in the context of how such talks would contribute positively towards developing themselves individually, not to talk of the development of the nation. It is within this context that one would like to place the story that is now trending; the story which was floated by no other person than a PhD holder, a professional writer, a social reformer, a commentator, a high level teacher and above all, an immediate past special adviser to ex President Goodluck Jonathan on media and publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati. He came up with a beautiful, entertaining write up on the demons and the witches and how they affect not only the seat of power in Nigeria, but also the occupants of such power as well as, by extension, the fortune of the entire country. The first thing that came to my mind when Abati flew that kite a fortnight ago was that, well, as a commentator, he might have ran into shortage of idea that week, and so decided to use that topic to while away time, as part the idle talk. A week after Abati floated the kite, another journalist with Vanguard newspaper, Mr. Ben Agande came up with an advance version of Abati’s reasoning. Agande, who said that he had covered Aso Rock for his newspaper for a reasonable period of time, went deeper, to even give many examples of how demons and witches have taken over the Presidential compound. However, the present occupant of the seat which Abati vacated, Olufemi Adesina, responded to Abati last night, using the words of Holy Bible and daily experiences in the life of individuals to debunk the picture painted by Abati. Of course, anybody, like Abati, who chose to make the issue at stake a big one, presents a picture of a person just waking up from sleep from the day he was born into the realities that have been with humanity since the creation, or he is landing into the world from another planet or he, like I said, lacked something tangible to say; something that would take Nigeria out of the excruciating economic hardship and into the next level of development. The issue of demons and witches is a settled one, right from the creation. Most of the forebears and Prophets of God tasted the work of devil, even as in the history of creation when Satan refused to obey God’s commandment that he should bow before Adam. Because God banished Satan from the Heaven for disrespecting Him, he vowed to destroy all the descendants of Adam. For a very short while of over 50 years that I have tallied around, I had experienced and witnessed dozens of demon and witch attacks in many parts of the country and the world. Some of such experiences are as follows: 1. While driving from Okene to Kano sometime in 1989, I reached a point at Gwagwalada,when I discovered, through the side mirror, that the road was folding along with me from my back. In confusion, I tried to look ahead of me but, darkness suddenly fell in under a hot sun. I didn’t know what happened next. I found myself in a hospital where I was told that I have been on admission for three days. This was not in Aso Villa. 2. I was dreaming that a woman offered me two pieces of black kernels and that I quickly threw them into my mouth, chewed and swallowed them. The two kernels stuck in my throat. I suddenly woke up in the midnight to discover that I could no longer swallow saliva. My throat was fast drying up. After consistent prayers for three days, I vomited out the two kernels practically. That was not in Aso Rock. 3. A 63 year old father of my friend went to his farm as usual at Agbowa-Ikosi in Lagos state to pluck some cashew. While plucking the cashew in broad daylight, something fell on his faec and suddenly, darkness fell on his world upon which he asked his grand son by his side whether the night had fallen. From the farm, the old man was led back to the house by his grand son as a blind man. That was not in Aso Rock. 4. Sometime in 1991, I visited a friend/colleague, Mr. Ian Nimo in Scotland, the Great Britain. Two days after my arrival, a familiar voice, of my aunt who was far back in Okene, Kogi state in Nigeria, kept on calling my name all over the place. The voice was so chilling and tearing me apart that I had to plead with my host to allow me to return to Nigerian if he would not want to take my corpse back. When I returned to Nigeria and Okene, the same aunt confronted me with a lot of strange questions that confirmed what I went through in Scotland. That was not in Aso Rock. 5. There was this man inside a taxi cab in Abeukuta, Ogun state, who received a hard slap on his face from a force he did not see. The driver of the cab, who heard the sound of the slap turned in panic to see the man besides him. The act of turning to seen the man that received the slap caused the vehicle to veer off the road into a small gutter, and behold, the man was dead. And it was reported that he died in a motor accident. Abeukuta is not Aso Rock. 6. In Ago, Edo state, a strange voice warned a father to ask his 30 year old male child to stop disturbing ‘their’ peace with constant recitation from the Holy Qur’an, after tormenting the said son for four days. The voice said that if the son continued, ‘they’ would come back to deal with him. That was not in Aso Rock. What is being implied here is that whatever strange things that are happening in Aso Rock are not peculiar to it. But one thing that many spiritualists have come to agree on as consensus is that the evil and the good are always in contest around the seat of power. As a matter of fact, it has been said time and time again that a King or an Oba or an Emir or any other ruler is surrounded by all sort of forces and characters; the ones he sees and the ones he doesn’t see: that an average chief is chief of the human being, of jinn, of witches, of evil ones and saints. This may be extended also to the President, the governors and chairmen of local government councils as well as other leaders. If this fact is understood, whether in its spiritual form or as in passing, there would be no need to make a special fuse over it on the pages of newspapers. However, how the existence of demons and witches in a particular place affect the minds of the leaders or the policies such leaders ought to implement for the good of his subject is subjective. Indeed, it is neither here nor there. To me therefore, the write up by Abati on this subject was just another form of idle talk, especially, at this period when the economic recession has reduced once busy Nigerians to gossiping.
“It is uncharitable and ungodly of businessman of his stature to make this kind of allegation.”
This the reaction of Rotimi Oyekunmi, Chief Press Secretary to the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on the allegation by the factional candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the Ondo State governorship election, Jimoh Ibrahim, that an official of the commission demanded one million Dollars bribe from him.
Rotimi Oyekunmi said: ”it is not true that Mrs. Babalola demanded one million dollar bribe from Jimoh Ibrahim. Two other officials of INEC witnessed the encounter between Mrs. Babalola and Jimoh Ibrahim. Jimoh Ibrahim brought a copy of his judgment and wanted to impress it on INEC to collect it.
“But we told him that we already have it. It is uncharitable and ungodly of businessman of his stature to make this kind of allegation”, he said.
Jimoh Ibrahim, who was produced by the Ali Modu Sheriff faction of the party, had told newsmen today, Sunday that he remained the PDP candidate in Ondo, citing last week judgment of an Abuja high Court which ruled that the Electoral body should recognize him.
He said that though the electoral body had said it will obey the court judgment immediately it was served, but that the music changed “immediately INEC was served the judgment.
“After the service, the music changed. INEC should not allow one governor to destroy its reputation. One of the officials demanded for one million dollar bribe from me to process the court judgment.”
The embattled Jimoh Ibrahim said that he had petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari and reported the official to the INEC chairman, even as he demanded the removal of the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ondo State. He alleged that he is a card carrying member of the PDP. [myad]
Let me begin with two clarifications. Aso Villa is not my home, I am just passing through. Even this world is nobody’s home, we are just birds of passage. So, let nobody turn up his nose in derision, and say; “he’s writing like the landlord of Aso Villa, defending a place where’s he’s just a tenant.” Yes, nobody is landlord in the Villa, not even rational presidents. They can only live there for maximum of eight years, if Nigerians so decide. And for me, my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels only need to beckon me from Heaven’s open door, and I wouldn’t feel at home in this world anymore. The second clarification. Let nobody, particularly on social media, begin to insinuate that Femi Adesina is at war with Reuben Abati, his immediate predecessor as presidential spokesman. This piece you are beginning to read is not about Abati as a person, it is about his spiritual ideas and convictions, which I think need some appraisal, as they are rather unspiritual. Abati and myself have been professional colleagues for almost 30 years, we have a lot of mutual friends, and know how to reach each other when necessary. So, this is not a case of Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman being at war with Goodluck Jonathan’s spokesman. What for? In his piece in The Guardian of October 14, 2016, Abati wrote under the headline, ‘The spiritual side of Aso Villa.’ What were his conclusions? For the benefit of those who did not read the highly entertaining piece (in fact, there were moments I had my two legs in the air, laughing, as I read), let me do a brief summary. Call it ‘gospel’ according to Abati, and you would be right: There is some form of witchcraft, which causes occupants of Aso Villa to take weird decisions. Working in the Villa makes you susceptible to some sort of evil influences, because there is something supernatural about power and closeness to it. Some of those who lived or worked in the Villa had something dying under their waists (for the men), while some of the women became merchants of dildo, because they had suffered a special kind of deaths in their homes. “The ones who did not have such misfortune had one ailment or the other that they had to nurse. From cancer to brain and prostate surgery and whatever, the Villa was a hospital full of agonizing patients,” Abati posited. Reading the piece through, you would think Aso Villa was nothing but what Godfrey Chaucer called “a thoroughfare of woes.” In fact, Abati submitted that the Villa “should be converted into a spiritual museum,and abandoned.” Holy Moses! Jumping Jehoshaphat! If Aso Villa was such a haunted house, why then do most occupants like to stay put, right from the first tenant, Ibrahim Babangida, who was virtually forced to step aside in August 1993? And why did Goodluck Jonathan, Abati’s principal, spend money in trillions (in different currencies of the world), just to perpetuate himself in a house that consumes its occupants? Being a literary scholar, Abati would remember the doctor in Macbeth, that work of William Shakespeare, who was detailed to cure Lady Macbeth of the neurosis that afflicted her, after she had been party to the deaths of King Duncan and Banquo, so that her husband would be the king of Scotland. A spiritually troubled Lady Macbeth sleepwalked every night, trying to wash her hands of the innocent blood that had been shed. The doctor was so fed up with the terrifying atmosphere, that he said to himself:”Were I from Dunsinane away and clear, profit should hardly again draw me here.” Did Abati ever say the same of the Villa, a place where men became women “after something died below their waists?” We do not have it on record that Abati showed a clean pair of heels, or that he would not have stayed if Dr Jonathan had won reelection, and had asked him to continue in his position as adviser on media. Or was it the case of eternal fascination for the thing that repelled and terrified you? Mysterium tremendum et fascinas, as it is called in Latin. For me, what Abati did in the October 14 piece was simply a glorification and deification of superstition, something that attempted to elevate works of darkness above the powers of God. The writer merely fed the cravings and propensity of people for the supernatural, in a way that stoked and kindled the kiln of fear, rather than that of faith. Let’s take the issues one after the other, and look at them against true spiritual principles. Christianity is the one I am most familiar with, and that would be my benchmark. In Aso Villa, houses were haunted, people were oppressed into taking curious decisions, they fell ill, died, or suffered the losses of loved ones, so Abati claimed. Are such peculiar only to the presidential villa? Should all those who live or work there automatically enjoy immunity from the vicissitudes of life, simply because they walked the corridors of power? Wasn’t President Umaru Yar’Adua right inside the presidential villa, when he told us on national television: “I am a human being. I can fall sick. I can recover. And I can die.” That was a practical man for you. Abati unwittingly wants his readers to believe that once you operated in or around Aso Villa, you became a superman. No. You are as mortal as can be. The Holy Bible does not even give us such leeway. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man…”(1 Cor 10:13). There are certain things common to man, and they can happen to you wherever you are. At the White House. At 10, Downing Street. Buckingham Palace, Aso Villa. Wherever. “But such as is common to man…” Let no man feed us with the bogey that such things happen because of where you live or operate from. There are some things that are just common to man, and which may happen to you as long as you are on this side of eternity. I lost my sister in a road crash last year. She was a professor of Dramatic Arts at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife. Abati knew her well, as they both did post-graduate studies at University of Ibadan in the 1980s. Abati was among those who called to condole with me. My sister never visited the Villa in her lifetime. Even if she did, that could never have had anything to do with her death on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. To believe and teach otherwise is to carry superstition to ridiculous level, and venerate the Devil, granting him omnipotence, an attribute that belongs to God only. For the Devil, doing evil is full-time business, and whether you had anything to do with Aso Villa or not, he continued with his pernicious acts. Does that then suggest that mankind is helpless before evil? No. God still has ultimate powers. He can spare you “as a father spares the son that serves him.” (Malachi 3:17). If you are under the pavilion of God, sleep, wake and operate daily in Aso Villa, you are covered, no matter the evil that lurks around, if any. There is a better covenant established on greater promises, and that is the canopy under which you should function. God can spare you from all evils, and if He permits any other thing, it is “such as is common to man,” and not because of Aso Villa. If houses catch fire in the Villa, how many conflagrations occur in other parts of the city? If some men in the Villa suffered erectile dysfunction in Abati’s time, doesn’t the Journal of Sexual Medicine tell us that about 20 million American men have something that has died under their waists? It is one thing that became prevalent in the last two to three decades, due to modern lifestyle. Causes range from age, to stress, depression, anxiety, alcohol, medication, and several others. Even, a study showed that watching too much television kills something under the waist. So why does Abati make it seem as if it is a copyright of Aso Villa? Now, another clarification. Don’t I believe in demonic infestation and manifestation? I sure do. I wouldn’t be a student of the Holy Bible if I don’t. Jesus talked of the man who got delivered from demonic possession, and because that man did not yield himself to a better influence, the evil spirit that inhabited him came back with seven more powerful spirits, and the end of the man was worse than his beginning. Abati wrote of persons in the Villa, “walking upside down, head to the ground.” Let me share this story I heard over 20 years ago. There was this young Christian who gave scant regards to demons and what they could do. In fact, he almost didn’t believe demons existed. One day, as he walked along the ever busy Broad Street in Lagos, God opened his spiritual eyes. Some people were walking on their heads! And not only that, as they passed by other people, they slapped them with the soles of their feet. If you got so slapped, you developed an affliction, which you would nurse for the rest of your life. Yet, you never knew where it came from. As the young man saw that vision and got its spiritual explanation, he began to s-c-r-e-a-m. Was that in Aso Villa? “Such as is common to man…” Evil exists everywhere. Trying to source and locate it in Aso Villa is disingenuous. You need God everywhere. In Europe, Asia, America, Oceania, Aso Villa. There is evil everywhere, and we need not make fetish of any place as being more evil infested than other places. Since Satan got thrown out of Heaven due to his inordinate ambition, evil had resided in the world. “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!” (Isaiah 14:12). The Devil lives in the world, but God is never helpless before evil. He will never be. Let the Devil commit suicide if he is not happy about that fact. God rules! If every principal officer including the President and his wife suffered series of tragedies as Abati claimed, and he himself had breathing problems, and walked with the aid of crutches for months, it was ” such as is common to man” and not necessarily because they were in Aso Villa. But of course, if such people put their hands in evil, possibly to gain some things in power or perpetuate themselves beyond the time heaven granted, then “he who rolls a stone, a stone shall be rolled back to him. He that digs a pit, shall fall into it.” That is what the Good Book says. You can then hardly blame Aso Villa for such payback time, can you? To avoid getting sucked into what Abati calls “the cloud of evil” that hangs around power, what to do is to hold ephemeral things loosely. Know that they are temporal, and will truly end. Power is one of such things. Will anybody be a permanent landlord at Aso Villa? It would be foolhardy to have such mindset. A couple of times I’d had some private discussions with President Buhari, and he had lamented the state of the nation, he invariably ended with the statement, “while we are here, we will do our best.” It shows a man who knows that he’s not a permanent landlord at Aso Villa, and can never be. He would use the opportunity he has to do his best for Nigeria, and then move on. That is a good mindset, and a safety valve from getting sucked into “the cloud of evil.” Daily, I tell myself that I am just passing through Aso Villa. And while there, just like my principal, I will do my best. It could be long, it could be short, depending on God and the man who appointed me, but one day, it would be over, and some other people would come in to do their bit. It is inexorable. The real treasures are laid somewhere beyond the blue. Abati says we should pray before people pack their things into Aso Villa. I say not just Aso Villa, but everywhere. Pray before you pack into any place, because there are some things “such as is common to man.” It is only God that keeps from such. And He is sovereign in terms of what He prevents, and in what He allows. Ours is to pray, and believe. Prayer works. “Aso Villa is in urgent need of redemption. I never slept in the apartment they gave me in that Villa for an hour,” wrote Abati. Well, different strokes for different folks. Hear what the Good Book says: “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so he giveth his beloved sleep.” Here am I. For over one year, I have lived in the house allocated to me at the Villa. I sleep so soundly, I even snore. In fact, I snore so loud that at times, I wake myself up with the sound. .Adesina is Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari. [myad]
Nana Millie-Morrison, 86, recently tied the knots with the love of her life, Harold Morrson, 85, in a Newark, New Jersey ceremony in front of 200 family and friends.
Her wedding photos has been circulating since they were posted on Facebook, with many, including Kelly Rowland, complimenting her timeless beauty and sense of style.
Millie, who was a model in the 1950s, wore a beautiful purple wedding dress which she designed with designer Marco Hall. Her granddaughter, Khadijah Elkharbibi said that all the guests, especially the groom were completely blown away when she appeared.
“The look on everyone’s face when they saw her, but especially the look on Mr. Harold’s face when he saw her walking down the aisle was like, waoo, it was absolute the sweetest thing you could ever see! He teared up. It was beautiful! My Nana just beamed with happiness, it was truly a sight to see.
“Nana Millie was married to her first husband for 41 years before he passed away in 1992. She knew Harold since the 1950s… he was even a guest at her first wedding. [myad]
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The economic recession seems to have brought with it or has taught people on how to marry to some kind of idle talks which they carry around all over the country. If you walk into any place where there are two or more people discussing today, what you are likely to hear are the same idle talks, most of which you may not be able to place properly in the context of how such talks would contribute positively towards developing themselves individually, not to talk of the development of the nation.
The Unspiritual Side Of Aso Villa, By Femi Adesina
The second clarification. Let nobody, particularly on social media, begin to insinuate that Femi Adesina is at war with Reuben Abati, his immediate predecessor as presidential spokesman. This piece you are beginning to read is not about Abati as a person, it is about his spiritual ideas and convictions, which I think need some appraisal, as they are rather unspiritual. Abati and myself have been professional colleagues for almost 30 years, we have a lot of mutual friends, and know how to reach each other when necessary. So, this is not a case of Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman being at war with Goodluck Jonathan’s spokesman. What for?
In his piece in The Guardian of October 14, 2016, Abati wrote under the headline, ‘The spiritual side of Aso Villa.’ What were his conclusions? For the benefit of those who did not read the highly entertaining piece (in fact, there were moments I had my two legs in the air, laughing, as I read), let me do a brief summary. Call it ‘gospel’ according to Abati, and you would be right: There is some form of witchcraft, which causes occupants of Aso Villa to take weird decisions. Working in the Villa makes you susceptible to some sort of evil influences, because there is something supernatural about power and closeness to it. Some of those who lived or worked in the Villa had something dying under their waists (for the men), while some of the women became merchants of dildo, because they had suffered a special kind of deaths in their homes. “The ones who did not have such misfortune had one ailment or the other that they had to nurse. From cancer to brain and prostate surgery and whatever, the Villa was a hospital full of agonizing patients,” Abati posited.
Reading the piece through, you would think Aso Villa was nothing but what Godfrey Chaucer called “a thoroughfare of woes.” In fact, Abati submitted that the Villa “should be converted into a spiritual museum,and abandoned.” Holy Moses! Jumping Jehoshaphat!
If Aso Villa was such a haunted house, why then do most occupants like to stay put, right from the first tenant, Ibrahim Babangida, who was virtually forced to step aside in August 1993? And why did Goodluck Jonathan, Abati’s principal, spend money in trillions (in different currencies of the world), just to perpetuate himself in a house that consumes its occupants? Being a literary scholar, Abati would remember the doctor in Macbeth, that work of William Shakespeare, who was detailed to cure Lady Macbeth of the neurosis that afflicted her, after she had been party to the deaths of King Duncan and Banquo, so that her husband would be the king of Scotland. A spiritually troubled Lady Macbeth sleepwalked every night, trying to wash her hands of the innocent blood that had been shed. The doctor was so fed up with the terrifying atmosphere, that he said to himself:”Were I from Dunsinane away and clear, profit should hardly again draw me here.” Did Abati ever say the same of the Villa, a place where men became women “after something died below their waists?” We do not have it on record that Abati showed a clean pair of heels, or that he would not have stayed if Dr Jonathan had won reelection, and had asked him to continue in his position as adviser on media. Or was it the case of eternal fascination for the thing that repelled and terrified you? Mysterium tremendum et fascinas, as it is called in Latin.
For me, what Abati did in the October 14 piece was simply a glorification and deification of superstition, something that attempted to elevate works of darkness above the powers of God. The writer merely fed the cravings and propensity of people for the supernatural, in a way that stoked and kindled the kiln of fear, rather than that of faith.
Let’s take the issues one after the other, and look at them against true spiritual principles. Christianity is the one I am most familiar with, and that would be my benchmark.
In Aso Villa, houses were haunted, people were oppressed into taking curious decisions, they fell ill, died, or suffered the losses of loved ones, so Abati claimed. Are such peculiar only to the presidential villa? Should all those who live or work there automatically enjoy immunity from the vicissitudes of life, simply because they walked the corridors of power? Wasn’t President Umaru Yar’Adua right inside the presidential villa, when he told us on national television: “I am a human being. I can fall sick. I can recover. And I can die.” That was a practical man for you. Abati unwittingly wants his readers to believe that once you operated in or around Aso Villa, you became a superman. No. You are as mortal as can be. The Holy Bible does not even give us such leeway. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man…”(1 Cor 10:13). There are certain things common to man, and they can happen to you wherever you are. At the White House. At 10, Downing Street. Buckingham Palace, Aso Villa. Wherever. “But such as is common to man…” Let no man feed us with the bogey that such things happen because of where you live or operate from. There are some things that are just common to man, and which may happen to you as long as you are on this side of eternity.
I lost my sister in a road crash last year. She was a professor of Dramatic Arts at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife. Abati knew her well, as they both did post-graduate studies at University of Ibadan in the 1980s. Abati was among those who called to condole with me. My sister never visited the Villa in her lifetime. Even if she did, that could never have had anything to do with her death on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. To believe and teach otherwise is to carry superstition to ridiculous level, and venerate the Devil, granting him omnipotence, an attribute that belongs to God only. For the Devil, doing evil is full-time business, and whether you had anything to do with Aso Villa or not, he continued with his pernicious acts. Does that then suggest that mankind is helpless before evil? No. God still has ultimate powers. He can spare you “as a father spares the son that serves him.” (Malachi 3:17). If you are under the pavilion of God, sleep, wake and operate daily in Aso Villa, you are covered, no matter the evil that lurks around, if any. There is a better covenant established on greater promises, and that is the canopy under which you should function. God can spare you from all evils, and if He permits any other thing, it is “such as is common to man,” and not because of Aso Villa.
If houses catch fire in the Villa, how many conflagrations occur in other parts of the city? If some men in the Villa suffered erectile dysfunction in Abati’s time, doesn’t the Journal of Sexual Medicine tell us that about 20 million American men have something that has died under their waists? It is one thing that became prevalent in the last two to three decades, due to modern lifestyle. Causes range from age, to stress, depression, anxiety, alcohol, medication, and several others. Even, a study showed that watching too much television kills something under the waist. So why does Abati make it seem as if it is a copyright of Aso Villa?
Now, another clarification. Don’t I believe in demonic infestation and manifestation? I sure do. I wouldn’t be a student of the Holy Bible if I don’t. Jesus talked of the man who got delivered from demonic possession, and because that man did not yield himself to a better influence, the evil spirit that inhabited him came back with seven more powerful spirits, and the end of the man was worse than his beginning. Abati wrote of persons in the Villa, “walking upside down, head to the ground.” Let me share this story I heard over 20 years ago. There was this young Christian who gave scant regards to demons and what they could do. In fact, he almost didn’t believe demons existed. One day, as he walked along the ever busy Broad Street in Lagos, God opened his spiritual eyes. Some people were walking on their heads! And not only that, as they passed by other people, they slapped them with the soles of their feet. If you got so slapped, you developed an affliction, which you would nurse for the rest of your life. Yet, you never knew where it came from.
As the young man saw that vision and got its spiritual explanation, he began to s-c-r-e-a-m. Was that in Aso Villa? “Such as is common to man…” Evil exists everywhere. Trying to source and locate it in Aso Villa is disingenuous. You need God everywhere. In Europe, Asia, America, Oceania, Aso Villa. There is evil everywhere, and we need not make fetish of any place as being more evil infested than other places. Since Satan got thrown out of Heaven due to his inordinate ambition, evil had resided in the world. “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!” (Isaiah 14:12). The Devil lives in the world, but God is never helpless before evil. He will never be. Let the Devil commit suicide if he is not happy about that fact. God rules!
If every principal officer including the President and his wife suffered series of tragedies as Abati claimed, and he himself had breathing problems, and walked with the aid of crutches for months, it was ” such as is common to man” and not necessarily because they were in Aso Villa. But of course, if such people put their hands in evil, possibly to gain some things in power or perpetuate themselves beyond the time heaven granted, then “he who rolls a stone, a stone shall be rolled back to him. He that digs a pit, shall fall into it.” That is what the Good Book says. You can then hardly blame Aso Villa for such payback time, can you?
To avoid getting sucked into what Abati calls “the cloud of evil” that hangs around power, what to do is to hold ephemeral things loosely. Know that they are temporal, and will truly end. Power is one of such things. Will anybody be a permanent landlord at Aso Villa? It would be foolhardy to have such mindset. A couple of times I’d had some private discussions with President Buhari, and he had lamented the state of the nation, he invariably ended with the statement, “while we are here, we will do our best.” It shows a man who knows that he’s not a permanent landlord at Aso Villa, and can never be. He would use the opportunity he has to do his best for Nigeria, and then move on. That is a good mindset, and a safety valve from getting sucked into “the cloud of evil.” Daily, I tell myself that I am just passing through Aso Villa. And while there, just like my principal, I will do my best. It could be long, it could be short, depending on God and the man who appointed me, but one day, it would be over, and some other people would come in to do their bit. It is inexorable. The real treasures are laid somewhere beyond the blue.
Abati says we should pray before people pack their things into Aso Villa. I say not just Aso Villa, but everywhere. Pray before you pack into any place, because there are some things “such as is common to man.” It is only God that keeps from such. And He is sovereign in terms of what He prevents, and in what He allows. Ours is to pray, and believe. Prayer works.
“Aso Villa is in urgent need of redemption. I never slept in the apartment they gave me in that Villa for an hour,” wrote Abati. Well, different strokes for different folks. Hear what the Good Book says: “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so he giveth his beloved sleep.” Here am I. For over one year, I have lived in the house allocated to me at the Villa. I sleep so soundly, I even snore. In fact, I snore so loud that at times, I wake myself up with the sound.
.Adesina is Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari. [myad]