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]
Herdsmen under the umbrella of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigerian (MACBAN) have called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the federal government to call Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State to order over the killing of their cows before they resort to retaliation.
A statement by its spokesman, Baba Othman Ngelzarma, recalled that Fayose on Thursday inaugurated a vigilante group, known as Ekiti Grazing Enforcement Marshals (EGEM), popularly called ‘Anti-malu’ “in furtherance of his threat to banish our members from Ekiti State.”
The statement said that governor Fayose unleashed the marshals “against our members whose herds of cattle had gone to a stream at Agon Bridge on Federal Polytechnic road between the time of 2:00 – 2:30 PM to quench their thirst on Friday 21st October 2016.
“We have been reliably alerted an impeccable source in Ado- Ekiti that the Anti-maul vigilante group shot five cows and carted away with the meat but the herdsman was able to flee with the rest of his cattle.
“We are hereby constrained to implore the federal government through its security agencies to wade into this unprovoked and primitive aggression against our members, before this macabre incident develops into unquenchable inferno involving our members and Ekiti State government.
“No Cattle strayed into anybody’s farmland around that area in question. As such, the actions of the Anti-malu vigilante are not ant only provoking, but capable of creating uncontrollable scenarios whose ramification may go well beyond Ekiti State.
“As far as we know, Ekiti State is not an island of its own , but a State within the federal Republic of Nigeria and while the Governor is permitted to carry out actions geared towards protecting the interest of Ekiti State, such actions should follow the rule of law.
“We deplore this act of brigandage and call on Governor Ayodele Fayose to offer an unreserved apology to MACBAN, and equally set machinery in motion with a view to compensate our members who lost five cows in this primitive adventure.
“That the brutality of the Ekiti Grazing enforcement marshals (popularly known as Anti- malu) on herdsmen is even outside the time stipulated by that law (if the law exists at all).
“The federal government should therefore look into the actions and activities of this committee because we cannot fold our hands while the only means of survival of our members is taken away and destroyed.
“MACBAN has instructed victims of this aggression and its members nationwide to exercise maximum restrain while we work towards resolving this unfortunate incident through mature and civilized manners.
“MACBAN further sympathized with the government of Kaduna State, Sokapu and entire Kaduna South inhabitants over the recent incident that had claimed so many lives as a result of a discord between our members and communities surrounding Godogodo environ.
“We see this act as an absolute brutality exhibited by the perpetrators and condemnable in all its ramifications. We call on the security to do all it could to fish out and bring these criminals to book.”
Meanwhile, The Chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, Sokoto State Chapter, Alhaji Muhammadu Magaji, has warned its members not to graze their livestock on farm lands. [myad]
Popular former Nollywood actress, Hilda Dokubo has said that she was disappointed in God for taking the life of her father who devoted his life in serving Him, at the time she was at tender age.
Dokubo, who served as a Special Adviser on Youth Affairs to former Rivers State Governor, Peter Odili, and now a Pastor was in Lagos where she ministered as a Pastor at the Fresh Oil InternatiAIn her sermon, she sadi: “I was born with a silver spoon, but death turned me poverty-stricken after my father died when I was just nine. I turned away from God at that point, because I felt disappointed that despite how much my father loved and served God, he still died.”
“After my dad died, my mother completely lost her mind. If she were living in the US, I’m sure she would have been diagnosed as a mental case. You know, in Nigeria, we don’t consider people mad until they have started eating from dustbins. I rebelled against God at that point, and I stopped going to church at the age of nine.
“However, I was a very brilliant girl, and I got admission into the university at the age of 16. I became rascally and did what girls like that do. I slept with a man, and I became pregnant. It wasn’t the Holy-Spirit that impregnated me. My mom was devastated and disappointed in me because of that. I was also angry with her because ‘her God’ killed my father, and we stopped speaking to each other.
“One day, a man came to me and said he needed a barge. I didn’t know what it was, and he told me it was used to store oil. I then recalled that I had once seen a barge in the compound opposite ours. I went to the neighbo. I went to the neighbour and told him I needed the barge. He asked me what I needed it for, but I told him not to worry. I told them to put the barge in front of my mother’s house. At that point, the man who told me he needed the barge came back, and dropped sacks of money containing N2 million with my mom because I was in school at that time. Two weeks later, he returned with N500,000, and I was dumbfounded. Before then, I had never seen N100,000 together, but there I was as a millionaire at 17, not knowing what to do with the money. I would have become a prostitute, but I became restless and challenged destiny. Your life cannot change for the better if you don’t challenge destiny. Even God challenged destiny.” [myad]
The 2016 Muslim pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia has come and gone with obvious success story trailing it. As a matter of fact, the hajj operations were adjudged as not only an improvement on the operations in the previous years, but the best in recent time. This was in spite of the initial hiccups, caused by the Saudi authorities’ rejection of wrist-bands, designed by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) for Nigerian pilgrims, as part of identifying them in the Holy land.
The airlift of over 62,000 intending pilgrims which began on August 8 from Sokoto airport with 445 Zamfara intending pilgrims airlifted to Madinnah, came to an end on October 9, with the airlift of the last batch of 543 Kano/Kebbi pilgrims from Jeddah airport by Max Air on flight number VM2118. The 2016 operations and the situations in the Holy land were in complete contrast to the ones in 2015 which witnessed disasters, accidents and mass deaths. It was indeed, in 2015 that crane fell on pilgrims around the Holy Mosque in Makkah, killing some of them. It was in the same year, September 24 that thousands of pilgrims died at Jamrah during a fatal stampede. No fewer than 317 Nigerians, including prominent Scholars, Diplomats, Journalists and several others were among those who lost their lives. It was the year in which the worst hajj coordination and management was witnessed, especially, by the Saudi Arabian authorities. However, in 2016, the operations, from the point of departure, especially from Nigeria, to the Holy land and the return journey were so smooth and quiet as if nothing was happening. Those who have no business with the operations never heard about how the operations were going on. Many things have been attributed to the success and smooth operations that were recorded in the 2016 exercise, one of which was the early preparations; education and sensitization of the officials, the intending pilgrims and proper coordination with the Embassy for the issuance of visas. There were also gradual reduction in the time spent by the officials who screened the pilgrims at the King Abdulazeez International Airport in Jeddah, strict adherence to controlling influx, into Jeddah airport, by pilgrims who were not scheduled to be airlifted at particular time, enforcement of penalty for pilgrims who did not show up for their scheduled flights, compelling airliners to accommodate and feed pilgrims due to delay in flights caused by them, compelling the air carriers to adhere to the flight schedules, allowing the airliners to carry out the weighing of pilgrims’ luggage right in their accommodation in Makkah and the cooperation of Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA). There was also a greater synergy amongst the operational staff of the State Pilgrims Welfare Boards and the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) even as the command and control unit in the aviation department did wonderful job by providing up to date information on pilgrims airlift as well as interfacing with airliners and State Pilgrims Welfare Board officials.
Pilgrims also acknowledged that the authorities took good care of their needs in terms of accommodation in the right places, transportation, enlightenment and many others. All these and more, made the 2016 pilgrimage and hajj operations a success story. It is good to know that hajj operations have now been made an all-year round exercise, whereby even preparations for the 2017 operations began in Saudi Arabia immediately after the last flight departed to Nigeria. Indeed, this is how it should be, so that those things that are likely to obstruct smooth operations are addressed in good time. One of such things is the issue of excess hand luggage which most Nigerian pilgrims have stubbornly held on to. The officials concern, especially, at the state level, should continue to educate their contingents, especially, the first-timers, on this issue. The pilgrims should be made to understand that hajj is not the same thing as shopping, though there is this belief in many quarters that pilgrims should bring all sorts of gifts to the loved ones, the people in the neighbourhood and many others, as they are returning. This has become a kind of symbol with which pilgrims are acknowledged by family members, friends and well-wishers, which is not supposed to be so. There is also the need for proper coordination in the area of information dissemination on the flights schedules and other matters about the operations generally. Hajj operations would not run smoothly if information and the channels through which it is disseminated are not properly managed.
It is heartwarming that the executive chairman of NAHCON, Barrister Mukhtar Abdullahi Mohammed took time off during the hajj to confer with his Indonesian counterpart to seek for ways towards working together for the overall benefit of the two countries. As a matter of fact, hajj operations are becoming so sophisticated that information sharing amongst the Islamic countries can no longer be played down. Therefore, interaction with Indonesia, which is one of the countries with highest number of pilgrims every year, is in the right direction.
The chairman also talked about improving the Information Technology system in the management of the operations. Indeed, the whole world is fast turning into a single entity with the massive use of information technology, so much that the managers of hajj in Nigeria have to move fast to buy into it. The government should encourage them to do so, in order that the country is not left behind as time goes on. All said, we in Greenbarge Reporters highly commend all the stakeholders: the NAHCON, headed by Barrister Mukhtar; state Pilgrims Welfare Boards, the airliners and carriers; the information officers, the health care givers and welfare officers in the relevant bodies, as well as the Saudi Arabian Hajj Authorities for all the efforts, the know-how and hard work they put up that ensured the success and smooth conduct of this year’s pilgrimage.
It is hoped that measures would be taken to improve in all sections of the operation in the 2017 operations. [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 2016 Muslim pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia has come and gone with obvious success story trailing it. As a matter of fact, the hajj operations were adjudged as not only an improvement on the operations in the previous years, but the best in recent time. This was in spite of the initial hiccups, caused by the Saudi authorities’ rejection of wrist-bands, designed by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) for Nigerian pilgrims, as part of identifying them in the Holy land.
It is heartwarming that the executive chairman of NAHCON, Barrister Mukhtar Abdullahi Mohammed took time off during the hajj to confer with his Indonesian counterpart to seek for ways towards working together for the overall benefit of the two countries. As a matter of fact, hajj operations are becoming so sophisticated that information sharing amongst the Islamic countries can no longer be played down. Therefore, interaction with Indonesia, which is one of the countries with highest number of pilgrims every year, is in the right direction.
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]